New Zealand v South Africa, 2nd Test, Wellington - Preview

In yet another injury setback for New Zealand, Trent Boult was ruled out of the second Test against South Africa starting in Wellington on Thursday (March 16), leaving the home side a bit depleted.

Boult was ruled out after injuring his leg during South Africa's second innings in the drawn first Test in Dunedin, becoming the second senior player to miss out after Ross Taylor tore his calf during the same match.

Neither side had finalised its line up till Wednesday for what should be a seam-friendly Basin Reserve wicket, but Faf du Plessis, the South Africa captain, said that the absence of Boult and Taylor was bound to hurt New Zealand.

With the first Test drawn, Wellington is effectively the start of a two-Test series, which makes it important for both sides to try and squeeze out a result.

Although the playing XI is yet to be finalised, Tim Southee, who was dropped for the Dunedin Test, confirmed that he was going to replace Boult, and Neil Broom, as expected, was set to come in in place of Taylor.

It will be a test of New Zealand's batting strength with Broom making his Test debut and Henry Nicholls yet to cement a spot at No. 5, which could mean additional pressure on Kane Williamson, the No. 2 Test batsman in the ICC rankings.

Broom has played 30 One-Day Internationals, including three in the recent series against South Africa, where he didn't fare too well with scores of 2, 2, 0. Nicholls, meanwhile, is light on experience with just 12 Tests to his name.

Matt Henry, the right-arm pacer, is expected to partner Southee with the new ball, and if the wicket requires the hosts to play one spinner, New Zealand may choose to overlook Mitchell Santner in favour of Jeetan Patel, who bore the brunt of the workload in Dunedin.

Jeetan has claimed the wicket of Quinton de Kock in his past four innings, but du Plessis insisted that his teammate wasn't too apprehensive about facing the right-arm offspinner.

Squads (likely):New Zealand: Tom Latham, Jeet Raval, Kane Williamson (capt), Neil Broom, Henry Nicholls, Jimmy Neesham, BJ Watling (wk), Matt Henry, Tim Southee, Neil Wagner, Jeetan Patel.
South Africa: Stephen Cook, Dean Elgar, Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis (capt), JP Duminy, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (wk), Vernon Philander, Keshav Maharaj, Morne Morkel, Kagiso Rabada.