Black Caps cup naming imminent
New Zealand Cricket plans to reveal its World Cup squad in a fortnight’s time, three weeks ahead of the official deadline.
NZC’s general manager of high performance, Bryan Stronach, said the announcement of the 15-man Black Caps squad would happen during the first week of April. The exact date is yet to be inked in.
The International Cricket Council requires all 10 squads to be submitted by April 23, with the tournament in the UK scheduled to start on May 30.
‘‘We’re working our way through the finer details of that now. There’s still some discussion going on through our selection process but it’s getting pretty close,’’ Stronach said.
At least 12 of the cup picks are straightforward selections, with the final discussions likely to surround Tim Seifert as backup wicketkeeper, Colin Munro as backup batsman and the tightest race for the second spinner’s berth between Todd Astle and Ish Sodhi.
The selectors’ final squad will be handed to NZC chief executive David White before it is announced.
Stronach sat in on Friday’s selection meeting in Christchurch, which was also attended by coach and selection convener Gary Stead, fellow selector Gavin Larsen, high performance coach Bob Carter and, briefly, captain Kane Williamson.
The meeting at Canterbury Cricket headquarters in Addington was cut short, Stronach said, when news filtered through of the mosque shootings which the Bangladesh team narrowly avoided and saw the third test at nearby Hagley Park abandoned almost immediately.
Williamson and his fellow Black Caps will make their first public appearances since then, at NZC’s annual awards dinner in Auckland tonight.
The traditional end-of-season celebration is sure to be a sombre affair including tributes to the victims and their families.
Williamson is among 11 New Zealand cricketers released the following day to join their Indian Premier League franchises for the tournament starting on Sunday and running through to the final on May 12.
Potentially up to nine of those – Williamson, Martin Guptill, Munro, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Lockie Ferguson and Sodhi – will be cup-bound after the IPL. Adam Milne and Mitchell McClenaghan are the other two in a strong New Zealand IPL contingent.
Williamson was already ruled out of the third test with a minor tear in his left pectoral muscle suffered during the second test in Wellington, and an update on his injury is due in the next day or so.
Stronach said Williamson could delay his return to Sunrisers Hyderabad, depending on medical advice.
‘‘There’s good trust with the IPL on that and they trust our medical teams. We are treating it day by day.
‘‘Kane’s preference would be if he’s not right to play or a long way away from playing then he’d probably hang around [in New Zealand]. If he’s getting closer then he will head over [to India],’’ Stronach said.
‘‘At this stage it’s nothing major, it’s one of those niggly things. And obviously we’re being reasonably conservative around it because we’ve got the World Cup coming up. It’s nothing we’re too worried about.’’
Tonight’s awards will feature the Sir Richard Hadlee Medal for men’s player of the year, as well as women’s T20 and ODI outstanding players.