Devon Conway collided with Matt Henry going for a catch, and the concussion rules him out of the Eden Park opener
New Zealand have lost a third top-order batter before a ball is bowled in the ODI series against India, and Tim Seifert is set for a direct swap.
Nov 3, 2026
Devon Conway will miss the first ODI against India at Eden Park on Wednesday. He and Matt Henry ran into each other going for the same catch during New Zealand’s fielding session at the ground on Tuesday, and Conway was taken to hospital, where tests confirmed a concussion.
Both players were treated on the field and went through head injury assessments. New Zealand Cricket said both would keep being monitored and that it would update their status for the rest of the series later. Henry is still in contention for the opener.
“Another one of those freak accidents”
Mitchell Santner did not pretend it was nothing. “It didn’t look great, to be fair,” the captain said at his pre-match press conference, calling it “another one of those freak accidents that happens”. Henry, he said, “seems okay”.
Tim Seifert is next in line. Santner called him the back-up batter and said it would “probably be a direct swap”.
New Zealand have had a run of these. Rachin Ravindra dislocated his shoulder diving for a catch at a promotional shoot in September, and he and Mark Chapman, who has a hamstring problem, were already out of all five ODIs. Henry only rejoined the squad after sitting out the last three T20Is with a low-grade tear in his right quadriceps. Losing a third top-order batter to a training drill the day before the series is a lot.
A batter India know well
Conway has hurt India in this format before. He made 138 against them in Indore in January 2023, though India still won that game by 90 runs and took the series 3-0. Without him and Ravindra, New Zealand’s top order on Wednesday leans on Will Young, Daryl Mitchell and Henry Nicholls, who was called up for the first three games after making 119 for Canterbury in the Ford Trophy.
India have Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli back in the side, Shubman Gill as captain and a 3-2 T20I series win behind them. What they do not have is a recent ODI win in New Zealand. The last one was in Wellington in February 2019.
The first ball is at 3pm in Auckland, 7:30am IST on Wednesday 4 November. The second ODI is in Wellington on 7 November.