Cricket: Marshall is latest on injured list

By RICHARD BOOCK

BLOEMFONTEIN - Hamish Marshall has become the latest casualty on the New Zealand cricket team's tour of South Africa.

The 21-year-old batsman suffered a gash to the knee late last night, which needed six stitches, and is not expected to be fit to play for a week - ruling him out of tour games against Boland at Alice, and East London.

The only remaining games on the tour are the back-to-back tests at Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg, and Marshall, selected as much for development as anything else, was unlikely to play in those anyway. However, manager Jeff Crowe said a replacement would probably not be sought by New Zealand, which leaves the side without a backup batsman for the business end of the tour.

Marshall apparently spiked himself during warmups before the final day's play in the first test, suffering a similar type of injury to the one which hampered Craig Spearman's tour of Zimbabwe.

Physiotherapist Mark Harrison said he expected the stitches would be removed from Marshall's wound in a week, and his fitness could be more accurately assessed.