New Zealand cricket captain Daniel Vettori's concussion fears have eased but he will play in discomfort caused by a chronic shoulder injury when the test series against Pakistan starts in Dunedin next week.
Vettori was given the all clear today after suffering mild concussion during the one-day series against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi last week.
He was struck when a Mohammad Aamer bouncer crashed into his helmet grille during the second one-dayer although the damage was only apparent when he started vomiting after New Zealand won the third and deciding match.
It forced him to miss the following two Twenty20 matches between the countries in Dubai before Vettori consulted an orthopaedic surgeon today, a day after arriving back from the United Arab Emirates.
New Zealand Cricket said scans revealed damage to a rotator cuff on the left shoulder -- his bowling arm -- and although surgery might eventually be required the injury would initially be managed with physiotherapy and exercises.
While Vettori is available to lead New Zealand into the first test starting at University Oval in Dunedin next Tuesday, pace bowler Kyle Mills today learned he requires surgery to mend shoulder and knee injuries.
Considered only an outside chance for test selection, Mills is expected to be out of action for at least four months and will target his comeback for the Twenty20 world championship in the West Indies in May.
Mills has a torn rotator cuff and will have an operation within two weeks, while he also needs surgery to clean up tendon damage to his right knee.
The absence of Mills should not be keenly felt given Chris Martin and Iain O'Brien are the incumbent test new ball pairing and Shane Bond will play his first test in two years providing he gets through Canterbury's Plunket Shield match against Otago starting tomorrow.
Left-arm seamer James Franklin is also over his back niggle and will play for an Invitation 11 against Pakistan in a three-day match starting in Queenstown on Wednesday.
Seamers Tim Southee and a fit again Daryl Tuffey will also get a chance to push their claims against the tourists.