New Zealand captain Kane Williamson will miss the country's second consecutive ODI World Cup match, Black Caps coach Gary Stead has confirmed. The Kiwis are scheduled to cross swords against the Netherlands on October 9 (Monday) and the team will once again be without their talismanic skipper, who continues to amp up his recovery process. Stead said that the focus is now on Williamson - the fielder - but affirmed that the veteran cricketer is progressing really well and might be available for selection after the Netherlands game.
"Kane's been progressing very well," New Zealand head coach Gary Stead said on Sunday.
"I think the fielding is still the element for him that he's just got to get a little bit higher, and he gets a little bit more trust in his body.
"But he's progressing really well and we are pretty confident that he will be playing the third match for us.
"We've got another training to get through today, so we'll finalise the team (for the match against Netherlands) once we've got through that training.
"But at this stage with Kane, we are looking like the third game is when he will start the tournament," he added.
The New Zealand coach also provided a major update on the fitness and availability of two premier pacers - Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson. Stead said that both the pacers will be available for selection during the country's second match of the campaign.
"Lockie Ferguson got through training really well so providing he is scrubbed up okay this morning, he will be available for this next game," Stead said. "Tim Southee also got through the training really well. It was great to see him back at the bowling crease and also doing a little bit of fielding as well," said Stead.
"He will just get a final x-ray done this morning and we will make a call after that but it is all looking good for selection from now on and into the rest of the tournament," he added.
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