Aotearoa's Blackcaps squad for the T20 World Cup was announced and while it doesn't serve as a straight up representation of Aotearoa's best T20 cricketers, there is a core group of slick cricketers ready to chase more major tournament success. Aotearoa has made the last two ODI World Cup finals, won the World Test Championship and the goal for this T20 World Cup should be a final - let alone winning the damn thang.

In 2016, Aotearoa made the semi-final stage where they lost to England. We haven't had a T20 World Cup since then and the most important takeaway from that World Cup is that Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi were freaky. 30 bowlers took 4+ wickets at the 2016 World Cup and there were only three kiwis on the list with Mitchell McClenaghan holding the bottom spot (4w @ 21.75avg/7.90rpo), while Mitchell Santner was 3rd (10w @ 11.40avg/6.27rpo) and Ish Sodhi was 4th (10w @ 12avg/6.10rpo).

Six bowlers took 10+ wickets and two of them were the kiwi spinners. Santner and Sodhi form a core group of bowlers who will lead the Blackcaps with the ball, joined on my list by Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson. These three seamers have T20 mana coming from different angles as Southee is a T20I leader for Aotearoa, while Boult consistently does a job in the Indian Premier League. Ferguson is one the most in-demand T20 seamers, perhaps the best bowling export for T20 Leagues.

Having seen all kiwi seamers showcase a wide variety of skills, a key thing with this group will be their bag of tricks in United Arab Emirates conditions. That 2016 World Cup was in India, so there is spin crossover for Santner and Sodhi who will serve as interesting examples of development either in their own improvements from the 2016 World Cup, or how opposition batsmen deal with them. The kiwi seamers in theory shouldn't be hugely effective in such conditions, yet we've all seen them swing the ball both ways in Test cricket and execute plans in different formats.

Southee and Boult especially are two of the most skillful seamers in the world. How does that look at a T20 World Cup in UAE?

There is also a core group of batsmen who I've got as needing to score the bulk of Aotearoa's runs. Kane Williamson sits on his throne here and he is the batting equivalent of Boult in the sense that Williamson strolls in IPL campaigns annually, without much fuss or fanfare. Williamson is the best player of spin bowling from Aotearoa and his role will likely see him cruise along at 120sr without taking too many risks while sluggers slap boundaries around him.

Sluggers slapping boundaries; Devon Conway, Glenn Phillips, Jimmy Neesham.

Conway has displayed the same level-up ability as Finn Allen, only across multiple formats. I don't think it's a stretch to consider Conway as the second best batsman in this group right now and perhaps the most fascinating low key storyline to keep tabs on will be Conway's fortunes. Greater familiarity with Conway for opponents will lead to more clarity in limiting Conway and this will make for intriguing viewing as Conway's growth or lack of, will be on display.

Glenn Phillips' last T20 work was in England's T20 Blast where he sits 2nd for runs with 500 runs @ 55.55avg/163.39sr. That's bonkers and Phillips deserves to be in this core group of batsmen given his domination of this T20 Blast and also previous Caribbean Premier Leagues. I've got Jimmy Neesham in this group as well, considering it will be Neesham who is tasked with whacking boundaries in the middle order.

This means Neesham has to be able to crack fours and sixes from ball one, as well as holding an innings together when required. Given the holes in the Blackcaps squad, Neesham is the senior figure in this role and the powerful lefty will have to showcase his leadership in steering around the bowlers who can bat a bit. Neesham's also a nifty bowler who will play a similar role with the ball as he does with the bat in being as efficient as possible with his one, maybe two overs.

Neesham bowls. Phillips is a whiz in the field and can bowl spin. Phillips and Conway can play as wicket-keepers. Williamson's the skipper. Along with the five bowlers in the core group above, these four batsmen give the kiwis nine high quality cricketers who from the outside looking in have clear roles to play. Nine high quality cricketers feels good, then again most of these other nations have at least nine high quality T20 cricketers and they are bolstered at World Cup time by professional T20 players moving back to their national teams.

Martin Guptill is a wildcard in my list.

