NZ include Bracewell and Allen in squad for T20 W C
auckland: New Zealand have named a largely setled 15-man party for the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia with Finn Allen and Michael Bracewell the only players who did not feature in the squad that made the final in 2021.
Martin Guptill will play in his seventh T20 World Cup and Devon Conway will keep wickets in addition to his bating duties at the tournament, which starts for the Black Caps with a re-run of last year’s final against Australia in Sydney on Oct. 22.
Seamer Adam Milne, who was an injury replacement for Lockie Ferguson at last year’s tournament in the UAE, was retained in the absence of Kyle Jamieson, who has a back problem.
Hard-hiting batsman Allen and all-rounder Bracewell are the numeric replacements for leg spinner Todd Astle and wicketkeeper Tim Seifert, who both missed out.
“It’s great to have this tournament so soon ater last year’s event in which we played some really good cricket, but couldn’t quite get over the line at the end,” said coach Gary Stead.
“With the nucleus of that squad retained along with the exciting additions of Finn and Michael, we should go into the tournament with plenty of optimism.”
New Zealand also face Afghanistan, England and two as yet undetermined qualifiers from the opening stage of the tournament in Group 1 of the Super 12.
IRELAND NAME SQUAD AS SINGH GETS THE NOD: Off-spinner Simi Singh was on Tuesday selected ahead of Andy Mcbrine as the third spinner in the Ireland squad for the Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia starting next month. With George Dockrell and Gareth Delany doing well this season, the selectors decided to pick one spinner in the 15-member squad and Simi Singh got the nod.
“One of the most considered decisions we had to make was around our spin bowling options. With George Dockrell and Gareth Delany both having an impact this summer and the variation they bring to the atack, it came down to making a choice between Simi Singh and Andy Mcbrine.
“Andy can feel very unfortunate to have missed out this time, but we believe Simi offers more variation on Australian wickets with his ability to take the ball away from both right and let-handers,” Cricket Ireland’s chief selector Andrew White said.
This will be the first major tournament under Head Coach Heinrich Malan and follows a series win for Ireland against Afghanistan in August at Stormont.
“We believe this is one of the strongest T20 squads we have sent to a World Cup and wish the team and coaching staff well for the tournament ahead,” Andrew White added.