T20 World Cups don't have the same glimmer as other major cricket tournaments as they pop around every couple of years, but the 2026 event is another opportunity for New Zealand to crack a top-four spot and perhaps ... well let's try get out of the group stages first. In the last T20WC the Blackcaps lost their first game against Afghanistan and they start this tournament against Afghanistan on Sunday evening followed by a game against UAE on Tuesday.

Aotearoa has won a World Test Championship and finished top-four in two of the three campaigns, as well as making the semi-finals in five consecutive ODI World Cups. They didn't make the final of the 2023 ODIWC but they did make the final of the 2025 Champions Trophy and the lay of the land was clear to see as India enjoyed their usual cricket cartel advantage throughout the Champions Trophy, chillin' in one town while all other nations got busy traveling.

New Zealand has made the final in three of the last four one-day tournaments and given how the cricket cartel tries to run global cricket, these baselines for Blackcaps in global events are incredibly impressive. As seen with the Champions Trophy, it's damn hard to win tournaments when one nation gets their way and given that India host a major tournament every few years, far more than cricketing funk goes into winning such tournaments.

T20 cricket seems like Aotearoa's weakest format but the Blackcaps made the semi-finals in three consecutive T20WC prior to the 2024 event. After losses to Afghanistan and West Indies, the Blackcaps were knocked out of a World Cup after the group stage for the first time since the 2014 T20WC.

While the general group is similar, plenty has changed since the 2024 T20WC. A new coach in Rob Walter has added his own spark to a steady group, Kane Williamson retired because he wasn't a 1st 11 T20 trooper anymore, Jacob Duffy's now an all-format wizard and Blackcaps depth is at an all time high with blokes like Michael Rae suddenly doing their job for Blackcaps in the Test series win vs West Indies.

Most notably, New Zealand Cricket continues to paddle down the sketchy estuary of cricketing business and politricks supremely well. 'Casual contracts' catch the attention of cricket folks around the world but they are sensible moves for players who don't play all formats for Blackcaps.

There's no point giving Williamson a full contract if he is only playing a few Tests a year, especially as he kicks back in ODI cricket outside of major tournaments. Finn Allen and Tim Seifert only play T20Is for Aotearoa, so why would they receive full NZC contracts? Devon Conway’s casual contract has seen him play Tests, ODIs and T20Is in the last six months. Same goes for Lockie Ferguson and as is the case with all contract chat, they don't actually matter to fans because blokes like Ish Sodhi are in this squad without a contract and there is no connection between contracts and game time.

NZC have done well to find solutions specific to each format and the schedule ahead of them. The majority of this T20WC squad and most Blackcaps squads have done nothing but express tremendous pride in representing Aotearoa, putting national honours ahead of any soul-less T20 job. Casual contracts and T20 jobbers are the minority, hearty Blackcaps are the majority.

The T20 bubble offers an insight into Blackcaps depth and helps set up Blackcaps form. Since the start of 2025, Blackcaps have used 23 players in T20Is which is enough for two different teams. That group remains large when zoning in on the recent phase since October 1st, 2025 with 21 different players used and 11 of those players have played 10+ games.

Blackcaps lost their warm ups to the warm ups against India and used 17 different players in five T20Is. This makes it tricky to assess T20I performances for Blackcaps because such a wide range of players have been used and while lots of dramatic words were used to describe results against India, Aotearoa only flirted with their best possible team in one of those games.

While this is evident across all formats with Blackcaps using 20+ players in the past year for each format, T20 cricket is the focus. Blackcaps have enough cricketers to compete in T20I series around the world and put on entertaining shows for kiwi cricket fans in Aotearoa, even without a cluster of players who are busy with T20 jobs. If a player is good enough in their T20 jobs and has some Blackcaps mana, they can earn their way into New Zealand squads for major tournaments and other series when available.

Finn Allen, Tim Seifert, Lockie Ferguson and Jimmy Neesham have all been good enough in their T20 jobs and for Blackcaps to earn selection for this tournament. The Allen/Seifert combo is our best opening pair, Aotearoa's only bowler in the history of T20Is better than Duffy is Ferguson and Neesham's somehow more efficient in smaller doses than Duffy in recent years.

Allen was battling injuries last year but still showed up for six T20Is since the start of 2025, while Seifert played 20 and Neesham played 14. Ferguson's always injured so his appearance vs India was his only game in this period and Blackcaps seam depth is impeccable so no dramas there.

An Allen/Seifert combo doesn't leave any space for Conway, who will operate as the back up wicket-keeper behind Seifert. Conway's not in the same T20 slugging zone as Allen or Seifert and of the main batters who have played since the start of 2025, Conway's strike-rate of 129.6 is the lowest.

Middle order quartet in T20I batting since start of 2024

Glenn Phillips: 31.41avg/141.56sr
Mark Chapman: 27.37avg/141.91sr
Daryl Mitchell: 27.25vg/141.31sr
Mitchell Santner: 26.38avg/148sr

Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell and Mitchell Santner are all 1st 11 batters, in that order. Rachin Ravindra is the funkiest batting thing for Blackcaps as he seems likely to bat three and none of his T20 averages (including mediocre Super Smash mahi) suggest he should be a 1st 11 batter.

Ravindra is already a Test and ODI legend for Aotearoa, with obvious talent that should be trusted to find a way in this tournament. We can debate other options like Tim Robinson or other 1st 11 combos, but it's best to settle down with the idea of Ravindra staying as a 1st 11 batter and the case for optimism here is that he only needs to salvage an innings or two after losing an early wicket and/or smash boundaries.

