Henry, Santner, Nathan Smith ruled out of rest of West Indies Test series
Uncapped Northern Districts seam-bowling allrounder Kristian Clarke called up as reinforcement
Deivarayan Muthu
08-Dec-2025 • 1 hr ago
Matt Henry is nursing a calf injury • ICC via Getty Images
New Zealand's bowling spearhead Matt Henry, seam-bowling allrounder Nathan Smith and spin-bowling allrounder Mitchell Santner have all been ruled out of the rest of the home Test series against West Indies.
Wicketkeeper-batter Tom Blundell had already been sidelined from the second Test in Wellington after suffering a hamstring injury while batting on day one in Christchurch. Mitchell Hay has been added to the squad and could make his Test debut.
A day after uncapped seamer Michael Rae was called up to the Test squad, Kristian Clarke, a seam-bowling allrounder from Northern Districts, was added to it. With Kyle Jamieson and Will O'Rourke managing "return to play" protocols, New Zealand were left scrambling for last-minute replacements, with the Wellington Test set to begin on November 10.
Both Rae and Clarke were pulled out of the third round of the Plunket Shield. Clarke didn't bowl for ND in the final innings against Otago in Hamilton, with rookie James Naylor stepping in as his replacement.
Clarke, 24, is uncapped in Test cricket, but was recently part of the ODI series against England as a replacement player after Henry had suffered a separate calf injury. He has now earned his maiden Test call-up as a like-for-like replacement for Smith.
"On the cricket field, I'm a bowling allrounder, you know, and I pride myself on trying to offer as much as I can in the game," Clarke said in October after breaking into the ODI side. "I just want to be a good person around the group also and just offer as much as I can."
Clarke has played 27 first-class games so far, taking 77 wickets at an average of 33 and scoring 893 runs at an average of 23.50. He was also part of a New Zealand A tour to Bangladesh during the winter. Though bowling is his primary skill, Kristian is also a capable batter and had notched up his maiden century in senior cricket, against Central Districts in the one-day Ford Trophy, in October.
Clarke hails from Te Awamutu, a small town in the Waikato region and played for Waikato Valley in the Hawke Cup before rising up the ranks in New Zealand cricket. His brother Matti Clarke has also played for Waikato Valley in the Hawke Cup.
Daryl Mitchell could be back in action in the second Test against West Indies•Getty Images
"Yeah, so [I was] born and raised in Te Awamutu, [and I] still live in Te Awamutu, still at home," Clarke said. "I hold Te Amuru very dear to my heart - it's a cool little town and yeah, quiet little place. Just sort of grew up through the cricket system there and then yeah, sort of just went from there."
While Blair Tickner, who was the reserve seamer at Hagley Oval, comes into the selection frame for Wellington, there might be a toss-up between Rae and Clarke for a potential Test debut at Basin Reserve.
In better news for New Zealand, Daryl Mitchell, who put in a long shift as a substitute fielder in the first Test, is set to be available for the second and slot back in as their middle-order mainstay. Glenn Phillips, who proved his match fitness in the Plunket Shield and later fielded in the first Test, could be in contention to be selected for the second.
The first Test was drawn after West Indies, faced with a 530-run deficit in the fourth innings, held on for 163.3 overs to pull off a draw, with Justin Greaves (202 not out) and Shai Hope (140) their main men with the bat
New Zealand squad for second Test vs West Indies
Tom Latham (capt), Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Hay (wk), Michael Bracewell, Zak Foulkes, Jacob Duffy, Blair Tickner, Michael Rae, Kristian ClarkeDeivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
