Batsman Hamilton Masakadza will for the first tim in 15 Tests (half a decade) miss a Test match after he was on Friday ruled out of the second Test against new Zealand at Queens Sports Club with a back injury.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/JustIn?src=hash">#JustIn</a>: Hamilton Masakadza has been ruled out of second Test against New Zealand. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ZIMvsNZ?src=hash">#ZIMvsNZ</a></p>&mdash; CricWizz (@CricWizz) <a href="https://twitter.com/CricWizz/status/761578292487004160">August 5, 2016</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

While most of the Chevrons had succumbed to an illness of some sort, they have since recovered save for Masakadza while Sean Williams is reported to have “some mild coughs” though fit to play together with Tino Mawoyo, who suffered a thumb injury.

With 30 Tests to his name, Masakadza’s number three role is likely to be taken over by Sikandar Raza or Craig Ervine.

Having appeared in all the matches since Zimbabwe made a Test return five years ago, this would be the first time in 15 Tests (half a decade) that Masakadza will be missing a Test match.