The incident occurred on Sunday morning in Queenstown, where England were preparing for the first Test, which begins on Thursday at Hagley Oval. Cox was taken to a local hospital for a scan that revealed the extent of the damage. The 24-year-old was set to make his Test debut with regular goalkeeper Jamie Smith missing the tour due to the birth of his first child.
Ollie Pope replaced Cox in the culmination of the warm-up match, but England will not want to burden him with any more responsibility on top of his duties at No.3. Having averaged 11 on last month’s tour of Pakistan, a good performance from Cox could have The loyalty of the selectors towards the vice-captain was tested.
Cox will now have to wait a little longer to complete the set of caps that debuted in the ODI and T20I formats in the last two months. He will remain with the team in Christchurch and could opt for a holiday in Australia before returning home having had little free time since the end of the English summer.
“That’s sport and unfortunately these things happen. We will surround him and take care of him. He is resilient and his time will come at some point in the future.”
The immediate consequences of Cox’s injury left England without bodies to play on Sunday, prompting James Anderson to pull up the jersey four months after being forced into international retirement. With three players opting out of extra time in the nets, Anderson substituted on the field, along with captain Ben Stokes, who had opted not to play on the first day.
Jacob Bethell and Rehan Ahmed will join the rest of the team in Christchurch on Monday after a few days off following the white-ball tour of the Caribbean which ended last week. Cox’s replacement should be on deck within the next 48 hours.
