ICC World Cup | After Williamson, now Southee to miss NZ’s opener against England

Already dealing with the absence of regular skipper Kane Williamson, New Zealand will play the ICC World Cup opener against England without key pacer Tim Southee, who is yet to recover from his thumb surgery.

Already dealing with the absence of regular skipper Kane Williamson, New Zealand will play the World Cup-opener against England on Thursday without key pacer Tim Southee, who is yet to recover from his thumb surgery.

Stand-in captain Tom Latham said Southee is making good progress after undergoing surgery last month to treat his fractured right thumb.

Southee had suffered the injury while attempting a catch offered by Joe Root at the Lord's in a recent series which they lost 1-3.

Williamson had also underwent surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament in April and is yet to make a comeback to competitive cricket, though he played in Kiwis' warm-up games ahead of the World Cup.

"Obviously no Kane and no Tim as well. He's unavailable for selection just in terms of what happened to his thumb a couple of weeks ago, but he's recovering nicely," Latham told reporters on the eve of the tournament-opener.

"I think he's nearly two weeks post-surgery so fingers crossed he can keep recovering. It's a bit of a day-by-day process with him in terms of what that looks like too. But fingers crossed he'll be available sooner rather than later as well," Latham said.

The New Zealand skipper insisted that the outcome of their recent series as well as what happened in the World Cup final four years ago would not have any bearing when they clash with the defending champions.