Mitchell Santner injury blow for Worcestershire

Mitchell Santner has been ruled out of the rest of Worcestershire Rapids’ NatWest T20 Blast campaign after fracturing his finger.

The New Zealander suffered the injury while fielding in the opening Twenty20 match of the season against Durham Jets at New Road last Friday.

He will return home to have surgery after the Midlands county said there was a complication in his recovery.

Steve Rhodes, the Rapids' director of cricket, said losing the all-rounder is "a massive blow."

He said: "To our campaign in the T20 Blast, it is a massive blow because he is a player who is such an exciting talent in all formats of the game - but particularly T20.

"To have him in the first game and then miss him is just a real blow to our club.

"Mitch is gutted himself. We were very optimistic he would come back from the injury but sadly he needed surgery.

"Maybe another time he would consider coming back to us and we would get some benefit out of him in another season."

Santner, who was scheduled to play throughout the entire group stage of the T20 competition, made only two appearances.

The Rapids defeated the Birmingham Bears by five wickets at Edgbaston on Friday.