Brendon McCullum to sit out of New Zealand's upcoming tours

Brendon McCullum

New Zealand Cricket released a statement which said that skipper Brendon McCullum will be skipping the limited-overs tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa in August as he had an "intense period of cricket dating back to the World Cup,". McCullum, however, will lead New Zealand in the home and away series against the Aussies in late 2015 and the T20 World Cup scheduled in March 2016.

McCullum also signed a three-year contract recently for the BBL franchise Brisbane Heat, coached by Daniel Vettori.

"It's a critical time for the team," McCullum said. "We've had a very good past 18 months but we've got some real challenges ahead of us and we need to keep making progress. This is a young, emerging side with some very big series on the horizon and it's a really exciting time to be involved."

While commenting on his future in ODIs, he said, "I don't know. We'll wait and see. We'll let the dust settle on this. It's been a great year, an incredible summer for us. We've scaled some heights that hadn't been done before from our country … I've enjoyed the last two years. The body's a bit sore at the moment but we'll see what happens."

NZC chief executive David White stated that it was “enormous news” for New Zealand after they secured McCullum’s services for another year.

"Under Brendon, the Blackcaps have enjoyed unprecedented success over the past 18 months and to have him remaining at the helm for another year is extremely good news. Brendon has proved himself to be an exceptional player and leader and the side will be much stronger for his presence." he said.

NZC announced that their annual contracting process will terminate next week and the list of players offered contracts will be declared on July 1.