Daryl Mitchell to miss South Africa Test, Australia T20Is to focus on foot rehab

Star New Zealand batter Daryl Mitchell will miss the second Test against South Africa (starting February 13 in Hamilton) and the following T20I series versus Australia to recover from the long-troubling foot injury. Mitchell will skip the home matches to give himself the best time to heal from the injury that has lingeredfor over seven months.

The right-handed batter missed the final T20 against Pakistan in January, and after consulting the team doctors and physios, he will sit out for a couple of weeks to get fit in time for Australia Tests. Averaging 53.46 in the red-ball format, Mitchell would be a key player for New Zealand in the middle-order against the travelling Aussies.

Briefing the media, New Zealand head coach Gary Stead said that given the team is playing regularly (heading into the T20 World Cup in June in the Caribbean and the USA), providing Daryl with the required time off was the need of the hour. Though Gary added that his (Daryl) time away from cricket wouldn’t guarantee complete healing, the head coach hopes the batting mainstay will get closer to full fitness by the time the Australia Tests begin.

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"We took the opportunity to rest him a little earlier, but after seeking medical advice on this as well it's likely that he needs a longer period of time," New Zealand coach Gary Stead said. "It's really tough because there's not a lot of breaks coming up in the next week, while so thought this gives us nearly three weeks to try and give him the chance of the best recuperation from it.

"There's no guarantees this will still work in that period of time but we are very hopeful that it will improve his chances of getting through a longer stint with us,” Stead added.

Change in the batting order

Alongside Daryl, Kiwi veteran Kane Williamson will also miss the T20I series against Australia as his wife is expecting their third child. With these two out of contention, New Zealand will make forced changes to the batting order. The team management hasn’t named any replacement for Daryl Mitchell, with Will Young, who is there in the squad as a spare batter, likely to play in his place instead.

Meanwhile, Gary admitted that Glenn Philips and Mitchell Santner could be batting higher up the order to accommodate another pacer in the XI."[Will Young] is definitely one of the options," Stead said.

"Will's there as a backup [and] Glenn Phillips has shown he's more than useful and it could be shaped differently. We are very happy with the squad we have. Daryl's obviously a huge loss, though, he's been instrumental in a number of outstanding batting performances, but it's important for him and us that we get this right long term,” the head coach added.