Former skipper Vettori out of NZ series with West Indies

(Reuters) - Former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has ruled himself out of the West Indies test series starting next week due to fitness worries as he comes back from a serious injury.

The 34-year-old all-rounder had surgery on his left Achilles in June and, despite returning to the domestic arena this month, is unsure if he can cope with five-day matches.

"International cricket, and in particular test cricket, places enormous demands on the body and I simply haven't played enough recently to be confident of meeting those demands," Vettori said in a statement on Tuesday.

The left-arm spinner said his short-term plan would be to concentrate on his domestic side Northern Districts and Brisbane Heat in Australia's Twenty20 competition before re-evaluating his fitness in the New Year.

"What I can't afford to do is throw myself back into the international arena prematurely and re-injure myself," added Vettori.

"It wouldn't be any good for me, it wouldn't be any good for the team."

Vettori, who boasts 4,516 runs and 360 wickets in test cricket, played the last of his 112 tests against West Indies in July 2012.

The three-test series starts in Dunedin on December 3, with matches in Wellington and Hamilton to follow. New Zealand then host India in February.

(Reporting by Ian Ransom; editing by Tony Jimenez)