Williamson ruled out of BD series with elbow injury

WELLINGTON: New Zealand captain Kane Williamson will miss the One-day International series against Bangladesh with an elbow problem, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) said on Tuesday.

Williamson, who led the ‘Black Caps’ to a 3-2 T20 series win over Australia on Sunday, has a small tear in his left elbow tendon and had been ‘experiencing irritation’ in the latter half of the summer, NZC said in a statement.

“Kane has been managing the elbow injury to varying degrees this summer and unfortunately it hasn’t improved,” NZC Medical Manager Dayle Shackel said. “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. Time-frames can vary but were hopeful that, after an initial rest, he should be able to begin rehabilitation next week.”

Head coach Gary Stead said it was a blow to lose Williamson for the three-game ODI series against Bangladesh, which starts on March 20, but it was the right call.

“Kane loves playing for his country — so it hasn’t been an easy decision to step back,” Stead said. “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 first up in May and June, and we want to make sure we have Kane fit and firing for that.

“We will certainly miss his class and leadership in the upcoming Bangladesh series, but his omission will no doubt present an opportunity for someone else when the ODI squad is named.”

The squad to face Bangladesh is due to be named on Thursday.

The ODIs will be played on March 20, 23 and 26. Williamson will also likely miss three Twenty20 Internationals against the visitors on March 28 and 30 and April 1 while travelling to the Indian Premier League.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2021