Kiwi cricketer ruled out of T20 final after punching bat

That's one way to be ruled out of a World Cup final

New Zealand cricketer Devon Conway has been ruled out of Sunday's T20 World Cup final against Australia after breaking his hand punching his own bat. The 30-year-old left-hander suffered the injury when he smacked his bat in anger after being dismissed in the Black Caps' semi-final win over England on Wednesday. After having a scan on his hand, it was revealed that the batsman had broke his fifth metacarpal in his right hand.

"He's absolutely gutted to be ruled out like this at this time," coach Gary Stead said.

"He's very remorseful with himself and feels as though he has let the team down. We know we'll miss him.

"It looked a pretty innocuous reactionary incident on the field, but the blow obviously caught the bat between the glove padding and while it's not the smartest thing he's done there's certainly an element of bad luck in the injury."

https://twitter.com/BLACKCAPS/status/1458860317681741824

Conway - who has kept wicket in New Zealand's past five games - was stumped off Liam Livingstone for 46. 

The wicketkeeper-batsman - who featured for Southern Brave in The Hundred - has scored 129 runs in six innings, scoring at an average of 32.25 in the World Cup.

In June, Conway scored a double ton in the first Test against England (200 from 357 balls) to become the seventh batsman and second New Zealander - after Matt Sinclair against West Indies in 1999 - to score a double ton in his first Test

His injury will also see him miss the two-Test series in India which begins on 25 November.

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