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In the great game of cricket, an opportunity lost for one, usually means an opportunity gained by another. And in giving a perfect demonstration of this, New Zealand's Nathan Smith, who's just played three Tests so far, has made way for newcomer Zak Foulkes owing to the all-rounder incurring an injury in the contests against Zimbabwe.
This means that Foulkes, who most recently played T20 internationals in the tri-series featuring Zimbabwe and South Africa, could get a chance to make his Test debut for New Zealand, who about to feature in the next second Test versus Zimbabwe at the Queens Sports Club in Zimbabwe. Nathan Smith, currently is sidelined because of an abdominal strain and may take up to a few weeks in order to return back to the BlackCaps side.
While New Zealand comprehensively won the opening Test match against a Zimbabwe powered by Ervine and Williams, and by a margin of seven wickets, the next Test match away is just days away with the action slated for August 7 of this month. It is understood that Nathan Smith could well take up to four weeks, at the most, to mark a comeback, as reported by CricBuzz, the opportunity to play against Zimbabwe will be accepted gladly by the emerging talent in the form of Zak Foulkes.
Zak Foulkes has 57 First-class wickets to his name in 19 matches
The 23-year-old Canterbury born fast bowler with a proclivity to hit the deck hard has already picked up 57 First-class wickets from just 19 games and 15 T20 international wickets in his brief and emerging BlackCaps career. His economy rate being under 8 an over, as per the present day stats, do offer great hope for his country to mount a significant challenge in its next endeavour against Zimbabwe.
On the other hand, with the confirmed news about Brendan Taylor marking a return to the Zimbabwean Test side, having sat out of international cricket following a three-and-a-half-year ban, leaves the Ervine-led side pretty confident in what's to come ahead. Make way to note some exciting cricketing action up on the cards.
