Sydney Test: Matt Henry's broken thumb adds to New Zealand's troubles

New Zealand pacer Matt Henry suffered a broken left thumb on the opening day of the final Test against Australia adding to the troubles of the visiting team's illness and injury-prone tour.

Henry was struck by a drive from Joe Burns in the first session of the Test and left the field for treatment before returning to bowl and finishing the day with 21 wicketless overs, ESPNcricinfo reported.

The thumb has been splinted and strapped and Henry will continue to be available to bowl on the second day but his role with the bat will be determined by the state of the game.

Henry was given a nod ahead of Tim Southee with coach Gary Stead explaining that his extra pace was one of the factors.

"I guess the decision making around that, we just felt that we wanted a little more pace out there, what Matt Henry sort of offers over Tim," Stead said.

"And being the workload that Tim has had not just in the last two Tests but if you put the last four together, it's somewhere around 200 overs in a short period of time, just felt that what Matt offered would have given us a point of difference," he added.

New Zealand made five changes in the playing eleven for the third Test.