Joe Denly has been ruled out of the T20I series against New Zealand after suffering an ankle injury. Denly damaged a ligament in his ankle during practice prior to the opening T20I in which he was expected to feature. Following the injury, England handed a debut to Lewis Gregory and went on to win the contest comfortably by seven wickets.
Denly had earlier found a spot in the squad after several regulars were rested for the ongoing series. He recently featured in the Ashes, at home, scoring 312 runs in the series. The 33-year-old has also been named in the Test squad for the two-match series in New Zealand. Denly ‘will now start a rehabilitation program and will be routinely assessed ahead of the two-match Test series’ according to an ECB spokesperson.
England will not call for a replacement for the rest of the series and will hope Denly recovers in time to feature in the longer format. The second T20I will be played in Wellington on Sunday (November 3).
