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The Blackcaps have named a strong 15-man squad for the upcoming Men’s T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA.
Plenty of experience has been named across the squad with captain Kane Williamson playing in his sixth T20 World Cup and leading T20I wicket-taker Tim Southee playing in his seventh.
ODI World Cup star Rachin Ravindra and Matt Henry who has recently made his way back into the T20 fold are the only two players to not have played at a T20 World Cup before.
The wicketkeeping duties will be led by Devon Conway who has been recovering from a finger injury sustained in the T20 series against Australia earlier this year. It seems likely that if needed, Finn Allen will be the backup wicketkeeper.
Conway will likely join Allen at the top of the order, the latter coming off a big summer with the bat where he notched 137 against Pakistan in Dunedin. Ravindra is another possibility to open having opened during the IPL for CSK.
Pace bowler Trent Boult has only played two T20Is since the last World Cup, but has spent that time playing in multiple T20 leagues across the world, namely the IPL and the BBL. He will be joined in the pace ranks by Lockie Ferguson, Southee, and Henry. Ferguson has made his mark on the T20 side this past summer with 10 wickets in just the five games he played in, with best figures of 4/12 against Australia.
The squad will be bolstered by the all-around talent of Michael Bracewell, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, and Mitchell Santner. All four have proved to be match winners over their careers with both bat and ball. Bracewell also recently made his captaincy debut for Aotearoa in the 2-2 series draw with Pakistan that ended on Sunday.
Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, and Ish Sodhi are the other three players who have been named in the squad. Chapman is coming off a good series in Pakistan where he made 87* in the third game. Phillips has been a regular in New Zealand T20 sides and has made his mark with both bat and in more recent times the ball. Sodhi is also a veteran in New Zealand T20 sides with 136 wickets in the 116 games he has represented Aotearoa.
Ben Sears also will travel and train with the team as injury cover. Adam Milne (ankle) and Kyle Jamieson (back) were both ruled out of the World Cup with injuries.
Blackcaps head coach Gary Stead said that the venues in the West Indies will be expected to offer varied conditions and feels that the squad has been selected to adapt to those conditions.
He also said that Matt [Henry] has worked on his skills across the phases of a T20 game to come back into selection consideration and that Rachin [Ravindra] has made every post a winner in the past 12 months and it was exciting to see him continue that during the T20 series against Australia.
Luke Ronchi (batting) and Jacob Oram (bowling) will serve as support to Stead at the tournament along with James Foster who will focus on fielding.
BLACKCAPS ICC T20 World Cup Squad
Kane Williamson (C)
Finn Allen
Trent Boult
Michael Bracewell
Mark Chapman
Devon Conway
Lockie Ferguson
Matt Henry
Daryl Mitchell
Jimmy Neesham
Glenn Phillips
Rachin Ravindra
Mitchell Santner
Ish Sodhi
Tim Southee
Ben Sears - Travelling Reserve
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