Captain Kane returns
Michael Bracewell’s rise to Black Caps prominence has continued with his inclusion in the 20-man squad for the upcoming tour of England.
The hard-hitting middle-order batter and off spin bowler is joined in the squad by wicketkeeper-batter Cam Fletcher, pace bowlers Blair Tickner and Jacob Duffy and opener Hamish Rutherford.
The extended squad will cover the unavailability of the five members playing in the Indian Premier League who will probably miss the two warmup matches in May. The squad will be reduced to 15 ahead of the first test starting at Lord’s on June 2.
Captain Kane Williamson is set to play his first test since December last year after recovering from an elbow injury.
Williamson was a late withdrawal from the second test XI to play India in Mumbai and then was ruled out of the two tests against Bangladesh in January and the two games against South Africa in February but has been a regular in charge of the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL.
Bracewell missed out with the bat in the three-game ODI series against the Netherlands on debut but impressed head coach Gary Stead with the ball and in training.
Tickner also made a mark with his pace in the series while he and Fletcher were part of the extended test squad for the drawn two-test series against the Proteas. Duffy has played four Twenty20 games for the Black Caps while the last of lefthander Rutherford’s 16 test appearances was against Sri Lanka in January, 2015.
Ajaz Patel, who didn’t play any of the four home summer tests after taking all 10 wickets in an innings in the Mumbai test and returning New Zealand’s secondbest match figures in history, has been named as the sole specialist spin option, with allrounder Rachin Ravindra also a slow-bowling option for the tests.
Stead said with five players at the IPL and Will Young and Colin de Grandhomme playing English county cricket, there would be a need to transition a significant number into the squad ahead of the series.
New Zealand beat England 1-0 in their two-test series in England last year, ahead of their World Test Championship final victory over India.
However, New Zealand currently sit in sixth place on the WTC standings for the 2021-23 series, with two wins from six matches and will need to win at least two games against England to stay in contention to defend their title.