BLACKCAPS all-rounder and white-ball captain Mitchell Santner is set to be sidelined for at least a month after scans revealed a grade three ACL shoulder injury.
Santner injured his left shoulder while fielding for his Indian Premier League side the Mumbai Indians in their recent match against the Chennai Super Kings.
The 34-year-old returned home to New Zealand this week and saw a specialist this morning who confirmed a rest and rehabilitation period of at least one month.
The diagnosis means Santner is unavailable for the one-off Test against Ireland and the first Test against England, with his availability for the second and third Tests to be evaluated at a later date.
The full squad for the Ireland and England Tests is set to be named in the coming days.
The one-off four day Test against Ireland begins at Stormont in Belfast on May 27, with the three Tests against England to be played at Lord’s (June 4-8), The Oval (June 17-21) and Trent Bridge (June 25-29), respectively.
The BLACKCAPS next white-ball assignment is an ODI and T20I tour to the West Indies in July.
The BLACKCAPS open the home international summer in October with a bumper three-format tour against India which runs through until December 1.
