New Zealand captain Sophie Devine ruled out of fifth T20I against England with quad injury

Wellington [New Zealand], March 28 (ANI): New Zealand captain Sophie Devine has been ruled out of the fifth T20I against England due to a quad injury she sustained while bowling in the fourth T20I in Wellington on Wednesday. Devine will remain with the squad in Wellington and participate in a rehabilitation regimen that will determine her availability for the ODI series against England, which begins on Monday at the Cello Basin Reserve. New Zealand Georgia Plimmer, a batter, has been summoned into the squad as Devine's replacement and will join the team in Wellington today.

"A subsequent scan in Wellington this morning confirmed Devine had sustained a grade one quad strain which would require a short period of rehabilitation," New Zealand Cricket (NZC) on Thursday stated in an official statement.

NZ head coach Ben Sawyer expressed hope that Devine would be available to participate in the ODI series.

"We're obviously disappointed for Sophie, but the focus is now to make her available for as much of the ODI series as possible. Sophie will be monitored over the next few days and that will give us a better idea of what her availability is before the first game on Monday," Sawyer said in an official statement.

"The ODI series is an important series for us with ODI Championship points on the line so we're hopeful that Sophie will make a quick recovery," he added.

New Zealand would badly want Devine to be in the mix when the ODIs begin, having lost the T20I series with one game to play. Devine has been one of New Zealand's best performers in the series thus far, hitting 77 runs in two innings at a strike rate of 150.98 while taking four wickets. (ANI)