New Zealand announce squad for the India ODIs

New Zealand announced their One Day International squad for the tour of India today, but the selectors haven’t named the full squad yet. In a rather rare move, they picked just nine players in the preliminary squad while six more will be added to the squad from the New Zealand A team that is already in India taking on the India A side.

In the limited-overs tour the BlackCaps will play three ODIs and as many Twenty20 Internationals. The series gets underway with the opening ODI at Mumbai on October 22. The selectors will name the players for the T20Is when they decide which six players from the A team will join the touring party.

The BlackCaps A squad is playing the four-day games at the moment, the first of the two got underway today in Hyderabad. New Zealand coach Mike Hesson confirmed details of the squad selection. “The nine we’ve picked have made up the core of our ODI team for a while and all of them have experience playing in India,” he was quoted as saying by nzc.nz.

“With a number of our top guys already playing in India, it’s helpful to be able to select the squad in two parts. With six spots left, there’s an obvious incentive for the players in New Zealand A to perform and put their best foot forward,” Hesson added.

Neesham and Broom out

Two seasoned players Jimmy Neesham and Neil Broom didn’t make a cut for the tour but the coach said since they are important names in the setup the management has given them a fair idea of what is expected from them and asked to work on specific aspects.

“It will be disappointing for James and Neil, but we’ve talked through the areas that we’d like to see them work on and if we see development they’ll certainly both come into the reckoning come the home summer.

“Neil was really effective for us batting at three or four last season, but we have quality, established batsmen in those positions and we’d like to see Neil develop his game further to show he has the skills to bat at five.

“Jimmy needs go back and really dominate domestic cricket with both bat and ball.  We know Jimmy is a talented player, but we’ve spoken with him around improving the consistency in all areas of his game,” Hesson stated.

New Zealand initial squad for the India ODIs:

Kane Williamson (C), Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Adam Milne, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor.