Latham’s Bears arrival delayed by hand injury

Before this week’s Plunket Shield game in Wellington, wicketkeeper Latham, 32, broke his finger while practicing in the nets for his domestic club Canterbury.

In any case, the Bears’ opening game against Sussex, which will start at Edgbaston on April 5th, was already scheduled to miss the New Zealand Test captain.

However, he may now be sidelined for a few more games in addition.

Bears’ captain Alex Davies reported to BBC Sport that Tom was “always missing the first game.” However, he has now caused a little harm to his hand, so we have to wait until next week to see if he can.

Rob Yates and I always had the opening act, with Tom joining at three. Rob has now earned England Lions recognition and established himself as the leader of the pack.

Following the premature retirement of Michael Burgess over the winter, Davies admits that he, Latham, and highly regarded 20-year-old Kai Smith, who are all in the running for his Bears first team debut, are all in the frame.

Davies remarked, “We haven’t yet made that call.” Of course, I spent years doing it with Lancashire, but Tom [Latham] can also be a substitute when he’s fit.

Davies, who is currently the county captain for Warwickshire, cannot conceal the desire to win the title.

Prior to their most recent success four summers ago under the now-defunct Will Rhodes, Lancashire’s books included him when they ended their long title drought in 2011, the year before the Bears won it in 2012. The Bears’ team also included new first-team coach Ian Westwood, the replacement when Mark Robinson was fired on February 13, and he was listed on Lancashire’s books when they finally won it in 2012.

Although I was the only academy player there in 2011, Davies recalled how he felt the buzz while watching it. “Warwickshire has won two of their past matches.” There are many men in this dressing room, Westy one of whom is a master.

After a 2024 summer that the Bears only won once out of 14 games, Davies acknowledges that a lot of work must be done.

He said, “Last season was a middling year.” Sometimes we played really good cricket, but there were also times when we weren’t quite good enough.

“It’s all about being consistent and eradicating those awful days.” We must correct that because we had too many injuries and were unable to take 20 wickets.