ICC T20 World Cup 2024: Kane Williamson to lead New Zealand, Conway, Ravindra, Henry included

Kane Williamson will lead a 15-member New Zealand squad for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The showpiece event will be played in the USA and the West Indies from June 1 to 29.

The squad, with a right mix of youth and experience, will have fast bowling duo Tim Southee and Trent Boult leading the bowling unit.

Kyle Jamieson, Adam Milne missed out due to injuries while Tom Latham, Tim Seifert, Will Young were not named in the squad along with Colin Munro.

Youngster Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway retain their places in the squad, with Conway hoping to recover in time from the thumb injury he sustained in February that ruled him out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) too.

Matt Henry, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, James Neesham and Ish Sodhi will also be on the plane to the USA and West Indies.

Young fast bowler Ben Sears has been named as the 16th travelling reserve.

New Zealand coach Gary Stead was happy with the squad and termed it ‘well-balanced’ and said he is confident of a strong showing. “I’d like to congratulate everyone named (in the squad). It’s a special time representing your country at a world tournament. 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 after the squad announcement.

Matt Henry and Rachin Ravindra are the only two players in the squad to have never played a T20 World Cup and the Kiwi coach Stead said he is looking forward to how the duo embrace the challenge on the big stage. “Matt has worked exceptionally hard on his skills across the phases of a T20 game to come back into selection consideration. 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,” Stead added.

New Zealand is grouped in Group C along with West Indies, Uganda, Papua New Guinea and Afghanistan. The Black Caps will play their first match against Afghanistan in Guyana on June 7.

New Zealand squad: Kane Williamson (captain), 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. Travelling reserve: Ben Sears