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Williamson to lead experienced Black Caps squad at T20 World Cup

April 29, 2024
Kane Williamson in action for the Black Caps in a T20 match against Pakistan at Seddon Park in  January.

Kane Williamson will lead an experienced Black Caps squad to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in the West Indies and United States starting in June.

This is Williamson’s sixth appearance in a T20 World Cup squad and his fourth tournament as captain.

His experience is bettered only by Tim Southee, who has earned selection in his seventh T20 World Cup squad and sits as the leading wicket taker in the history of T20 Internationals.

Trent Boult has been selected in his fifth T20 World Cup squad.

The squad also boasts significant recent experience in the conditions, with 13 of the 15-man group featuring on the team’s last tour to the West Indies in 2022.

As well as that, six of the squad have also featured in the Caribbean Premier League T20 competition.

Bowler Matt Henry and batting all-rounder Rachin Ravindra are the only two members of the 15 without ICC T20 World Cup experience.

Alongside the 15 players selected in the tournament squad, pace bowler Ben Sears will travel and train with the team as injury cover.

Adam Milne was ruled out following surgery to repair an ankle injury, and Kyle Jamieson was also unavailable for selection as he continues to rehabilitate his back injury.

Black Caps coach Gary Stead said: “We expect the venues in the West Indies to offer quite varied conditions and feel we’ve selected a squad with the scope to adapt to those conditions.”

Stead said he was delighted to name Henry and Ravindra for an ICC T20 World Cup squad for the first time.

"Matt has worked exceptionally hard on his skills across the phases of a T20 game to come back into selection consideration," he said.

“Rachin has made every post a winner in the past 12 months and it was exciting to see him continue that trajectory over the summer in the T20 format against Australia.”

New Zealand are in a pool with the West Indies, Afghanistan, Uganda and Papua New Guinea. Their first game is against Afghanistan on June 8.

A relatively inexperienced Black Caps squad recently drew a T20 International series in Pakistan.

Black Caps ICC T20 World Cup Squad

Kane Williamson (C), Finn Allen, Trent Boult, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee.

Ben Sears - travelling reserve

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