New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has announced their squad for the upcoming two-match Test series in Bangladesh and it features five spinners given the conditions in Bangladesh. The two Tests will be played in Sylhet and Dhaka on November 28 and December 6 respectively.
This will be New Zealand’s first Test tour of Bangladesh since 2013 and only Tim Southee and Kane Williamson return from that squad which played a decade earlier. This time, Tim Southee will captain the New Zealand side.
New Zealand has gone spin heavy with inclusion of Mitchell Santner, Rachin Ravindra, and Glenn Phillips in addition to Ajaz Patel and Isha Sodhi in the squad. Santner returns to the side having played the last of his 24 Tests in 2021 against England at Lord’s.
On the other hand, Ravindra, who was dropped from the Test team after a shock defeat to Bangladesh in Mount Maunganui in January 2022, has been recalled on the back of a breakout ODI World Cup. He has rattled off 523 runs in eight innings in the tournament so far with 3 centuries.
The pacer attack will see Tim Southee being partnered with Matt Henry and a returning Kyle Jamieson. Jamieson makes his return to the Test side after his back surgery in February. The 28-year-old pace-bowler has captured 72 wickets at 19 in just 16 Tests, becoming the fastest New Zealander to reach 50 Test wickets in 9 Tests.
“We’ve selected a squad we think can compete and succeed in Bangladesh. With Ajaz, Ish, Mitch, Glenn, and Rachin, we have a strong spin group that will offer good variety and options during the series. Mitch had a strong back half of the Plunket Shield campaign last summer and has made good strides in his red-ball bowling.
Rachin brings a left-arm orthodox option and has improved considerably over the past 18 months with the ball - and his performances with the bat at the World Cup speak for themselves. It’s great to be able to call upon the services of Kyle again after a period out of the team and he will bring a different dimension to the pace group,” BlackCaps selector Sam Wells was quoted by nzc. nz.
Trent Boult was not considered for selection after he made himself unavailable for the tour.
New Zealand head coach Gary Stead has also been given a break and Luke Ronchi will fill up that position on the Bangladesh tour. Ronchi's assistants in Bangladesh will be bowling coaches Jacob Oram (pace) and Saqlain Mushtaq (spin), as well as batting coach Daniel Flynn, who joins the team for the first time.
New Zealand Test Squad vs. Bangladesh:
Tim Southee (c), Tom Blundell (wk), Devon Conway, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Kane Williamson, Will Young
(AFP inputs)
