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Mason Crane replaced by Jack Leach for New Zealand Tests

The 21-year-old Hampshire spinner has a lower back stress fracture and will return to England

Mason Crane will miss the remainder of England’s tour of New Zealand with a back injury and will be replaced by Somerset spinner Jack Leach.

Scans revealed that Crane, 21, has lower back stress fracture and the Hampshire leg spinner will now return to England.

Leach has received his first senior England call-up and will travel to New Zealand ahead of the two-Test series starting at Eden Park, Auckland on 22 March.  

The 26-year-old left-armer has taken 116 wickets for Somerset in last two Specsavers County Championship seasons – the most of any spinner in Division One – and impressed during England Lions’ recent tour of West Indies.

He claimed the best match figures for an England Lions spinner when he took 8-110 against West Indies A in Jamaica last month, surpassing Graeme Swann's 8-156 against Zimbabwe in 1999.