As the ODI World Cup 2023 is all set to start from Thursday with the match between England and New Zealand at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, there are crucial players who are still going through injuries which is a big headache for the teams to endure. New Zealand are slated to miss the presence of their experienced players skipper Kane Williamson and pacer Tim Southee who both are set to miss the New Zealand’s World Cup opener against England on Thursday. New Zealand's Stand-in skipper Tom Latham provided update on Tim Southee and Kane Williamson while confirming their unavailability. 

“Yeah i guess any team that doesn’t have Kane in it is obviously…we’d certainly be better off having him. But I think from our point of view for him to be here, to be at the World Cup is a testament to, I think the work that he’s put on over the last four to five months to be where he is,” Tom Latham said while addressing the press conference. 

“So for him it’s a day by day process in terms of where his recovery is at. He’s obviously played a little bit of a part of the last two warm-up games. You know he’s been batting beautifully which is great to see and he was out in the field a couple of days ago so he’s progressing really nicely and fingers crossed he’s on the park sooner rather than later,” Latham stated.

Speaking on Tim Southee’s absence, Tom Latham said that Southee is making nice progress and will be available sooner rather than later. 

“He is unavailable for selection just in terms of what happened to his thumb a couple of weeks ago, but he’s recovering nicely. I think he’s nearly two weeks post-surgery so fingers crossed he can keep recovering and 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.