De Grandhomme leaves Black Caps camp

Black Caps allrounder Colin de Grandhomme has returned to Zimbabwe following the sudden passing of his father yesterday.

De Grandhomme will be replaced in the ODI squad to face West Indies by Doug Bracewell. The first match is in Whangarei on Wednesday 20 December.

The aggressive allrounder has been in excellent form for New Zealand so far in the bilateral series against the West Indies smashing a maiden Test hundred in the first match and chipping in with a half century in the finale.

Black Caps Selector Gavin Larsen said the team’s thoughts were with de Grandhomme.

“This is obviously extremely sad news for Colin and his family and we’re all thinking of them at the moment,” said Larsen.

“Right now the most important thing is that Colin is with his family.”

De Grandhomme was born and raised in Zimbabwe and turned out for the country at under 17 level before relocating to Auckland in 2006.

His late father Philip played cricket for Hong Kong when the island was overseen by Britain.

There is currently no timeline for when de Grandhomme will rejoin the squad.

New Zealand will play three ODIs and three T20Is against the touring West Indies who lost the Test series 2-0.

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