Black Caps skipper's new addition

Black Caps skipper Kane Williamson and his wife Sarah have welcomed a newborn son to their family before he jetted off to join the test squad ahead of the upcoming England series.

Williamson left India for New Zealand last week where he was playing in the Indian Premier League so he could be at the birth of their second child.

He made the announcement on Instagram with the message: "Welcome to the whānau little man!".

Williamson and fast bowler Neil Wagner are both en route having been home on paternity leave as part of a quintet of frontline players embarking on England ahead of their final warm-up match before the three-test series starting next week.

Devon Conway, Tim Southee and Daryl Mitchell have wrapped up their Indian Premier League commitments. Trent Boult is set to play for Rajasthan in their qualifying final tomorrow morning.

Stand-in skipper Tom Latham says it's an obvious boost for the squad.

"It will be great to have the guys coming back from the IPL, most of them have had some pretty good stints over there so I'm sure they'll be looking forward to getting in some red ball cricket."

New Zealand's final warm-up is against a Counties Select XI at Chelmsford starting Thursday night before the first test at Lord's starting on June 2.

Latham said the squad have been adapting well to English conditions.

"When you haven't been playing cricket it's important to make those adjustments as quick as you can and adapt to the different surfaces.Obviously, we know the Dukes ball is slightly different to what we have back home.

"A lot of guys spent time in the middle to adapt and get used to that and next week is another opportunity to do that as well. Hopefully, we can start narrowing down those game plans and final prep before leading into that first test."

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission