New Zealand fast bowler Tim Southee will undergo thumb surgery on Thursday and a decision on his participation in the upcoming World Cup in India will be taken next week, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) said.

The 34-year-old dislocated and fractured his thumb while attempting to take a catch in the fourth and final one-day international against England on Friday.

“A decision on the senior pace bowler’s availability for the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup in India will be made early next week once the results of the surgery are known,” NZC said in a statement on Wednesday.

New Zealand play champions England in their World Cup opener on Oct. 5 and head coach Gary Stead said Southee would be given “every chance” to play a part in their campaign.

“We’ve got our fingers crossed the surgery goes well for Tim,” Stead said.

“He’ll have some pins or screws inserted in his right thumb and, providing the procedure is a success, it will be a matter of ensuring Tim can tolerate the pain and manage the actual wound when returning to train and play.”

New Zealand have sent a second-string squad to play a three-match ODI series in Bangladesh beginning on Thursday.

 England named batter Harry Brook at the expense of Jason Roy on Sunday in the squad for their 50-over World Cup title defence.

Brook, who was left out of England’s provisional World Cup squad, made the cut despite a string of failures in the recent series against New Zealand.

But he was impressive in the Indian Premier League and the Hundred so skipper Jos Buttler has kept faith with the 24-year-old, saying last month the door was not closed for Brook.

Dawid Malan, who plundered 277 runs in three ODIs against New Zealand to be named player of the series, also made the squad and is a firm favourite to open the batting for England.

With Roy sidelined due to a back injury, Malan opened the batting against New Zealand and the 36-year-old became the joint-fastest Englishman to get to 1,000 ODI runs, reaching the mark in 21 innings to match Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott.

“We have selected a squad we are confident can go to India and win the World Cup,” England men’s national selector Luke Wright said in a statement.

“We are blessed with an incredibly strong group of white-ball players which was underlined by the performances in the series win against a very good New Zealand team.

“The strength of the group has meant that we have had to make some tough decisions on world-class players, with Jason Roy missing out and Harry Brook coming into the squad.”

Roy, who was an integral part of the England side which won the 2019 World Cup, gave up his incremental contract with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in May to play more franchise cricket.

England all-rounder and test captain Ben Stokes also returns having reversed his decision to retire from ODIs.

Stokes, who starred in England’s victorious 2019 campaign on home soil, warmed up for the World Cup by smashing 235 runs in three innings against New Zealand.

It included a knock of 182 off 124 deliveries — England’s highest individual ODI score ever — in the third match earlier this week.

Bowlers Adil Rashid and Mark Wood were injury doubts but both were named in the squad.

England begin their World Cup defence with the first match of the tournament when they take on New Zealand in Ahmedabad on Oct. 5 in a rematch of the 2019 final.

England squad:

Jos Buttler (captain), Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes 

Pakistan hold onto the No 1 spot at the end of Asia Cup 2023 despite their early exit and India’s thumping win over Sri Lanka in the final.

Australia too squandered their chance to go on top of the rankings after the series loss to South Africa.

Aussies were 2-0 ahead in the series before the hosts launched an impressive comeback and won three back-to-back games to complete a series victory on Sunday.

The loss to Bangladesh ahead of the final hurt India’s chances of going to the top of the rankings and even a record-breaking win, sealed in just over six overs, against Sri Lanka did not see them climb to the top. 

Australia are no longer in the box seat to be the No1 ranked side at the start of the World Cup after the series loss to South Africa. They will need to whitewash India in the series to go into the World Cup as the No 1 ranked team.

However, if Australia start the series with two wins, they will go on top of the rankings until the final ODI at least.

India are in prime position to go to the top of the rankings if they can register a series win over Australia at home in the series starting on Sept 22. In fact, a win in the first ODI will see India upstage Pakistan to become the No 1 ranked team across all three formats of the game.

Rohit Sharma’s side are coming off a spectacular Asia Cup win and they could reach the No 1 position as early as Friday next week by defeating Australia in the first ODI in Mohali.

Pakistan’s chances of obtaining the No 1 ranking at the start of the World Cup took a massive dent when they lost their final Super Four match at the Asia Cup to Sri Lanka.

With no official ODI matches scheduled for Pakistan prior to the start of the World Cup, their hopes of entering the tournament with the No 1 ranking will depend on how the India-Australia series goes.

They could still regain the top ranking if Australia and India continue to lose, but the fact these two teams are scheduled to play each other at the end of the month means one of them would then reclaim the premier position.