Four days ahead of the deadline to submit the squads for the Champions Trophy, New Zealand have suffered a blow to their pace bowling stocks.
While playing for Desert Vipers in the UAE's ILT20 on Wednesday, Black Caps quick Lockie Ferguson pulled up before he could finish his quota of four overs, leaving the field with a hamstring injury.
Also read: Champions Trophy injury list, live updates: Lockie Ferguson doubtful, Cummins, Hazlewood ruled out
At a pre-match press conference on Friday ahead of New Zealand's first match of their tri-series with Pakistan and South Africa, head coach Gary Stead confirmed that the fast bowler had undergone scans in the UAE: "We've got the images here and [we are] waiting for our radiologist to give us a report on the extent of it.
"Small hamstring injury, by the look of it, so we're just waiting on a timeline of advice around that before we make a decision on whether Lockie travels here [Pakistan] or whether we do have to replace him for the Champions Trophy."
Yesterday, Ferguson, the Vipers' captain, did not play in Qualifier 2 against the Sharjah Warriors. His side chased down 165 in 16.4 overs to win the game and qualify for the final, scheduled for Sunday evening.
Last week, New Zealand had added fast bowler Jacob Duffy to their squad for the tri-series as cover for Ferguson since he was likely to miss at least the first game due to Desert Vipers making the ILT20 playoffs.
If Ferguson does end up being ruled out of the Champions Trophy, Duffy could be the player to replace him in the squad. The 30-year-old has taken 18 wickets in 10 ODIs so far, including seven in his last four matches, all against Sri Lanka.
Either way, it will be a blow to New Zealand's pace attack if he ends up missing the tournament. Of the other pacers in the Champions Trophy squad, Will O'Rourke has played just 19 international matches, Ben Sears 18 (none of them ODIs) and all-rounder Nathan Smith only seven – putting much of the onus on Matt Henry to lead the charge.
Read more: What each side needs to answer as the Champions Trophy warm-ups begin
Ferguson's last international game was a T20I against Sri Lanka on November 10. In that match, he suffered a calf injury which put him out of commission until December 17, when he returned to action in the Big Bash League for Sydney Thunder. He has played six BBL games and eight ILT20 games across the last two months.
The deadline for teams to submit their final 15-player Champions Trophy squads to the ICC is February 12, a week ahead of the tournament opener.
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