Mitch Santner ruled out of Australia T20 series for New Zealand as Kyle Jamieson and Ben Sears return from injury.
Mitch Santner ruled out of NZ’s T20I series against Australia; Jamieson, Sears return.
Mitchell Santner, the white-ball captain of New Zealand, will not play in the forthcoming Twenty20 International series against Australia. Lockie Ferguson and Adam Milne are out due to injury, but Michael Bracewell will captain a 14-man team that includes the return of pace combination Kyle Jamieson and Ben Sears.
After having stomach surgery last month, Santner was expected to be ready for the three-match series that would take place in Mount Maunganui on October 1, 3, and 4, but he hasn’t recovered in time.
“Never nice to lose your skipper,” New Zealand coach Rob Walter said. “But these things do happen. And Michael has already been the captain of this team and did a great job against Pakistan. So fully confident in how he will lead the team.”
Milne has a foot issue, and Ferguson is out due to a hamstring injury. Kane Williamson made himself unavailable but is anticipated to return for the white-ball series against England. Will O’Rourke (back), Glenn Phillips (groin), and Finn Allen (foot) have already been ruled out of New Zealand’s first home series of the season.
After missing the July tri-series in Zimbabwe, Jamieson and Sears have been named. Sears missed the tour because of a side injury, while Jamieson missed it because his first child was born. When Sears returned completely fit, Walter was happy.
“He’s worked incredibly hard over the last 12 weeks to be back on the park and done some awesome work there,” he said. “So we’re excited to see him back in the competitive fold.
“We’re building a bigger base of fast bowlers, because we understand that the program is so busy these days, but fast bowling is a key requisite for performance. So we want to make sure we’ve got as many options as we possibly can have.”