The Blackcaps T20 squad named to play Sri Lanka in three games starting this Saturday features Aotearoa's best young talent and it's the perfect opportunity to roll out a fresh T20 group after New Zealand struggled to hit their potential in T20Is this year. The Blackcaps T20 squad is aligned with how the Test squad has shifted towards younger players in the past 12 months, which has worked out pretty well considering Rachin Ravindra and Will O'Rourke finished the year second for Test runs/wickets in 2024.

Blackcaps are 9-9 in T20Is this year, after three consective years of winning more T20Is than they lost. 2020 was the last year in which New Zealand didn't have a winning record...

2020: 4-4

2021: 13-10

2022: 15-6

2023: 10-8

2024: 9-9

Most notably though, Blackcaps started their T20 World Cup campaign with back to back losses vs Afghanistan and West Indies. Aotearoa was rolled for 75 runs by Afghanistan (159/6) and stumbled to 136/9 in pursuit of West Indies' 149/9. Many kiwi cricketers were cruising along in the automatic selection zone after three years of winning T20I mahi and 2024 has shaken things up, leading us to this exciting squad that will host Sri Lanka.

All the headlines are about Bevon Jacobs who has added classy Plunket Shield batting to his excellent Super Smash campaign last summer. Jacobs had a strike-rate of 188.7 in his first Super Smash and that was second only to Doug Bracewell's 202, while fellow T20I Blackcap Tim Robinson was third on 187.4sr.

This summer, Jacobs has scored 29 runs @ 107sr in the Ford Trophy and he is second for the most sixes hit in Plunket Shield (13). Brett Hampton (14) is the only bloke with more sixes than Jacobs and Hampton's got a strike-rate of 85, while Jacobs is on 60.5sr. Jacobs wasn't just whacking boundaries in the Plunket Shield earlier this summer, he was patiently absorbing pressure and as he got more comfortable Jacobs would explode with boundaries.

In the Blackcaps T20I team Jacobs will be tasked with hitting boundaries, but he has already shown a level of class that lays out his potential. Robinson is likely to open the batting where he is a smooth hitter but like Jacobs, Robinson has quietly displayed a similar quality in his mahi across the Ford Trophy (42.7avg/68sr) and Plunket Shield (50avg/68sr) so far this season.

Canterbury duo Mitch Hay and Zak Foulkes are notable inclusions as well. Both were excellent in the Super Smash last season as Canterbury reached the final with Hay churning out 170 runs @ 28avg/165sr, in tune with his T20 strike-rate of 145. Hay has demanded selection as the next up wicket-keeper behind Tom Blundell and also has a First-Class batting average of 48.4; Hay and Jacobs both average 40+ in FC batting with heavy duty T20 strike-rates.

Foulkes was Canterbury's best bowler in the Super Smash last season (14w @ 16avg/6.6rpo) and also added 54 runs @ 150sr down the order. This means that Jacobs, Hay and Foulkes all had strike-rates of 150+ in one of the best Super Smash teams last season. There is also a trend of these younger lads, including Rachin Ravindra, Will O'Rourke (ODIs only) and Nathan Smith offering all-format excellence.

Foulkes is averaging 25 or less in T20I, FC, List-A and T20 bowling. A few weeks ago Foulkes hit 27* @ 169sr and took 3w @ 6.6rpo in a T20I vs Sri Lanka, taking him above 130sr in T20I and T20 batting. Foulkes was the only Blackcaps batter to have a batting strike-rate over 100 in two games vs Sri Lanka and he was well above that mark with 150sr, while also being the most effective seamer across the two games.

Smith is yet to play T20Is for Aotearoa and after a tough tour of Sri Lanka where he played two ODIs, Smith slotted in nicely to the Test team. As a bowler who offers plenty of swing/seam at good pace, a batter who averages 20+ in Tests/FC/LA and one of the best Blackcaps fielders, Smith is well equipped to contribute in T20I cricket. Oh, he's also got a handy T20 batting record of 14.8avg/128sr and bowling record of 23.4avg/8.3rpo.

Ravindra could get an expanded role, perhaps opening the batting alongside his Wellington comrade Robinson for a righty/lefty partnership. With batting strike-rates over 100 in both one-day formats, as well as 120+ in both T20 formats, Ravindra merely extends his regular strokes to score quickly.

Interestingly, T20I/T20 bowling are the only zones in which Ravindra averages below 40 and he's among the best T20 spinners in New Zealand with 19.6avg/6.4pro in T20Is and 21.7avg/7rpo in T20s. Ravindra only bowled three overs in five games this year though and the Blackcaps spin department features skipper Mitchell Santner, along with Michael Bracewell and Glenn Phillips who are both likely to be deployed ahead of Ravindra.

T20I Blackcaps in this squad who have been decent this year...

Glenn Phillips: 323 runs @ 35.8avg/129sr | 4w @ 6.7avg/5.5rpo

Daryl Mitchell: 194 runs @ 38.8avg/167sr

Mitchell Santner: 100 runs @ 14avg/109sr | 12w @ 28avg/7.1rpo

Rachin Ravindra: 86 runs @ 21avg/139sr

Zak Foulkes: 33 runs @ 16avg/144sr | 5w @ 23avg/7.8rpo

Matt Henry: 7w @ 24avg/8.8rpo

Funky 1st 11

Rachin Ravindra, Tim Robinson, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mitch Hay (wk), Bevon Jacobs, Mitchell Santner, Zak Foulkes, Nathan Smith, Matt Henry

Squad: Michael Bracewell, Jacob Duffy

This is not the time to be tripping about players who do not want to represent New Zealand. There are a few lads who deserve to be mentioned who are in the T20I mix and are either on the comeback from injury, making them key lads to watch out for in Super Smash, or are still injured.

Ben Sears and Kyle Jamieson haven't played domestic cricket yet this summer, although Jamieson rolled the arm over in a game for Canterbury A. Ben Lister, Henry Shipley and Adithya Ashok have all played for Aotearoa in ODI/T20Is as well and they played for the NZ 11 vs Sri Lanka earlier this week.

The series vs Sri Lanka will be followed by three ODIs and this overlaps with the start of Super Smash. All the youngsters who have stepped up to Blackcaps recently have dominated Super Smash and this is a proven development farm for Aotearoa's best young talent, so the festive phase of Super Smash cricket will showcase the depth on offer.

Matt Boyle (Canterbury), Muhammad Abbas, Callum McLachlan (Wellington), Katene Clarke, Kristian Clarke and Matt Fisher (ND) all played for the NZ 11 vs Sri Lanka as youngsters to watch out for in Super Smash. Others who have impressed this season leading into Super Smash include Luke Georgeson (Otago), Will Clark, Curtis Heaphy (CD), Rhys Mariu, Cameron Paul (Canterbury) and maybe even 20-year-old Hong Kong international Raunaq Kapur who played for NZ 11 before making his domestic cricket debut could get into the Canterbury 1st 11.

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