Michael Bracewell will captain New Zealand in the upcoming three-match T20I series against Australia, as Mitchell Santner remains unavailable. Santner, who underwent abdominal surgery last month, is still recovering, despite earlier being on track to be fit before the series begins on October 1. The 14-member squad also features the returning pacers Kyle Jamieson and Ben Sears, both of whom have been out of action since June.
Bracewell has thrice before deputised for Santner, all against Pakistan.
“Never nice to lose your skipper,” New Zealand coach Rob Walter said. “But these things do happen. And Michael has already been the captain of this team and did a great job against Pakistan. So fully confident in how he will lead the team.”
Jamieson missed the red-ball series against Zimbabwe as well as the Tri-series preceding that for his child’s birth. Sears, however, returns after recovering from a side injury he picked up during the MLC. At this point, injuries have been a constant in Sears’ career, who had recovered from a long-standing injury earlier this year, only to pick up a hamstring injury before the Champions Trophy.
The return of both pacers overlaps with absences due to injuries to Adam Milne and Lockie Ferguson. Milne injured his foot while Ferguson is nursing a hamstring injury. But Walter is upbeat about Sears’ return.
“He’s worked incredibly hard over the last 12 weeks to be back on the park and done some awesome work there,” he said. “So we’re excited to see him back in the competitive fold.
“We’re building a bigger base of fast bowlers because we understand that the program is so busy these days, but fast bowling is a key requisite for performance. So we want to make sure we’ve got as many options as we possibly can have.”
Kane Williamson, who opted out of a proper central contract, continues to be absent for national duty. Williamson has not played any international since the Champions Trophy final in March. Though he is slated to miss the tour against Australia, New Zealand management expects him to be available for the series against England next month.
Like Williamson, Devon Conway also signed a casual contract, though he will be part of the series. He opened with Tim Seifert during the Zimbabwe tour, in place of the injured Finn Allen.
New Zealand will be against nearly full-strength Australia, who will only be without three of their first-choice players, including Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis, and Cameron Green. Cummins is unlikely to play any game ahead of the Ashes after a hotspot was diagnosed in his lower back, while Ellis is on leave for the birth of his child. Green, on the other hand, will run it hard in the Sheffield Shield games to get back to bowling at full tilt before the Ashes.
“[They play a] very aggressive brand, which is cool,” Walter said. “I think that puts you under pressure. It certainly allows us to explore a few different options as to how we want to play against them, because it seems like they are coming with a very specific way that they want to play. So it’ll be a lovely test.”
New Zealand T20I squad vs Australia
Michael Bracewell (capt), Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy, Zak Foulkes, Matt Henry, Bevon Jacobs, Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, Rachin Ravindra, Tim Robinson, Ben Sears, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi
