On Wednesday, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has announced the national cricket team squads of all formats for their tour in UAE to play against Pakistan from this October to December.
In their upcoming UAE tour, New Zealand will play three T20Is, three ODIs and three Tests against Pakistan. NZC has announced the 15-member Test squad along with the incomplete 15-member ODI and incomplete 14-member T20I squad for the UAE tour. While 13 and 12 members have been named for the ODI and T20I squads respectively, two players will be added in each format at later.
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NZC has also announced the 19-man New Zealand A squad for the UAE tour which is expected to begin in mid-October. Their performances will be counted as the remaining members of the limited-overs squads can be fulfilled from it.
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While the left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner needs more time to recover from the knee surgery, Indian-born Ajaz Patel has been selected for the Test and New Zealand A squad. The 29-year-old is a left-arm spinner who won the Domestic Player of the Year award after helping Central Stags to win the 2017/18 Plunket Shield title. Ajaz was the most wicket-taker in that yearly first-class tournament as he took 48 wickets with the average of 21.52. In fact, he was the most wicket-takers in each of last three Plunket Shields.
New Zealand’s National Selector Gavin Larsen said on Ajaz’s inclusion in the team, “Ajaz has deserved his inclusion on the sheer weight of his domestic first-class form over the past couple of summers. With Mitch Santner not fully recovered yet from his knee surgery, it’s nice to have both wrist (Astle and Sodhi) and finger (Patel) spin options, given the likely conditions in the UAE.”
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Talking about the New Zealand A games, Larsen added that it is a great opportunity to develop the players to foreign conditions.
Larsen said, “This is a great opportunity for us to expose our emerging players to foreign conditions and help develop and expand their games. Given India A will also be visiting New Zealand over the summer, there is a lot to play for.”
New Zealand squads for 2018/19 UAE tour
T20I squad: Kane Williamson (c), Mark Chapman, Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Seth Rance, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, (Two more names to be added from NZ A squad).
ODI squad: Kane Williamson (c), Todd Astle, Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, BJ Watling(wk), Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Colin Munro, Henry Nicholls, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, (Two more to be added from NZ A/BC T20 Squads).
Test squad: Kane Williamson (c), BJ Watling, Tom Blundell, Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Ajaz Patel, Jeet Raval, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner, Todd Astle.
NZ A squad: Corey Anderson, Todd Astle (T20s, One-Day, and first FC match), Tom Blundell, Tom Bruce, Mark Chapman (T20 only), Lockie Ferguson (T20 only), Kyle Jamieson, Scott Kuggeleijn, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips (T20 and One-Day), Jeet Raval (FC matches), Rachin Ravindra, Tim Seifert (T20 and second FC match), Blair Tickner, Logan van Beek (One-Day and FC matches), George Worker, Will Young, Neil Wagner (Second FC match), BJ Watling (One-Day and first FC match).
