New Zealand announce squad for Australia T20Is, Trent Boult returns after 14 months

New Zealand announced a 14-member squad for the three-match T20I series against Australia on Tuesday, February 13. All-rounder Josh Clarkson has earned his maiden call-up in the format while fast bowler Trent Boult has marked his return after November 2022. 

The left-arm seamer will be available for the second and third games of the series to replace Tim Southee whose workload will be managed ahead of the Test series against the same opponents beginning from February 29. All-rounder Daryl Mitchell has missed out due to foot injury while star batter Kane Williamson is on paternity leave.

Also Read: Michael Neser returns as Australia name 14-man squad for New Zealand Test tour

Furthermore, Michael Bracewell was unavailable for selection due to a finger injury while Jimmy Neesham is playing in Bangladesh Premier League 2024. Commenting on the squad New Zealand chief selector Sam Wells said that the team will miss both Williamson and Mitchell but they have a lot of faith in both Clarkson and Ravindra.

“It’s never ideal missing two of your best players for such a big series, but in saying that, we do have a lot of faith in the guys coming in. Both Josh and Rachin have been in our white-ball squads this summer and it’s really exciting for them to now get this opportunity,” said selector Sam Wells.

Rachin’s talent and class has been clear to all over the past six months: Sam Wells

“Josh hits the ball as long and as hard as anyone and we were encouraged by his performances with the ball in his maiden ODI series against Bangladesh before Christmas. Rachin’s talent and class has been clear to all over the past six months, and similar to Josh, it’s great to have his all-round skill-set to call on in this squad,” he added.

Also Read: Australia announce strong squad for T20Is versus New Zealand, Mitchell Marsh named skipper

The three-match T20I series will begin from Wednesday, February 21 at Sky Stadium in Wellington while the second and third T20I will be played at Eden Park in Auckland on February 23 and 25 respectively.

New Zealand T20I squad vs Australia

Mitchell Santner (c), Finn Allen, Trent Boult (games 2 & 3), Mark Chapman, Josh Clarkson, Devon Conway (wk), Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Adam Milne, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Tim Seifert (wk), Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee (game 1)