We're not halfway through South Africa's 10-match doubleheader, gender inclusive T20I series in New Zealand. But already there are enough injuries to make some reporters want to reach for battlefield analogies. Considering real war is raging, that would be more crass than usual.

Suffice to say casualties are mounting almost as fast as alarming headlines from the Middle East. Best we take a deep breath before we begin.

Eathan Bosch didn't even make it onto the flight because of a hamstring problem. Ish Sodhi missed the first match, in Mount Maunganui on Sunday, after being struck on the thumb during training and has since been ruled out of the series with a fracture. Bevon Jacobs made it onto the park on Sunday, but sustained bone bruising to his knee in the field and will take no further part in the rubber. Jordan Hermann played at Bay Oval, but won't in the other four games due to a torn hamstring. Dane van Niekerk did her bit, unfortunately, for gender equality by being kept out of the opening fixture with a calf injury, which has now taken her out of the series entirely.

Still with us? Good.

We should add, as a disclaimer, that, as with war, there is nothing funny about being injured. It hurts, physically and sometimes mentally, it can be permanently damaging, and it means you have to put your life on hold to some degree.

Even so, for many civilians it entails little more than means seeking treatment and telling your boss you won't be in today, or for the next week or two. But also that you would be happy to keep working from home. For reporters of a certain age, what matters is that neither of your two typing fingers is hurt. You could operate with one finger, but deadlines could be missed.

Professional sportspeople see these things differently. Even if it hurts like hell, it isn't an injury if it doesn't force you off the field. If and when it does, catastrophe looms. Players are told injuries are part of the game. None of them believe that.

If you depend on your body to make a living, not being able to use your body - even for a few weeks - looms as potentially career-ending. See above for examples of being taken out of only one match turning into absences for the entire series. And if you can be sidelined for one series, why not two or three, or the whole season? A year, maybe, perhaps two.

Take the cautionary tale Gerald Coetzee has to tell. "I tore both hamstrings more than once," he told Cricbuzz during the 2023 World Cup. "I had side strains, abdominal tears, soft tissue injuries. It was very frustrating - out for six weeks, play two games, out for another six weeks."

And that was only during high school. But wait. There's more: "In 2020 I played only two professional games because of my hammies." And still more - Coetzee ripped a pectoral muscle while bowling in a T20I against Namibia in Windhoek on October 11 last year and wasn't seen on a cricket ground again until an SA20 game between Durban's Super Giants and Pretoria Capitals at Kingsmead on January 7.

Who knows what dark thoughts Coetzee had during those 87 days of inaction. He walked off the Namibia Cricket Ground with the resignation of someone who knew this scenario all too well - he has had several injuries other than those mentioned here. But he also stared bleakly into the deep shadow of uncertainty.

What's wrong this time? How serious is it? How long before I will be back? What if whoever replaces me does well enough to keep me out of the side? What if I don't play again? Ever..

Happily, that isn't the case. Coetzee is fit and firing in New Zealand. He bowled with vim and vigour to take 2/14 in three overs on Sunday and help South Africa win by seven wickets with 20 balls to spare. That earned him the dubious privilege of talking to the press after the match.

"It's always hard for anyone who gets injured to work their way back," Coetzee said. "I've had recurring injuries, which is very difficult. But I wouldn't change it for anything. You always learn something, you always get better, and it always means so much when you get back here. So, yeah, it has been challenging. But it's also been a blessed time."

South Africa are indeed blessed with quality fast bowlers. The squad in New Zealand includes, besides Coetzee, Ottneil Baartman, Lutho Sipamla and Nqobani Mokoena. Of those who took South Africa to the T20 World Cup semifinal 14 days ago, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Anrich Nortje and Kwena Maphaka are not in the current mix. Where does that leave Coetzee?

"That's an interesting question. South African cricket is in a very healthy place and I think we've got a really great pool of players. Where I am in the pecking order, I don't really know.

"I'm playing now, which is great. And that will be my focus; just to play where I can to do my best.

"And you can always get better at something. There's not one specific thing. You always try and get better [at everything] and use every opportunity you get."

Coetzee took 1/28 in four overs in Tuesday's game at Seddon Park in Hamilton, where the home side won by 68 runs. New Zealand's 175/6 was nearly identical to the 175/7 they made against the South Africans in their T20 World Cup group game in Ahmedabad last month, when South Africa won by seven wickets with 17 balls remaining. And two fewer than the Kiwis scored to win, by nine wickets with 43 deliveries remaining, a bizarrely uncompetitive semifinal between the teams at Eden Gardens 19 days later. Tuesday's game was less consequential but as one-sided: South Africa were bowled out for 107 with Lockie Ferguson taking 6/30 between them.

In Tuesday's first match, South Africa were able to level matters after losing by 80 runs on Sunday. This time, and even without Van Niekerk and her 202 international caps, they won by 18 runs thanks to Tazmin Brits' 43-ball 53, Kayla Reyneke's blitz of 28 not out off nine, Ayabonga Khaka's 4/27 and Nonkululeko Mlaba's 3/27.

None of which matters as much as the fact that no new injuries were reported. So far, anyway.