Shane Bond will return home following a fitness test which showed his knee injury has not recovered sufficiently for him to participate in the remainder of the South African tour.
“Shane was asked to bowl six overs yesterday as part of his fitness assessment, which he did. But the knee became sore after cooling down and Shane came to the conclusion that he could not take his place in the next two Tests,” BLACKCAPS general manager Lindsay Crocker said.
“The medical assessment is that Shane will now need 4 to 6 weeks rest for the injury to settle completely, before starting on building himself up again. This will be further assessed when he gets home.
“Shane will withdraw from his county contract with Gloucestershire, which he was due to take up at the completion of this tour.”
With Michael Mason already having joined the touring party, no replacement is required for the Cape Town Test.
Consideration will be given over the next two days to the possibility of additional pace bowling cover for the Johannesburg Test .
