Former Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori has ruled himself out of playing in New Zealand’s series against the West Indies.
The 34-year-old allrounder has only recently returned to action for Northern Districts after missing much of this year with an achilles tendon injury.
He underwent surgery in June, playing a handful of Twenty20 games and a four-day first-class match, but said it was still too early to guarantee his fitness in the international arena.
“International cricket and, in particular, Test cricket, places enormous demands on the body and I simply haven’t played enough recently to be confident of meeting those demands,” he said.
Vettori said he wanted to ease his way back into the international set-up after a lengthy absence by playing for Northern Districts and Australian Big Bash T20 cricket with the Brisbane Heat before reassessing things in the New Year ahead of the tour by India.
“What I can’t afford to do is throw myself back into the international arena prematurely and re-injure myself.
“It wouldn’t be any good for me; it wouldn’t be any good for the team,” said the 112-Test veteran who has taken 360 wickets.
His last Test match was against the West Indies in July last year and he played three one-day internationals in June this year.
New Zealand play the West Indies in three Tests, five ODIs and two T20 matches starting on December 3.