Jos Buttler Doubtful for England; Daryll Mitchell to make a Debut for New Zealand

England might have some concerns over their wicket-keeping for the second test against New Zealand with Jos Buttler known to have a niggle in his back.

England captain Joe Root confirmed that Buttler had a back problem during a gym session, and his availability for the second test starting from Friday is doubtful.

“Jos has tweaked his back in the gym,” Root said. “We’ll have to find out a little bit more information on that throughout today and see where he’s at.”

Root also said that, if Buttler is unavailable for the match, Ollie Pope will be given the responsibility behind the wickets. According to Root, his team are still trying to find the right combination for the upcoming game, which will depend on the conditions.

“There’s a number of different combinations we could go with and I think a lot of that will rely on the surface,” Root said. “Trying to find the best combination which would take 20 wickets and then balancing that in terms of getting the batting where we want it to be. It could be an allrounder, we’ll see.”

As for New Zealand, they seem to have their own injury concerns with Trent Boult and Colin de Granhomme already ruled out of the second test.

Ross Taylor said that Daryl Mitchell will make his test debut for New Zealand in place of de Grandhomme.

“Daryl Mitchell is making his test debut, so that is very exciting for him,” Taylor told reporters on Thursday.

“Colin de Grandhomme has (left) some very big shoes to fill but he (Mitchell) has had some experience at Twenty20 level and had a very good campaign on the first-class scene.”

For Trent Boult, it can be expected that Lockie Ferguson might earn a call-up, unless New Zealand look to go in with two spinners.