“Look, it’s way too early to know,” said Stead ahead of Pakistan’s five-match ODI series. “He’s had surgery and, from what we know so far, it’s been successful. So he’s in the very, very early stages of his rehabilitation program.
“Obviously it’s non-carrying at this stage, and he’s in a brace. So it’s really just meeting milestones as we go. Our line around Kane is still unlikely at this point that he will be available, but we want certainly not ruling out a person of his class and caliber too early, and the things he brings to this team, in case that opportunity still exists.
“Yes absolutely [would take him to India as a mentor].”
“It [schedule] isn’t out yet, so there’s not much we can do about that,” said Stead. “So it keeps our options pretty open without knowing the venues and who we’re playing in different venues.
“So it makes it quite difficult to finalize the plans now. But that in turn gives opportunities to players, who are now in the selection, to come out here. [in Pakistan] and play for New Zealand.”
Mark Chapman is in the frame of the World Cup
“The [T20I] series result itself was fantastic for the team, if you look at the number of players that are in the IPL,” Stead said. [World Cup] last. So it was fantastic to get a two-goal result against them and play like we did, especially in the last T20 match.
“The partnership between Mark Chapman and James Neesham was really important. Obviously it wasn’t the best start with the bat, but the composure the two showed in that situation was brilliant. It wasn’t just a blow to Mark Chapman why he added to the ODI team, but there is a lot of competition for places and it’s not so much about the competition, it’s about how we continue to build the World Cup. And Mark Chapman is a man we think of around that.”
Is there a way back for Martin Guptill?
“I think World Cups require experience and I think Martin Guptill is one of those guys who has always appeared at World Cups,” said Hesson. Sky Sports NZ recently during a conversation with Logan van Beek. “I think he would be very much in their thinking and ability [Devon] Conway to stay on top or hit number 3, depending on which other player gets up and says, “Look, I need to fit in.”
“I don’t think the World Cup is a time when you want too many new faces. You want to mix up the talented youngsters with some experience. Missing Kane… that reduces that experience a lot. So that’s where Martin Guptill comes back into the mix. He’s clearly been performing well lately in some T20 tournaments around the world and the PSL in particular.”
Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo