New Zealand's main strike bowler Shane Bond is likely to be absent as the team bid for an elusive test cricket series win in India in October.
Bond is still a week away from returning to bowling in the nets after suffering a back stress fracture in Sri Lanka in May.
New Zealand Cricket's medical co-ordinator Warren Frost today wouldn't put a time frame on Bond's likely comeback but said he wouldn't be rushed back.
"He's making very good progress but it's a long season and we won't be pushing things," Frost said.
"He is pain-free which is a very good sign."
Bond would need "at least six weeks" of buildup in the nets, starting with light four-over spells next week, before he was even considered for a match.
The first of two tests starts in Ahmedabad on October 8, and it seemed unlikely Bond would be ready to send down 15-20 overs per day on the hard subcontinent grounds.
The one-day tri-series also involving Australia starting on October 23 would be a more realistic target for Bond, who became the fastest New Zealander to reach 50 one-day international wickets -- from 27 matches -- in the same spell he suffered the fracture against Pakistan in Dambulla.
The Black Caps have a packed summer, with a five-match one-day series in Pakistan following the India tour, before Pakistan and South Africa hold back to back tours encompassing five tests and 11 one-day internationals.
The news was slightly better for Nathan Astle who was hopeful of being fit in time for the India test series.
New Zealand's highest one-day international runscorer, with 5540 runs from 174 matches, started batting again in the nets last week after knee and hernia surgery in April.
"We're just getting him to feel confident on the knee but we're reasonably confident he can be there for the India series," Frost said.
"He's pretty happy with how things are progressing."
Star allrounder Chris Cairns was back bowling for English county Nottinghamshire and Frost said he was progressing well with an eye to the one-day tri-series in India.
Cairns said last month he was only prepared to return to international cricket when he was able to bowl as well.
He played unconvincingly as a batsman only in Sri Lanka in May after a series of injuries hampered his bowling comeback from knee surgery.
Frost said two other injury-troubled bowlers, Jacob Oram and Daniel Vettori, were on track for India.
Oram suffered disc problems in his back in Sri Lanka but escaped any stress fractures while Vettori's county stint with Nottinghamshire was cut short after he split the webbing between the spinning fingers of his left hand.
Vettori, who has returned home, sent down 57 overs in county cricket and took seven wickets before the hand problem flared up.
Things got worse as he was eventually admitted to Nottingham hospital with an infected arm, but Frost said he had recovered.
- NZPA
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