New Zealand captain Kane Williamson will miss this month’s one-day international series against Bangladesh because of an elbow injury, the Black Caps said Tuesday.
Williamson has a small tear in his left elbow tendon that he battled throughout the second half of New Zealand’s summer.
New Zealand are scheduled to play five ODIs against Bangladesh starting from March 20 at University Oval, Dunedin.
Williamson made one significant score in the T20I series against Australia, 53 in the second game in Dunedin, but fell for single-figures in the last three matches.
It was already likely that Williamson would miss the T20I series against Bangladesh due to his commitments at the IPL, a tournament coach Gary Stead still expected him to be available for.
Kane Williamson To Undergo Rehabilitation
Dayle Shackel, the NZC medical manager, stated that the Tauranga-born would be going into rehabilitation to become fit at the earliest.
“Kane’s been managing the elbow injury to varying degrees this summer and unfortunately it hasn’t improved. He obviously has a high volume of training and playing across the three formats, which has inhibited his ability to recover. We believe he now needs a period of rest and rehabilitation to get the injury right,” Shackel was quoted as saying.
“Time-frames can vary but we’re hopeful that, after an initial rest, he should be able to begin rehabilitation next week,” he stated.
Gary Stead, the head coach of the Black Caps, stated he wants Kane to attain fitness for the upcoming assignments, which include the World Test Championship final against India in the month of June.
“Kane loves playing for his country – so it hasn’t been an easy decision to step back. A batsman’s front elbow is crucial to his game and with the injury not improving it was clear something needed to be done. We’ve got a huge year of cricket ahead with an England Test tour and ICC World Test Championship Final, and we want to make sure we have Kane fit and firing for that,” Stead told.