Williamson to take over captaincy for Kiwis' T20, ODI squads against Pak

New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson would take over the captaincy of the squad for their Twenty20 and ODIs against Pakistan with Brendon McCullum being rested along with bowling stars Tim Southee and Trent Boult.

Regular skipper McCullum takes the unexpected break fresh off his double century in the third Test win over Pakistan as New Zealand recovered to draw that series 1-1. Now McCullum would return home with the two pace bowlers to prepare for the opening Test of two against Sri Lanka at the end of the month.

In a busy summer that features New Zealand co-hosting the World Cup, the tournament hosts have been managing their resources. McCullm, with his big hitting, would be a key to the cup chances, Stuff.co.nz reported.

Edgar said that the decision to give McCullum, Southee and Boult extra time at home to prepare for the Sri Lanka visit was based on the trio's recent workloads, and the fact the first Test would start less than a week after the return to New Zealand of the ODI squad.

As the New Zealand squad prepared to tangle with Pakistan in two T20s and five ODIs in the United Arab Emirates, Edgar said that managing players' workloads would be an important part of their summer's plans and this is simply an example of that.

He added that on the flipside, it gives them a chance to assess and evaluate other players in contention for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 squad, and allows them to work on some of their contingency plans, such as developing Williamson's captaincy experience.

Williamson has captained New Zealand in three ODIs and two T20Is, the most recent the second T20I against the West Indies in July.

The New Zealand ODI squad is: Kane Williamson (captain), Corey Anderson, Dean Brownlie, Anton Devcich, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Adam Milne, James Neesham, Luke Ronchi, Ross Taylor, Daniel Vettori.