Kane Williamson Ruled Out, New Zealand Name Tom Latham As Captain For Bangladesh Tests

Tom Latham was named as New Zealand captain for the Bangladesh Test series after regular skipper Kane Williamson was ruled out with an elbow injury, New Zealand Cricket announced on Wednesday. In another major development, wicketkeeper-batter Devon Conway returned to the squad after recovering from an injury that kept him away from the India tour. “With regular captain Kane Williamson ruled out with an elbow injury, Latham will lead the side for an entire series for the first time, having stepped in to fill the role on four previous occasions,” said NZC in a statement.

The 13-man squad was loaded with fast bowlers as Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Neil Wagner, Kyle Jamieson and Matt Henry will look to exploit the home conditions.

There was no space for a specialist spinner in the 13-man squad, meaning left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel missed out despite his heroics in India, with Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell covering the spin and seam all-rounder spots, respectively.

New Zealand head coach Gary Stead said he has all bases covered for both Bay Oval and Hagley Oval.

“It’s great to be back home and at venues we know well, and where we’ve had success in recent times” said Stead.

“It’s obviously disappointing not to have Kane available for this series but, as we noted in India, he is undergoing a sustained period of rest followed by rehabilitation, strengthening and gradual batting loading.

“We have every confidence in Tom leading the side – he’s done an excellent job in the past when called upon.

“You do feel for Ajaz after his record-breaking display in India. However, we’ve always applied a horses-for-courses selection policy and believe the players selected best fit the way we want to take on Bangladesh here at home.”

Stead also noted the inclusion of both Ravindra and Mitchell.

“We feel having both Rachin and Daryl in the squad gives us a nice balance and the ability to pick a side best suited to the conditions we expect.”

The two-math Test series against Bangladesh starts on January 1 2022 at Bay Oval.

New Zealand Test squad: Tom Latham (c), Tom Blundell, Trent Boult, Devon Conway, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Rachin Ravindra, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner, Will Young.