'It's significantly improved, which is the pleasing thing,' Kane Williamson on his injury

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson hopes his troublesome left elbow will not trouble him as he prepares to lead the team for the first time in six months in the first Test against England at Lord's on Thursday (June 2). 

Notably, Williamson has missed their last five Tests due to a tendon injury and all four matches of their home summer series against Bangladesh and South Africa.

Of late, the New Zealand Cricket medical team also limited his practice sessions to 20-minute blocks only, which led him to admit that the injury had been a 'tough pill to swallow'. 

However, while speaking at Lord's on the eve of Thursday's first Test, the Blackcaps skipper said that his time away from action had helped him manage the condition better.

"It's significantly improved, which is the pleasing thing. Obviously, having that time out of the game was beneficial to get it back on track somewhat. Although it was a very frustrating period of grappling with it, it is nice to be back into full training and back into cricket really, which is really exciting, and back with the team after watching them on the sidelines for a little bit."

Williamson's form, on the other hand, hasn't been consistent since his return to the game. He had a rather forgettable IPL campaign for Sunrisers Hyderabad, scoring 216 runs at 19.64 and a strike rate of 93.51.

His return to the red-ball was not pleasant either, as he scored a nine-ball duck against a County Select XI at Chelmsford last week, where his side slumped to 19 for 6 in their second innings before facing a seven-wicket defeat.

Meanwhile, the Test series will be interesting due to the identity of England's new head coach, Brendon McCullum. 

The former New Zealand captain was Williamson's predecessor, and the current Kiwi captain gave credit to his former captain for defining the philosophy that has carried the current team.

"It's a great opportunity for Brendon, such a positive guy and an amazing leader as well. He does tend to have a strong impact wherever he goes. And clearly, the English set-up has seen some strong qualities in him that they want as a part of their set-up. 

"No doubt they'll be working hard, and Brendon will be certainly getting right in the mix of things to do what he does, but at the end of the day, it's going to be an exciting contest and one that both sides are looking forward to," Williamson concluded.