Cricket: Tuffey's hand injury gives selectors a last-minute headache

Daryl Tuffey faces a six-week layoff after breaking a bone in his left hand during the first test against Australia. Photo / Doug Sherring

Daryl Tuffey has broken a bone in his hand that will require surgery, ruling him out of cricket for six weeks and leaving a selection conundrum for the second test.

Australian speedster Mitchell Johnson hit Tuffey on the left hand while batting and x-rays confirmed a break. He will undergo surgery tomorrow.

Although Tuffey failed to distinguish himself with the ball, going wicketless, his runs at No 8 are important, particularly with the poor tail behind him. His injury could mean a reprieve for Tim Southee, who endured a miserable test.

A nod was given in the direction of Jeetan Patel for Hamilton, but that solves only part of the equation.

"We'll go into a selection meeting and think about what the right balance is," captain Daniel Vettori said. "Jeetan Patel, we'll look to include him if the wicket suits it.

"You could logically guess that he would have come in for Tim [Southee], it may mean a change in thinking now."

The lack of penetration from his bowlers was concerning to Vettori, who noted sadly they only managed to get a quarter of the way through the required 20 wickets to win a test, but the biggest debate will be whether to include an extra batsman to shore up the notoriously flimsy top five.

"Well I think it [the batting order] needs a run-scoring extra batsman," Vettori said.

"It's all well and good to pick someone, but most of our runs came from Brendon [McCullum] and myself so if you brought another batsman in it would just push us down. Whether that's the right approach I'm not sure."

Still, it wouldn't have done Mathew Sinclair's chances any harm that he notched his 30th first-class century in Auckland yesterday. You would think at the very least he was travelling 90 minutes down State Highway 1 last night, rather than a flight to his Hawkes Bay home.

If the Vettori-McCullum axis at numbers six and seven is considered sacrosanct, there is a chance he could come in for Peter Ingram at No 3.

It would be a harsh call on Ingram, but you would back a confident Sinclair to have a better chance of scoring runs against a good Australian attack than a player whose confidence will be down after twin failures in Wellington.

James Franklin, too, picked the perfect time to score big runs for Wellington. He failed to impress as a test No 6, but would offer protection at No 8 and some left-arm variety at the crease.

The test side will be named this morning.