No Retirement! Tim Southee Hints Neil Wagner Could Be Recalled for New Zealand's 2nd Test vs Australia

Tim Southee hinted that New Zealand may cal upon to Neil Wagner to go back on his retirement and pla y thr second Test against Australia, which gets underway in Christchurch from Friday, after Will O’Rourke suffered an injury during the first in Wellington, which the hosts lost by a mamoth 172 runs.

O’Rourke could manage only five balls in his eighth over as he sustained a hamstring issue and was forced off the field for the entirety of the Australia second innings. Wagner had stepped in as the subsitute fielder.

The young pacer is set to be assessed in the coming days.

“We haven’t had a lot of discussions as yet,” Southee said after match.

“We’ll see how Will scrubs up. The physio hasn’t sort of put a timeframe on it or how bad it is. We’ll just wait and see how Will goes over the next couple of days. I’m sure there’ll be an update in the next 24 hours.”

“We obviously have to go on and make a decision on who comes in and what role we sort of see that playing out in Christchurch.”

“[Wagner’s] had a great reception here over the last week where he got a couple of moments on the field and obviously he’s been a fan favorite for a long time,” Southee added.

Wagner had tearfully called time on his 64-test career after being informed he would not be selected in the series against Australia, having made his test debut against the West Indies in 2012.

The fiery short-ball specialist had said he would leave the squad before the start of next week’s second Test in Christchurch.

Though born and raised in Pretoria, and 12th man for South Africa in two tests, Wagner migrated to New Zealand in 2008 and proved instrumental in his adopted nation’s rise to the world number one ranking and the inaugural World Test Championship title in 2021.

While completing a four-year, stand-down period from international cricket to become eligible for New Zealand, Wagner.

Only Richard Hadlee, current captain Tim Southee, Daniel Vettori and Trent Boult have taken more Test wickets for New Zealand than Wagner.

(With inputs from Agencies)