Kane Williamson, New Zealand
Kane Williamson. (Photo: AFP)

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) announced the New Zealand squad for the upcoming Test series in and against England and the squad sees the return of Kane Williamson to the whites as he missed the home season with an elbow problem.

New Zealand is defending their World Test Championship title but faces an uphill battle to make next year’s final having dropped home Tests against Bangladesh and South Africa in the recent season.

Five New Zealand cricketers- Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Devon Conway, Daryl Mitchell, and Kane Williamson are busy at the IPL 2022 and are unlikely to be available for the two warm-up matches at Hove (May 20th – 23rd) and at Chelmsford (May 26th – 29th), the initial squad of 20 will be reduced to 15 ahead of the three Tests against England, the first of which begins at Lord’s on June 2.

Michael Bracewell. Photo- Twitter
Michael Bracewell. Photo- Twitter

Allrounder Michael Bracewell has been included in a New Zealand Test squad for the first time as part of the initial 20-player group for the series against England next month. 31-year-old earned his maiden T20I and One Day International calls ups recently and impressed one and all against the Netherlands.

Read More  Watch: Matheesha Pathirana touched MS Dhoni's feet? Truth exposed in fresh video

Also included in the squad as covers for the Blackcaps who will miss the initial tour due to IPL were the uncapped Cam Fletcher, Blair Tickner and Jacob Duffy.

“All Going To Plan, We Will Have Everyone Fit For First Test At Lord’s”- New Zealand Coach Gary Stead

Cam Fletcher, who was called up for the series against South Africa earlier this year, will be the back-up wicketkeeper behind Tom Blundell. Also included in the squad is Ajaz Patel, who hasn’t played for New Zealand since taking all ten wickets in an innings against India. allrounder Rachin Ravindra and Hamish Rutherford are also picked in the squad.

Kane Williamson and Gary Stead
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson and head coach Gary Stead. Credits: Twitter

“The red-ball tour of England first up is clearly high on our priority list and we’re looking forward to hitting the ground running over there in a couple of weeks’ time. All going to plan, we will have everyone fit and available for the first Test at Lord’s, and aim to announce our final squad of 15 for that series once we’ve completed our warm-up games,” coach Gary Stead was quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

“Last season I thought we juggled our resources really well to ensure the welfare of our people was prioritised, and we’ll be looking to do that again with the white-ball cricket in July and August. That means no players or staff will stay with the side for the entire 14 weeks while we’re away, as we balance the workloads. The ICC T20 World Cup in Australia is only six months away and we’ll continue to also prioritise as much planning and preparation for that as possible,” he added.

New Zealand Cricket Team
Image Source: Twitter

Stead said that player welfare will continue to be a priority during what will be a busy period overseas for New Zealand. They will be engaged in white-ball matches after England Tests and he said that no player or member of support staff will be involved in all the series which also involves facing Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands, and West Indies through to August.

Read More  Pakistan vs Ireland schedule announced, all eyes set on the new captain announcement

New Zealand Test squad for England tour:

Kane Williamson (capt), Tom Blundell, Trent Boult, Michael Bracewell, Devon Conway, Colin de Grandhomme, Jacob Duffy, Cameron Fletcher, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Ajaz Patel, Rachin Ravindra, Hamish Rutherford, Tim Southee, Blair Tickner, Neil Wagner, Will Young

Also Read: BCCI Announces Schedule For Women’s T20 Challenge 2022. To Be Played During IPL 2022 Play-Offs