Injured Southee out of Champions League Twenty20

A knee injury has ruled out Tim Southee
from the Champions League Twenty20

Tim Southee, the New Zealand and Chennai Super Kings seamer, will miss the Champions League Twenty20 after injuring his knee. He was supposed to join the Chennai team this week but will remain in New Zealand to undergo treatment.

"Tim has suffered some cartilage damage to his left knee while preparing for the Champions League.," John Buchanan, the New Zealand director of cricket, said. "He requires further assessment to determine the seriousness of the injury but initial signs indicate that he is unlikely to require surgery.

"He will undergo a period of intense rehabilitation and attempt to return to training shortly." Whether or not he will be available for New Zealand's tour of Zimbabwe next month will be made known later, Buchanan said.

Southee won the ICC Twenty20 Performance of the Year award for his spell of 5 for 18 against Pakistan in Auckland. He has picked up 74 wickets in 59 Twenty20 matches at 23.05 but has been expensive, conceding 8.07 runs an over. He'd been in good form of late in Twenty20 cricket and took 6 for 16, including a hat-trick, for Essex against Glamorgan in the Friends Life T20 in July.

Chennai, the defending champions, play their first Champions League game on September 24.