The incident occurred in the nets on Sunday morning in Queenstown, where England were preparing for the first Test, which begins on Thursday at Hagley Oval. Cox, set to make his Test debut with regular goalkeeper Jamie Smith on paternity leave for the tour, was taken to a local hospital for scans to determine the extent of the damage.
Cox also once damaged the fingers on his right hand when he suffered a horrific finger fracture during the Hundred in 2023. The severity of the injury means he may not wear the gloves for Essex this summer, a first for the club after a move by Kent. Cox’s move behind the stumps on Saturday was the first time he had donned the gloves for the red-ball team since July 2023.
Ollie Pope came on in Cox’s absence, while captain Ben Stokes took the field having decided not to take part in the first day of play. But it was James Anderson, dressed in white, four months after his forced retirement, who drew the most attention, recruited as a backup outfielder after three players opted out of the game due to overtime in the nets.
England are not currently working with a full squad in New Zealand with Jacob Bethell and Rehan Ahmed arriving in Christchurch on Monday having taken part in the white-ball tour of the Caribbean which concluded last week.
If Cox is ruled out of the tour entirely, England are unlikely to burden Pope with more responsibilities beyond his No.3 duties, meaning reinforcements are likely. Durham’s Phil Salt and Ollie Robinson could be in line for the inaugural Test call-ups, fulfilling the requirements to involve middle-order batsmen. Jonny Bairstow could also be an outside shot given he has one year left on his core contract. But having not featured in the Test team since earning his 100th cap at the end of the tour of India earlier in the year, he is unlikely to be dropped at this stage.