Guptill could very easily be viewed as a core batsman and was the leading run-scorer from the 2016 World Cup to back that idea up. Guptill was also destructive against Australia, then solid against Bangladesh as further reinforcement to his core batsman status. Guptill was far, far worse than Colin Munro in the Pakistan Super League this year...

Guptill also hasn't played a T20I outside Aotearoa since September 2019 and his Aotearoa record of 35.88avg/148.61sr drops down to 20.09avg/112.46sr in Asia. This is all very wildcardy as Guptill could be pure Guppy, the Guppy we love the most where he stares into the dirt while stroking a six down the ground. There are also clear signs of the opposite happening for Guptill in the UAE and this might lead opposition teams to open with spin, or specifically target Guptill as a cheap early wicket.

Guptill could go either way and that alone will be interesting to watch.

Guptill could also be considered an 'X-Factor' for that reason, although I've gone with Daryl Mitchell and Kyle Jamieson in this group as there is a wee bit more mystery with these two. We kinda know that Guptill will open and be graced with ample opportunity to right his ship, while Mitchell and Jamieson may carry the drinks more than they play.

I love Mitchell's cricket. There is an angle for Mitchell to be a death bowler, I've come to enjoy Mitchell's batting the most and he looks equally as crisp playing square of the wicket as he does down the ground with a straight bat. I don't expect Mitchell to be an automatic selection as the decision-makers will likely be conservative with their selections, although there is room here for Mitchell to surprise folks.

No surprises with Jamieson as everyone knows what Jamieson brings. How Jamieson fits into the Blackcaps bowling unit and what he offers with the bat will interesting as Jamieson has solid IPL experience, plus the skills developed alongside Southee and Boult. Some may have Ferguson and Jamieson as competing for the same spot, which could flip in favour of Jamieson thanks to his extra batting juice.

Both Mitchell and Jamieson have nice trends towards blast off in this T20 World Cup. At the same time, there is niggle in trying to fit all these blokes into the same team and whether it's Guptill's mana or Tim Seifert playing as the wicket-keeper; Mitchell and Jamieson are just as likely to not play much as they are blast off.

Ol' Timmy Seifert. There was a specific (wk) note next to Seifert's name in the squad list and this suggests that Seifert will play as the wicket-keeper for Aotearoa, however I'm struggling to find room for Seifert. Cases can be made for Seifert being fine as far as form goes as well as a notable dip in form depending on your vibe, yet regardless of form there is a genuine question of whether Seifert bats ahead of Guptill, Conway, Williamson or Phillips in the top-four. Maybe there is a spot in the middle order where Seifert will play more of a finishing role, which would come at the expense of a bowler or all-rounder.

Conway and Phillips are perfectly adequate wicket-keepers, while also being better batsmen right now. I'd prefer to have Conway as the wicket-keeper and Conway has done that job in three T20Is already, leaving Phillips to have an impact as a fielder. This leaves Seifert as a sneaky fringe 1st 11 joker which may be drastic but that's due to Conway and Phillips being so impressive.

Seifert is joined by Todd Astle and Mark Chapman in the fringe group. Astle and Chapman offer spin bowling in favourable conditions making these selections understandable, although neither is spreading fear through opposition batting line ups. Phillips offers sneaky off-spin himself, plus I reckon the seam department has the unique balance of experience and skill to take advantage of conditions. This makes it tricky to see Astle or Chapman getting much game time.

Chapman could bolster the middle order batting, which then clutters spots that Seifert might otherwise take. Astle has a batting strike-rate of 109 in T20 cricket (74 games) and hasn't done enough in T20I cricket to make a judgement, generally though Astle doesn't have the power to earn selection in the lower order ahead of other options.

There is enough pure T20 talent for Aotearoa to make waves at the T20 World Cup. They will need that core group to be dominant over multiple games while also hoping that the other blokes who are more volatile find their groove. Under Kane Williamson's leadership, we know the Blackcaps are fantastic at adapting to each game and outlaying a variety of skills. That's been on show in an ODI World Cup and WTC, making it a key factor in this T20 World Cup as well.

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