Halliday was struck on the hand during Northern Districts’ Hallyburton Johnstone Shield loss to Canterbury Magicians last weekend, and a scan this week revealed a fracture that will require four to six weeks of rehabilitation.
New Zealand head coach Ben Sawyers said they had initially thought her knock was a “minor one”, and that the team was hoping for her return for the third T20I and the ODIs. However, the scan on Friday “showed up worse than first expected”.
“We’re clearly disappointed for Brooke,” Sawyer said. “She’s a big part of this team – and the batting group in particular – but we know she’ll be applying her hard-working attitude to her rehabilitation, and will be available as soon as possible. There’s a lot of cricket coming up over the next few months – most notably the T20 World Cup next year – and we’re confident she’ll be back in time.”
With the replacement Burns’ reputation being of an aggressive opener in domestic cricket, and with the T20 World Cup scheduled for February 2023, Sawyer said that Burns is someone “they want to have a look at” in the lead-up to the global event.
“Rebecca possesses strength and power at the top of the order, and we want to see if she can work within our plans leading into the World Cup,” he said. “She’s shown over the past few seasons that she has the ability to score runs quickly in the powerplay, and can swing momentum rapidly in her team’s favour.”
The second T20I takes place in Dunedin on Sunday, with the final game scheduled for Queenstown for Wednesday.
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