Mawoyo ruled out of first Test against New Zealand due to thumb injury

Zimbabwe have been dealt a major blow on Wednesday (July 27) ahead of their first Test against New Zealand with opener Tino Mawoyo failing to recover from the thumb injury he sustained in the warm-up match in Harare. After the selectors dropped Vusi Sibanda for this series, Prince Masvaure has now emerged as the leading candidate to replace Mawoyo in the playing XI.


Mawoyo got struck on his right thumb in the first over in Zimbabwe A's first innings and took no further part in the match. He went for an x-ray immediately as a precaution which revealed no fracture. He continued to travel with the team hoping for a swift recovery but is now anxiously waiting to see if he can take part in the second Test on August 6, also at Bulawayo.
 
Mawoyo had been in decent form ahead of the series having hit an unbeaten 79 earlier this month against South Africa A in a four-day game in Harare. Masvaure scored an unbeaten 88 in the same match and went on to score 277 runs in the series at an impressive average of 92.33.
 
The hosts are already without the services of seamers Tinashe Panyangara and Tendai Chatara for this series with the latter injuring his ankle during the same warm-up match against New Zealand. Panyangara, on the other hand, was ignored after failing to recover from his back injury.
 
Zimbabwe are returning to the Test fold after nearly two years, having lost 3-0 away to Bangladesh in their previous assignment in October-November 2014.