Pace bowler Stuart Broad will return for England for the first Test in their two-match series against New Zealand which starts here on Thursday.

Broad, 36, was absent from head coach Brendon McCullum’s team for England’s 3-0 series win over Pakistan in December following the birth of his daughter. He joins James Anderson and Ollie Robinson in England’s pace attack.

The match is going ahead despite a state of emergency being declared in New Zealand due to Cyclone Gabrille, which has brought widespread flooding, landslides and forced evacuations in the North Island.

While Broad’s return will bolster England’s attack, New Zealand suffered dual blows before the first game.

Towering paceman Kyle Jamieson will not play due to a suspected stress fracture in his back, while bowler Matt Henry will miss the first Test, the New Zealand team said on Tuesday.

Henry is awaiting the birth of his first child in Christ church and will not be available at Bay Oval on Thursday.

New Zealand have called up uncapped duo Jacob Duffy (Otago Volts) and Scott Kuggeleijn (Northern Districts) for the opener — only the second day-night Test they have hosted.

Jamieson’s injury is a reoccurrence of the one that ruled him out of the England Test tour in June, said head coach Gary Stead.

“While Kyle’s not feeling any pain, the evidence is pretty clear he has a stress fracture and so he’ll return to Christchurch today and have a CT scan on Friday before we decide on the next steps,” he said.

Motie spins a WI record

Gudakesh Motie, who broke Sonny Ramadhin’s long-standing record. Twitter

Bulawayo: Spinner Gudakesh Motie set a new benchmark for West Indies cricket with the best return from a Test spinner as he bowled his side to an innings-and-fourrun victory over Zimbabwe in the second Test on Tuesday. The series also went to the Caribbean side as the first Test was drawn.

It was the best-ever Test match performance by a spinner for the Windies as Motie took 13/99 in the match, surpassing a mark that had stood for seven decades.

The left-arm spinner bettered Sonny Ramadhin’s 11/152 against England when the Windies had won at Lord’s for the first time in 1950.

Brief scores: Zimbabwe 115 & 173. West Indies 292. West Indies won by an innings and 4 runs.

Written with inputs from Reuters