The Blackcaps are looking to seal the series against the visiting Sri Lanka side when they meet on December 5. Their retiring captain Brendon McCullum will not feature in the fifth and final ODI against Sri Lanka at Bay Oval due to his injured back. His name also missing from the Twenty20 squad, and thus he misses another precious two matches.
In an earlier interview New Zealand head coach Mike Hesson said, "He's really struggling."
"He hasn't progressed as well as we'd thought. He will get a further assessment.”
Pakistan start their tour of New Zealand with three T20s and McCullum is set to miss that as well. This roughly means that his first opportunity to play again would be at the Basin Reserve on January 25. The Kiwis are hopeful to get their captain back on time as he is the most important member in the team who provides the much needed aggression to counter Australia’s.
Hesson added, "Obviously he wasn't playing the T20s so he'll have a decent break before Pakistan arrive and certainly before Australia arrive."
After hosting Pakistan the Kiwis will be hosting their neighbors Australia. The age old rivalry will resume from a Test series. Australia's arrival is the key fixture on the calendar especially for McCullum, who is retiring from international cricket after the second Test in Christchurch.
McCullum eyes a historic feat
The first Test of that series against Australia is just as important though, as it would mean he will have played in 100 consecutive Tests from debut, a feat never done before by a player in the history of international cricket. This proves how important McCullum is to the New Zealand side.
It is a world record previously held by Abraham Benjamin de Villiers for his 98 consecutive tests. AB de Villiers was granted paternal leave for the birth of his son and he missed the two Test match series against Bangladesh, otherwise he would have led the table with 104 test matches now. Adam Gilchrist’s 96 and Rahul Dravid’s 93 are placed at no. 3 and 4.
In 99 Test matches the 34-year-old has scored 6273 runs with an average of 38.48 and has a highest score of 302. He also has 205 dismissals to his name, 194 catches and 11 stumpings.
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