There are two high strike-raters ahead of Ravindra and four fabulous T20I batters below him. That should allow Ravindra to play to his strength in adapting to the situation and with a sneaky cool batting unit, Ravindra may only need to score 20 runs @ 140sr to do his job for the team. While his averages haven't progressed, Ravindra's T20I strike-rates have flipped from 118.2sr before 2025 to 148.8 since the start of 2025.

Chapman may be in and out of the team depending on combinations, while the most notable development for Blackcaps T20I batting is with Santner. His 40.3avg/175sr since the start of 2025 is far better than Michael Bracewell's 19.5avg/140sr and skipper Santner is ranked second for the highest Blackcaps averages and strike-rates in this period.

Santner is one of the best T20I batters for Blackcaps (he also loves representing Aotearoa while grabbing T20 jobs - players can do both very easily). Prior to the start of 2025 he had 16.5avg/120sr which shows how immense his improvement in T20I batting has been and he's also an excellent bowler who could continue the partnership with Ish Sodhi.

Bracewell's batting hasn't been good enough to warrant automatic 1st 11 selection and he's the only bowler in this squad averaging 40+ since the start of 2025. This could lead to more Santner/Sodhi tandem and this is boosted by Sodhi being second for Blackcaps T20I wickets since the start of 2025 with the same bowling strike-rate as Duffy, along with one of the three lowest averages for the main wicket-takers.

Not only has Sodhi done his job in recent times, him and Santner have a proven record of good T20I bowling for this specific role they have coming up...

2025 onwards

Santner: 16w @ 33avg/8.9rpo
Sodhi: 24w @ 20.3avg/9.4rpo

In India

Santner: 23.45avg/7.6rpo
Sodhi: 21.62avg/8.5rpo

T20 World Cups

Santner: 18.72avg/6.3rpo
Sodhi: 17.51avg/7rpo

Career

Santner: 23.36avg/7.2rpo
Sodhi: 22.85avg/8.1rpo

Three bowlers took 5+ wickets in the series vs India with Santner and Sodhi taking 5w each, while Duffy took 6w. This is especially notable for Duffy who is still gathering knowledge around the world and his best-for-Blackcaps mahi prior to this series flowed into being the best bowler for Aotearoa vs India.

All of which is reflected in his workload. Duffy bowled the most overs vs India and has bowled the most overs since the start of 2025 (88.2ov) as the only bowler over 60 overs. Duffy and Ferguson are the only Blackcaps seamers averaging below 20 in T20I bowling with 20+ wickets and they have near identical T20I mahi...

Lockie Ferguson: 66w @ 17.1avg/7.18rpo/14.2sr
Jacob Duffy: 59w @ 18.52avg/7.78rpo/14.2sr

Matt Henry should be a 1st 11 seamer as well, which probably leaves Kyle Jamieson outside the 1st 11. Jamieson was a travelling reserve before Adam Milne's injury and Ben Sears has now filled that spot, which will be an important role because of some injury niggle and whanau matters back in Aotearoa. Again, that's a strong indicator of Blackcaps depth and their ability to roll with adversity.

It's best to view Neesham as a bowler who can smack a few boundaries. Whether it's his 10avg/105sr since the start of 2024, his 8.2avg/103sr since the start of 2025 or his 13.7avg/119sr since October 1st, Neesham's batting has slipped well below the Bracewell mark let alone Santner. If batting below Santner though, Neesham is well equipped to score key runs down the order.

Neesham's T20I bowling is freaky. From 2019 to 2022 he had four years averaging 30+ in T20I bowling, along with strike-rates over 20 in 2021 and 2022. Here are his last three years of T20I bowling...

2023: 24avg/9.1rpo/15.8sr
2024: 20.3avg/8.7rpo/14sr
2025: 14.7avg/8.4rpo/10.4sr

Neesham has the lowest average and strike-rate for Blackcaps bowlers since the start of 2025 and in the period from October 1st. That may not lead to a 1st 11 role given the other bowlers available but Neesham is a reliable squad member who has plenty of experience in these conditions, as well as one thing that is elite for Blackcaps.

Possible 1st 11

Allen, Seifert (wk), Ravindra, Phillips, Chapman, Mitchell, Santner, Sodhi, Henry, Duffy, Ferguson

Squad: Conway, Bracewell, Neesham, Jamieson - Sears

T20I stats since start of 2025

Finn Allen: 224 runs @ 44.8avg/211sr
Tim Seifert: 662 runs @ 44.1avg/164sr
Devon Conway: 331 runs @ 27.5avg/133sr
Rachin Ravindra: 390 runs @ 26avg/149sr
Glenn Phillips: 182 runs @ 30.3avg/150sr
Mark Chapman: 372 runs @ 21.8avg/152sr
Daryl Mitchell: 423 runs @ 30.2avg/153sr
Mitchell Santner: 242 runs @ 40.3avg/175sr | 16w @ 33avg/8.9rpo
Michael Bracewell: 176 runs @ 19.5avg/140sr | 7w @ 41.2avg/8.7rpo
Jimmy Neesham: 66 runs @ 8.2avg/103sr | 17w @ 14.7avg/8.4rpo
Ish Sodhi: 55 runs @ 141sr | 24w @ 20.3avg/9.4rpo
Kyle Jamieson: 27 runs @ 104sr | 14w @ 32.5avg/10.1rpo
Matt Henry: 45 runs @ 102sr | 17w @ 23.2avg/9.3rpo
Jacob Duffy: 20 runs @ 118sr | 41w @ 17.4avg/8.1rpo
Lockie Ferguson: 3 runs @ 75sr | 2w @ 20.5avg/10.2rpo

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