London: Pace bowler Trent Boult, who left for home to rest instead of travelling with New Zealand squad to United Kingdom after suspension of Indian Premier League (IPL), will likely play second Test against England that begins on June 10 at Edgbaston and acts as warm-up for World Test Championship (WTC) final against India.
“There is a chance,” New Zealand coach Gary Stead told media after the end of first Test against England at Lord’s on Sunday.
“There are a few things that have changed since I first said that [Boult wouldn’t play] a few weeks ago. The British government has relaxed their quarantine stipulations here, and Trent’s actually out of isolation.
“The original plan, with the information we had at the time, was that we were not going to play him in the second Test and that two or three days’ training would not be enough to get him to where we needed,” he added.
Boult had expressed his willingness to play the second Test immediately after Stead had said he won’t play last week. Stead said that since the left-arm seamer will be getting free from quarantine three days earlier, he will get to play.
Boult reached London from New Zealand on Friday.
“Being out of isolation three days earlier than anticipated does put a slightly different spin on things. Trent is more keen [to play] than he was a week ago as he is over here now and part of the environment but it’s too early to make that call now,” said Stead.
“He has only been here 48 hours and he is probably still a bit jet-lagged. We have to weigh up all the pros and cons and the risks before we make that decision,” added Stead.