Auckland [New Zealand], July 29 (ANI): Mitchell Santner becomes the 32nd player to lead New Zealand's men's side in Test cricket as regular Blackcaps captain Tom Latham was ruled out of the first Test against Zimbabwe due to a shoulder injury, as per the official website of the ICC.

Latham sufferd the injury while fielding in a domestic T20 game in England, and hasn't been deemed fit enough to feature in the playing XI. But the left-handed top-order batter will continue to remain with the squad, with the hope that he regains full fitness ahead of the second Test match against the Chevrons.

Santner, who has 1066 runs and 74 wickets from his 30 Tests, assumes the role fresh off a T20I Tri-Series victory in Harare where the Black Caps remained undefeated in the group stage into the finals.

Rob Walter, New Zealand head coach, expressed his disappointment for Latham but backed Santner to do well.

'It's never great when you lose your captain (Tom Latham), who's a world-class opening batter and a great team man, but that said we're going to work really hard to have him available for the second Test,' he said.

'We'll continue to assess and see whether a replacement player is necessary, but at this stage we are hopeful that he'll recover in time,' he noted.

'Mitch (Santner) did a wonderful job with the T20 squad in this recent series. Whilst the format is different, he certainly has the respect of the players and will be supported by some highly experienced Test cricketers, so I trust that he's going to do a great job,' Walter said.

New Zealand squad for the 1st Test: Mitchell Santner (c), Tom Blundell, Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy, Matt Fisher, Matt Henry, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Will O'Rourke, Ajaz Patel, Michael Bracewell, Rachin Ravindra, Nathan Smith, Will Young. (ANI)