Neil Wagner misses out on the NZ squad for the tri-series in Ireland

The express left-arm pacer Neil Wagner will have to wait a little bit longer for his debut in the New Zealand colors after being released from the 15-member squad for the tri-series in Ireland.

The left-arm seamer will now return back to play for Essex, having already been named in the 14-man squad for the match against Kent in the Royal One Day Cup.

Having already represented the country 32 times in the longest format of cricket, the pacer was waiting for his opportunity to make his debut for the country in ODI’s this week. The pacer additionally was also not part of the Indian Premier League (IPL), where he went unsold in this year’s auctions.

Return of the IPL pacers: 

The return of Adam Milne and Matt Henry from the lucrative IPL means that the pacer would now be released to play for Essex. Wagner has also not been picked in the squad for the Champions Trophy.

“It’s a challenge for us because we have guys coming back from the IPL,” Mike Hesson, New Zealand’s coach, said on Wednesday (May 17) about releasing players. “So we will have players we will release back to England and we will give a little bit of time to acclimatise and then assess conditions, because there are still ODIs and we will need to keep picking what we deem to be our best team.”

The opening encounter:

Wagner wasn’t given a chance in the playing XI in New Zealand’s tri-series opening game against the Irish side, where they beat them by the margin of 51 runs. The management instead decided to hand debuts to youngsters Scott Kuggeleijn and Seth Rance and also were trusted with the responsibility of sharing the new ball.

But the damage was done by the left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner, who picked up a five-wicket haul as Ireland folded for 238 in chase of 289 and ensured the visitors maintain an unbeaten record against Ireland. Ireland has now lost all of their previous three games against England, Bangladesh and now New Zealand.