Last Update on: November 14th, 2023 at 12:05 pm
Lockie Ferguson has admitted that New Zealand will miss the services of Matt Henry in the crucial World Cup semifinal clash against India, but he is hopeful that Tim Southee’s experience will compensate for it.
Henry had played a big role when New Zealand stunned high-flying India in the semifinal of the last edition of the ODI World Cup. After New Zealand scored a modest total of 239 for 8, in-form Team India were expected to chase it down with ease. However, Henry put his team in the driver’s seat from the very start by dismissing openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma cheaply.
Both Rahul and Rohit scored 1 run each. Henry then dismissed Dinesh Karthik for 6 runs and finished with impressive figures of 3 for 37 off 10 overs to walk away with the Man of the Match award. However, New Zealand will be without the right-arm pacer for the upcoming semifinal against India who are in stunning form at the moment.
Henry was ruled out of the World Cup due to an injury. In his absence, the onus will be on Tim Southee to deliver and Lockie Ferguson is confident of a good show from the senior pacer.
“Matt Henry is obviously a big hole in our side and we’re still a handsome bunch without Matt Henry,” said Lockie Ferguson.
“Obviously pretty disheartened with how Matt Henry exited the World Cup, which was such a shame. But now from a cricket point of view Tim Southee brings a lot of experience obviously being captain of the Test team, captain in T20s and one-dayers too, so I think that experience counts for a lot. He’s also played a lot in India, which is great too,” he added.
Lockie Ferguson on New Zealand’s consistency:
Speaking further, Lockie Ferguson spoke about New Zealand’s consistency in the World Cup. The Black Caps are the only side to qualify for the semifinals of each edition since 2007. In the last two editions, they made it to final too but failed to cross the final hurdle.
“When we start the competition, much like every other team, we’re here to win it, but of course we know there’s a process and I think certainly within our team we’ve played a lot of cricket together for a long period of time, so we sort of stick to our processes and I know it sounds cliche, but I think it keeps us sort of level-headed and naturally as Kiwis we tend to stay where our feet are, which I think is a positive.
“It’s obviously a big pleasure to be part of the semifinals. I know the team is very excited to get underway in a couple of days and obviously to play at this ground – I’ve had a few games here and It’s a pretty spectacular crowd. So, from our point of view, we’ve been playing some great cricket. I’m looking forward to getting underway in a couple of days,” said Lockie Ferguson.
The World Cup semifinal between India and New Zealand is scheduled to take place at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday (November 15).
