Australia v New Zealand: Kiwi bowler Trent Boult sent home with broken hand

If facing up to another massive defeat at the hands of Australia wasn’t bad enough, the Black Caps will now have to do without their premier paceman for the final Test in Sydney.

Trent Boult inspects his hand after he was struck by a delivery at the MCG on Saturday. An X-Ray showed it was broken. Picture: AAP

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New Zealand’s nightmare tour of Australia hit a new low on Saturday night when star bowler Trent Boult was booked on a flight home with a busted right hand.

Boult, 30, suffered a fracture to the second metacarpal of his right hand while batting at the MCG on Saturday and an X-ray during the tea break confirmed he would miss Friday’s Test match at the SCG.

The left-arm swing bowler will be sidelined for a month and is due to jet home after the MCG Test, joining speed demon Lockie Ferguson (calf) on the sidelines.

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Trent Boult inspects his hand after he was struck by a delivery at the MCG on Saturday.

“It’s obviously gutting news for Trent as well as our group,” opener Tom Latham said.

“To have someone like that ruled out with his injury is obviously disappointing.

“So we’ll have to wait and see who the replacement is over the next few days. I’m sure whoever will come in will be up for the task.”

The Kiwis attack has been ground into the dirt by the Aussies, with captain Tim Paine opting not to enforce the follow-on for the second time in as many Tests on Saturday.

Trent Boult bowling at the MCG. Picture: Getty Images

Neil Wagner has sent down 111 taxing overs this series while Tim Southee has delivered 94.4 overs.

Conversely, Australia’s attack has had a small workload with Mitchell Starc (44.5 overs), Pat Cummins (50.4 overs) and James Pattinson (15 overs) still relatively fresh.

Latham said the Aussie quicks were “pretty relentless” after his team was bowled out for 148, failing to reach 200 runs for the third time in a row.

“Fair play to Australia. They were relentless and didn’t let us have anything unfortunately,” Latham said.

“The way they executed was spot-on from a bowling point of view and unfortunately we didn’t handle it the way would have wanted today.”

Originally published as Australia v New Zealand: Kiwi bowler Trent Boult sent home with broken hand