 New Zealand will have to do without the mercurial Astle |
New Zealand batsman Nathan Astle will miss all cricket for more than five months to recover from surgery. The right-hander has undergone two operations - one to correct a hernia and another to repair a tendon in his left knee - and his recovery will rule him out until October.
"Both operations appear to have been successful and Nathan is now recovering at his home," said New Zealand Cricket's medical adviser Warren Frost.
Frost hopes Astle will be ready to make a return in time for the tour of India in October.
New Zealand already knew they would have to do without Astle for the two-Test series against Sri Lanka starting on Friday.
His absence from the Black Caps batting line-up is a blow to a side already starved of experience in most departments.
In February, he had to pull out of a contract to play a season of county cricket for Derbyshire because he knew he needed surgery.
Astle hit the fastest double century in Test history taking just 153 balls to reach the landmark against England in Christchurch just over a year ago.
MMIX
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