The next part of New Zealand’s home season sees them play England in T20Is and ODIs before an all-format visit by West Indies in November.
“Kane, we’re still in conversations as to what the summer is going to look like,” Walter told reporters after the Australia series. “He will play, no doubt about that. Just what and where is still in discussion.
“I think the reality is we’re dealing with all the guys on casual contracts, actually in different positions from a playing point of view. Kane is one of those and he deserves the opportunity to sit and talk about what the rest of his year will look like. But I keep coming back to the most important thing, [which] is that he wants to play for his country, and so nutting out exactly what that looks like can take an extra week or two, but surely, he deserves that.”
Walter was unperturbed about not being able to get his full-strength T20I side together in the build-up to next year’s World Cup.
“I think we don’t live in an ideal world and so that’s part and parcel of it,” he said. “I’ve been part of a World Cup campaign [with South Africa] where the team assembled at its full strength three days before our first game and that team managed to make a final.
“For me, it’s just the way it works. I think what’s more important is the environment and the team culture that sort of assimilates together when it needs to. We do know that by the back end of the India series [in January] prior to the World Cup, that’s when our full World Cup squad will be together.
“For me, as long as the guys are playing competitive cricket, that’s important, and almost everyone has been part of the environment at some point so I would assume that they can fit seamlessly back into it.”
“Ultimately when things are operating the way they should, everyone’s not fighting for their position, but understands that competition for places is there,” Walter said. “Ultimately you want your best crop of players in the park and in the squad.
“They’re all quality players. At the end of the day, there’s going to be a quality player that’s left out, whoever that may be. As you’ve heard me say many times before, the stronger the player that’s left out, the better the system.”
Reflecting on the Australia series, Walter was encouraged by the way his side fought back from 6 for 3 in the opening match and forced a collapse with the ball in the second but conceded they had areas that needed improving before facing England.
“There’s little bits [of positives] here and there but, to be fair, we were a little bit off our best game and when you do that against [Australia]who’s won 25 of their last 30 T20 internationals, you’re going to find yourself on the wrong end of the result,” he said.
“Some of the areas that we weren’t competitive in are actually quite easy fixes, [they] just require a little bit of extra time on our part…like any loss there’ll be some positives most of the time and then some stuff that you walk away with and understanding that you have to do better as we move forward.
“With England arriving, you’ve got a team that’s going to play very similar to how Australia played in the series. So again, we get to check out if we actually have improved in the areas that we’ve identified and spoken about.”
Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo
