Kane Williamson Set To Miss The ODI Series Against Bangladesh Due To Injury

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson is all set to miss the upcoming three-match One Day International series against Bangladesh due to a left elbow injury he suffered during the second half of the summer.

Williamson, who leads New Zealand across all three formats of the game, has a small tear in his left elbow tanden.

According to New Zealand Cricket medical manager Dayle Shackel, Kane Williamson requires complete rest and rehabilitation in order to completely recover from the injury.

“Kane’s been managing the elbow injury to varying degrees this summer and unfortunately it hasn’t improved,” 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,” he added.

“Time-frames can vary, but we’re hopeful that, after an initial rest, he should be able to begin rehabilitation next week,” Shackel said.

Meanwhile, head coach Gary Stead has said that while it is a blow to lose the ‘class’ and ‘leadership’ of Kane Williamson, the right decision has been made given the fact that there are quite a few important assignments that lie ahead for the BlackCaps this year.

“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,” said Gary Stead.

“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,” he added.

“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,” Gary Stead said.

Kane Williamson recently participated in the 5-match T20I series on home soil against Australia where he managed scores of 12,53,9,8,0 as his side beat the Trans-Tasman rival 3-2.

New Zealand will round off its home summer when they host Bangladesh for three ODIs and as many T20Is, starting with the former from March 20.

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