Breaking Down The Blackcaps T20I Squad For Tri-Series In Zimbabwe
The Blackcaps T20I squad selected for a tri-series in Zimbabwe sums up the state of New Zealand cricket nicely with excellent depth on show, talented youngsters on the rise and experienced troopers improving, along with Blackcaps contracts having no relevance to fans and the need to adjust perception about a few kiwi cricketers.
Blackcaps contracts do not determine selection, nor do they inform fans about any kinda of ranking. Why would fans care about Blackcaps contracts when Finn Allen, Tim Seifert, Bevon Jacobs, Adam Milne and Ish Sodhi were just selected for this tri-series without Blackcaps contracts? We do not cover Blackcaps contracts for this reason.
Kiwi cricket fans need to be prepared for Kane Williamson to not play anymore T20I cricket for Aotearoa. While his legendary status has allowed him grace, Williamson has not showed any intention to play T20I cricket and right now he is not going to earn selection ahead of the other sluggers in the top order.
Devon Conway isn't a 1st 11 batter in any format either. It may have been a surprise for some that Conway was not selected for this tri-series, but he was already on the outer during the Test series vs England last summer and dropped out of 1st 11 mahi for the ODI Champions Trophy.
Like Williamson, Conway's T20 mahi doesn't warrant selection ahead of batters who score more runs, faster. Conway has been on a steady decline across the formats since bursting on to the international scene and instead of buzzing about Conway's Blackcaps status, the focus should be on Conway dominating the levels below as he did when he earned Blackcaps selection.
Many of the headlines around this squad zoned in on the players missing and yet this squad is a strong representation of the best T20 cricketers from Aotearoa. Whether it's Williamson, Conway, Ben Sears, Kyle Jamieson or Lockie Ferguson; missing Blackcaps selection for whatever reason is a dangerous space to be in because of the depth available.
Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy and Zak Foulkes deserve selection through their mahi for Blackcaps in T20I cricket. All three were fantastic in T20Is since the T20 World Cup last year (when an older Blackcaps team stunk) and Milne has a sneaky impressive T20I record since the start of 2024, as well as a T20I career record of 24.9avg/8.4rpo and T20 career record of 23.5avg/7.9rpo.
Will O'Rourke is the least effective T20I seamer right now and that's not a knock on him, he just isn't as good as the others. O'Rourke has been solid in his recent T20 mahi though as he improved through the IPL and T20 Blast, plus he is blatantly awesome so he deserves his selection.
This is the beauty of Blackcaps cricket right now. The batting department lays this out just as well with Bevon Jacobs getting a crack and he slots perfectly into a powerful line up. Allen, Mark Chapman, Seifert and Daryl Mitchell all have batting strike-rates over 140 in T20Is since the start of 2024 with Allen, Seifert and Mitchell over 150sr.
Jacobs has a T20 career strike-rate of 148. Meanwhile Williamson and Conway are below 125sr in T20Is since the start of 2024 and below 130 for their T20I careers. The weakest batting pocket is Glenn Phillips and Rachin Ravindra, which is crazy considering their talent and standing as two of the best under-30yrs cricketers in the world.
Phillips didn't do much last summer in T20Is with 10.8avg/102sr and while Ravindra was solid (26avg/137sr) in his three games last season, he is yet to stamp the Blackcaps T20I team with his prodigious batting talents. Along with Jacobs, these two have the potential to take the Blackcaps T20I team to greater heights and another theme of Aotearoa cricket is evident in how all three have expressed their love for representing New Zealand in Test cricket.
Mitchell Santner, Michael Bracewell and Sodhi hold down the spin department with Phillips and Ravindra providing more options. Bracewell offers all-round mahi and he was more effective with the bat (34.8avg/155sr) than he was with the ball (53.2avg/8.8rpo) last summer. This forms part of his 51.1avg/8.9rpo in T20Is since the start of 2024 and yet his T20I career bowling record is 20.6avg/7.1rpo.
There is a clear focus on the T20 World Cup in February next year and while there may be pockets to embrace development, these three spinners are the best options right now. Santner and Sodhi are still the best T20 spinners from Aotearoa, with Bracewell's skillset as a powerful lefty down the order adding to his selection case.
Blackcaps will lean on Seifert as the main wicket-keeper and NZC's announcement mentioned Allen as the back up. Mitch Hay is the next best wicket-keeper/batter behind Seifert and he is one of many Blackcaps who will stay in the mix ahead of the T20 World Cup, but having Seifert bat up top as a wicket-keeper adds to his value.
After the T20 World Cup last year, Blackcaps went 7-3 in T20Is which includes the tour of Sri Lanka and then games in Aotearoa. The five leading run-scorers who also had strike-rates over 140 in that period are all selected and of the six bowlers who took 5+ wickets, five of them are selected. That doesn't include Phillips, Ravindra, O'Rourke, Milne or the freakiest kiwi yet to debut in Jacobs.
Those who are desperate to play will make themselves available or command selection through wickets and runs. Others will fall away into the abyss and given the current state of the development pipeline, there are plenty of younger lads on the cusp of settling into the regular Blackcaps rotation. Take Jacobs for example because he's an awesome T20 slugger but he is just as good in longform batting and will be pushing for Test selection within a year.
Blackcaps in tri-series squad T20I stats since 2024 T20 World Cup
Batting
Tim Seifert: 62.2avg/207sr
Mark Chapman: 21.2avg/145r
Daryl Mitchell: 29.5avg/140sr
Michael Bracewell: 34.8avg/155sr
Finn Allen: 36avg/212sr
Rachin Ravindra: 26avg/137sr
Zak Foulkes: 29avg/149sr
Glenn Phillips: 10.8avg/102sr
Mitchell Santner: 25avg/98sr
Bowling
Jacob Duffy: 9.7avg/6rpo
Zak Foulkes: 19.2avg/8.2rpo
Ish Sodhi: 27avg/7.9rpo
Matt Henry: 21.2avg/8.8rpo
Mitchell Santner: 25.6avg/6.7rpo
Michael Bracewell: 53.2avg/8.8rpo
Glenn Phillips: 11avg/7.5rpo
Daryl Mitchell: 6avg/6rpo
Will O'Rourk: 58avg/7.2rpo
Blackcaps in tri-series squad T20I stats since start of 2024
Batting
Finn Allen: 31.5avg/178sr
Mark Chapman: 21.6avg/142sr
Tim Seifert: 35avg/162sr
Daryl Mitchell: 33.7avg/153sr
Glenn Phillips: 30avg/128sr
Michael Bracewell: 25.3avg/138sr
Rachin Ravindra: 23.4avg/138sr
Mitchell Santner: 16.4avg/112sr
Zak Foulkes: 19.3avg/145sr
Bowling
Jacob Duffy: 13.2avg/6.6rpo
Ish Sodhi: 26.3avg/8.2rpo
Mitchell Santner: 28.2avg/7.2rpo
Zak Foulkes: 23.4avg/8.4rpo
Matt Henry: 24.8avg/8.9rpo
Adam Milne: 22.2avg/11.1rpo
Michael Bracewell: 51.1avg/8.9rpo
Will O'Rourke: 28.6avg/7.1rpo
Glenn Phillips: 13.2avg/7.7rpo
Rachin Ravindra: 11.5avg/5.7rpo
Daryl Mitchell: 41avg/13.6rpo
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