Henry was injured with a major fitness worry for New Zealand fast bowler before the Champions Trophy final against India in Dubai scheduled for Sunday. At present, Henry tops the tournament wicket-taker table with eight wickets.
Henry caught five wickets in a match against India last week in Group A.
While taking a catch from a low angle of Heinrich Klaasen, Matt Henry injured his shoulder in New Zealand’s semifinal victory over South Africa at Lahore during the earlier week. The shoulder niggle saw him hobbled off the field.
However, the 33-year-old came back towards the end of the innings and bowled two more overs, with a wicket of Kagiso Rabada.
“Matt obviously landed on his shoulder, which was pretty uncomfortable. I guess the positive thing from our perspective is that he got back out there to bowl. We’ve had some scans done on him,” said New Zealand head coach Gary Stead to reporters on Friday.
Stead is positive that Henry will recover in time for the title clash.
“We’re going to give him every chance to be playing in this match, so still a little bit unknown at this stage. He’s obviously pretty sore just from landing on the point of his shoulder, but yeah, hopefully he will be okay,” he said.
New Zealand last Sunday flew to Dubai for their last and third group match against India before heading to Pakistan for the semifinal showdown with South Africa in Lahore on Wednesday.
The Kiwis return to Dubai, where the final will be played.
Stead mentions that the players have been going through an intense schedule but little time to recover.
“There’s no doubt that coming here off playing Lahore and we had a full day of travel yesterday, then it just takes it out of you a little bit, but we’ve got a couple of days now of a little bit of recovery and planning and training towards the game,” he said.
