Ben Curran to miss South Africa Tests with hand fracture

Zimbabwe opener Ben Curran sustained a fracture in the right hand on the second day of warm-up game against South Africa at Arundel.

The left-handed batter was hit by a Kagiso Rabada delivery in the fifth over of Zimbabwe’s innings and was treated at the ground before being taken for an X-ray, which confirmed the fracture. He had to retire hurt after scoring four runs. Curran is unlikely to need surgery but could spend around four to six weeks out of professional cricket. This fracture also rules him out of Zimbabwe’s home Tests against the Proteas later in June.

Curran, who made his debut for Zimbabwe in December 2024, has played six Tests so far, including the most recent one against England. He also played in six ODIs. Curran is yet to be capped in the T20I format. The left-hander opened the batting in all the red-ball games he has played so far, and performed the same role in the warm-up match as well.

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Speaking about the match, South Africa declared on 313 for 2 after batting for 79 overs. This gave the Proteas an hour to bowl at Zimbabwe at the end of the day. Rabada and Marco Jansen shared the new ball and bowled with immense pace.

Rabada hit Curran and then had Brian Bennett caught at gully to provide the Proteas their first wicket. Rabada was replaced by Lungi Ngidi, who broke Nick Welch’s bat during the end of the day’s play.

There has been only one day of play so far, with the opening day being washed out and the third day also looks likely the same situation in terms of weather. It was confirmed that there will be no play until at least the second session on Thursday.

The next day (Friday) weather also looks bad, which meant South Africa head to London for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia with less match practice. The Proteas will have three days of training at Lord’s, where the final begins on June 11.

Zimbabwe will return home after the warm-up fixture and will prepare for South Africa’s two Tests which begin on June 28 in Bulawayo. They will also host the T20I tri-series with South Africa and New Zealand. They will host the Kiwis for two Tests, the T20 World Cup Qualifiers and two Tests against Afghanistan later in 2025.