Injured Australian stand-in captain Matthew Wade was Wednesday ruled out of the rest of the New Zealand one-day series with Aaron Finch assuming the role of skipper.
Wicketkeeper Wade was promoted to captain after injury prevented Steve Smith from going on tour and his deputy David Warner was rested for the three limited-overs games.
But Wade hurt his back preparing for the opening match in Auckland on Monday and missed the six-run loss.
“After further discussions following his failure to recover sufficiently for Thursday’s game two in Napier it was decided he will return to Melbourne for treatment,” Cricket Australia said.
Finch, who stood in for Wade as captain on Monday, will take charge of the two remaining matches, with no replacement brought in.
“It’s not a major injury but with the short turnaround between matches and the four-and-a-half hour journey by bus to Hamilton for the next match, it’s been decided it’s best for me to go home and get some treatment,” said Wade.
He added that he was confident of being fit for Australia’s upcoming Test tour of India and a pre-series training camp in Dubai.
