The Blackcaps have been dealt a blow on the eve of the first test against England, with bowlers Kyle Jamieson and Matt Henry both ruled out of action.
Jamieson was poised to play his first test since June, only to be scratched with a suspected stress fracture in his back after an MRI scan revealed a reoccurrence of the injury that ruled him out of the England test series last year.
Meanwhile, the impending birth of Matt Henry's first child means he won't be in action at Tauranga for the pink-ball test, which starts on Thursday.
The uncapped duo of Jacob Duffy and Scott Kuggeleijn have been called into the squad as their replacements.
Jamieson played for Auckland and the New Zealand XI in a warm-up match against England.
He came through those games without issue, coach Gary Stead said the latest scan results post the two-day warm-up match revealed the suspected fracture which required more investigation.
"It's really gutting for Kyle to have this happen after he'd put so much hard work into getting himself back on the park," said Stead.
"Since the injury in June we’ve certainly taken a cautious approach to managing his return with regular monitoring by our medical staff which has included scans.
"While Kyle's not feeling any pain, the evidence is pretty clear he has a stress-fracture and so he'll return to Christchurch today and have a CT scan on Friday before we decide on the next steps."
Jamieson was only expected to play one of the two tests against England, with his status to be reevaluated before the second test in Wellington, which gets underway on February 24.
Stead confirms Henry will be available for selection at the Basin Reserve.
Join us Thursday for live updates of the first test between New Zealand and England
