WELLINGTON, (Reuters) – New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has withdrawn from the second test against West Indies and returned home to be with his pregnant wife, coach Gary Stead said yesterday.
Tom Latham will take over the captaincy.
Williamson’s availability for the test had been up in the air for much of the day when the team said he had returned to Tauranga to attend a medical appointment with his wife, Sarah.
Stead said after a lunchtime media conference that Williamson would return to the team and be available for the test at the Basin Reserve but later issued a statement saying the skipper had withdrawn.
“Kane will return home,” Stead said. “It’s a decision we have come to around I guess the best interests for him and Sarah.
“He is not the first person to have a baby and miss a test match and … our thoughts are that mother and baby are well looked after and Kane needs to be there to support them in that way.”
Williamson, who scored a career-best 251 in the first match at Seddon Park in Hamilton, told reporters last week his wife was due to give birth to their first child “in mid-to-late December” and Stead had said the team supported him taking paternity leave.