Blackcaps opener Martin Guptill has been ruled out of the third and final Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka in Kandy on Saturday morning (NZT).
Guptill hasn't recovered from the abdominal strain that forced him out of the second T20 on Wednesday and - with the series already wrapped up 2-0 - will play no part in the dead rubber. He'll instead return immediately to New Zealand for treatment.
His absence is the latest blow to the squad, which has suffered a slew of injuries through the series.
Ross Taylor missed the second match with a hip complaint, Tom Bruce tweaked his knee while batting, and Lockie Ferguson is dealing with a fractured thumb.
But fears of not having enough bodies to fill the team have been allayed, with confirmation from coach Gary Stead that Taylor - at the very least - has been cleared for action.
"Ross could've played if we'd desperately needed him to," said Stead. "We just wanted to take the sensible measure of not putting him under undue pressure when we didn;t need to."
They're also monitoring Bruce's progress and remain quietly confident he'll be ready to go come the weekend.
"We've still got 48 hours or so to the next match, so we'll see how he pulls through."
Newshub.
