He's just steps away from doing what he does best, but Mitchell Santner will be sitting on the other side of the boundary line for a while yet.
The Blackcaps camps are well under way in preparation for their up-coming series against Pakistan, but they'll be without the services of Santner, recovering from a serious knee injury.
"I guess it's up in the air at the moment," says the bowling all-rounder. "We're taking it scan by scan to see how the bone actually looks."
This was the grim reality Santner had to face, after a career-defining summer with both bat and ball.
- Central Stag Ajaz Patel named in Blackcaps test squad for Pakistan series
- Gary Stead confirmed as new Blackcaps coach
- New Zealand Cricket says no to first Pakistan tour in 15 years
"I guess we had quite a lot of cricket during the summer - I do remember it swelling up at some stage, I think it was in Nelson.
"We had a scan that showed the knee was OK and then a month later, it was not OK."
Fast forward five months and Santer's finding the positives in only being able to work on one thing.
"Throughout the season, I don't want to be working on too much technical stuff, so it's a good opportunity now to iron out my batting."
And he's ensuring his replacement - 29-year-old Ajaz Patel - is well aware what to expect in the vastly different conditions of Duabi.
"He did speak a lot about how a lot of international spinners are bowling in the sub-continent, and around what they're trying to do and what their game plans are," says Patel.
"He's been there, done that and seen it, so it's quite cool to have that advice from him."
Santner says: "I'm sharing those little things here and there, but I'm sure he'll pick it up pretty quick over there."
November's tour to the United Arab Emirates marks the start of a very long summer for the Black Caps - a summer Mitchell Santner hopes he can spin his way into sooner, rather than later.
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