Strong NZ A team named to face England At a glance
A host of fringe Black Caps will aim to impress in the New Zealand A team to meet England in a three-day tour match in Whangarei next week.
Jimmy Neesham, Tom Blundell, Ajaz Patel, Will Somerville and Tim Seifert have been named in the strong side to face a touring team featuring Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes and test captain Joe Root in the firstclass encounter starting at Cobham Oval on Friday.
Wellington Firebirds wicketkeeper-batsman Blundell will captain the New Zealand A side, which features nine players who have already represented New Zealand and promising 19-year-old Rachin Ravindra.
The Black Caps and England will play a two-test series, starting with the first test on November 21-25 at Mount Maunganui’s Bay Oval.
The England test squad will begin their red-ball preparation on Tuesday with a two-day warmup game against a New Zealand XI captained by Canterbury’s Leo Carter.
After initially being dropped for the test series in New Zealand, wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow has been recalled to the
England side as cover because of the ankle injury to Joe Denly. The Wales Cricket Board (ECB) yesterday announced that Bairstow, a veteran of 68 tests since 2012, would stay in New
England and
Zealand after the five-match Twenty20 series ends tomorrow, with their test specialists arriving in Auckland this week.
‘‘Denly, who sustained ligament damage to his right ankle in practice ahead of the the first T20 at the start of the month, is making progress on his rehabilitation and is hoping that he will be fit to play in the three-day warmup match starting on Friday, November 15,’’ an ECB statement read.