Nicholls, the left-handed middle-order player, has been a key part of New Zealand’s Test side having made eight centuries in 46 matches with an average of 40.38. He, however, would have been unavailable to play the tour game in any case, having picked up a grade one calf strain while running drills during a pre-touring camp in Mount Maunganui earlier this month. While scans showed he had not suffered a tear, Nicholls is likely to miss both of New Zealand’s warm-up games, and faces a race to be fit for the first Test, at Lord’s on June 2.