Adams played one Test, 42 ODIs and four T20Is for New Zealand in a career that spanned five years. He also enjoyed stints in the English county circuit with Nottinghamshire, Hampshire and Essex, before calling it quits in 2015.

Adams then took over the bowling coach role with the Australia domestic side New South Wales and was credited with bringing Mitchell Starc out of a form slump in 2019. He also worked with Sydney Sixers in the BBL and with the Auckland side where he helped shape Lockie Ferguson's career.

In more recent times, Adams was the fast bowling coach of the New Zealand women's team on their limited-overs tour of South Africa in September-October last year. He will temporarily fill the space left by Shane Jurgensen who stepped down from his role as the New Zealand bowling coach after the 2023 ODI World Cup.

Meanwhile, Chris Donaldson, the New Zealand strength and conditioning coach and Simon Insley, the team performance manager will both take a break during the T20I series against Pakistan. Their roles will be filled by Matt Long, Cricket Wellington's head of athlete development and Dave Meiring, Central Districts' high performance manager, respectively.

New Zealand's five-match T20I series against Pakistan gets underway on January 12 in Auckland. The teams will then travel to Hamilton and Dunedin for the second and third games before moving to Christchurch for the last two T20Is.