Santner back to lead Black Caps in England series

9:33am
Mitchell Santner.

The Black Caps' white-ball captain Mitchell Santner and all-rounder Rachin Ravindra are back from injury for the upcoming T20 games against England, though fast bowler Ben Sears and batter Kane Williamson will miss the series.

Williamson hopes to return to international cricket during the ODI series against England, which starts in Tauranga on 26 October.

Ravindra returns to the side after being ruled out of the recent series against Australia with a facial injury, while Santner has recovered from his recent abdominal surgery to lead the team in the three-game T20 series against England which gets under way in Christchurch at a sold-out Hagley Park on Saturday.

Sears suffered a left hamstring injury during training last week, with a subsequent MRI scan revealing a hamstring tear which will require three to four weeks to recover.

Jimmy Neesham, who was called in as a late replacement for Ravindra against Australia, has been selected as the seam-bowling all-rounder, alongside the same pace-bowling group of Jacob Duffy, Zak Foulkes, Matt Henry, and Kyle Jamieson.

Michael Bracewell joins Santner in the spin department, with Ish Sodhi missing out from the previous squad.

Wicket-keeper Tim Seifert will take the gloves and joins the same batting unit that faced Australia.

The Black Caps coach Rob Walter said the series was another important step for the T20 team.

"Fresh from taking on Australia it's great to have another world class team arrive on our shores. We know what an exciting brand of cricket Harry Brook and his T20 boys play and I'm sure our guys are looking forward to meeting that challenge head on," Walter said.

"It's awesome to hear the first game at Hagley Oval is about to sell-out and that will make for a fantastic occasion to start the series on Saturday night."

Walter is pleased to have Ravindra and Santner in the squad and said he was also looking forward to seeing Williamson back in the side later in the tour.

"It's great to have Mitch back. Alongside being our leader, he's one of the very best white-ball spinners in the world and his skills and experience will be a welcome addition. Likewise, it's nice to welcome back Rachin who was unlucky to miss out on Australia and I know is really excited for this series.

"Kane had to overcome a minor medical issue in the past month, and we agreed he needs some more time to get himself physically ready to return. He's obviously a world class player and we're hoping these two weeks will ensure he's ready for the ODIs against England and the following tour by West Indies.

"Ben had some discomfort while bowling last Tuesday and the subsequent hamstring tear ruled him out of contention for this series. We wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him back in the mix in the near future."

Black Caps T20 squad v England:

Mitchell Santner (c), Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy, Zak Foulkes, Matt Henry, Bevon Jacobs, Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Rachin Ravindra, Tim Robinson, Tim Seifert (wk).

The series will be broadcast live in New Zealand on TVNZ+ and TVNZ 1

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