Tim Southee's ODI World Cup participation under doubt after suffering injury in Lord's ODI against England

In a big blow to New Zealand's squad for the upcoming ICC ODI World Cup, veteran fast bowler Tim Southee has suffered a thumb injury, putting his participation in the quadrennial tournament in doubt. Southee suffered the injury during the last ODI of four-match series against England on September 16 at Lord's.

Southee was fielding at first slip when he suffered the blow to thumb while trying to take a catch to dismiss Joe Root. He immediately let his discomfort known and was escorted off the field with a medical team member. He didn't take any further part in the game and Trent Boult replaced him as a substitute fielder in the match.

The pacer will now head home after initial scans showed that he fractured and dislocated a bone in his right thumb. Speaking about the injury, New Zealand skipper Tom Latham said that more will be revealed about the extent of Southee's injury in coming days.

"It's not ideal for Timmy," Latham said. "He's a massive leader amongst the group and obviously he'll be assessed over the coming days when we get back home to see how bad it is, but we do have a bit of time leading into those first couple of games, so we'll know more over the next couple of days."

"He's a pretty resilient character, so I'm sure he'll be doing all he can to be on the plane, ready for that first game. But it's hard to know at this point what the timeframe will be. Once he gets home and has a few more scans, we'll know the extent of what's going on."

The Kiwis, meanwhile, lost the game by 100 runs and conceded the series 3-1 to England. They next play Bangladesh in a three-ODI series starting from September 21 before facing England in World Cup opener on October 5 in Ahmedabad.

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