New Zealand allrounder Chris Cairns will be unavailable for the May and June tour of the West Indies because of his commitments to Nottinghamshire and parenthood. Cairns's contract with the county stipulates he is available for New Zealand for just 21 days during the English summer. That means he will be playing in the Sharjah Cup against Sri Lanka and Pakistan and will participate in the one-day series and one of the Tests during the tour of Pakistan which follows.

He will then miss the tour of the West Indies, when Cairns' and partner Carin are expecting their first child, but will be available when New Zealand defend their ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka in September.

NZC chief executive Martin Snedden said his first priority was to have Cairns available for the ICC Champions Trophy, which was an important build-up for the Cricket World Cup in February 2003. "We had previously thought, prior to the Pakistan tour coming into the frame, that we could utilise Chris' remaining availability during the West Indies tour," said Snedden, "but the time of this tour clashes with the expected arrival of Chris and his partner's first child".

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