With the ICC World Cup only two months away, selectors will be finalising their preliminary squads before trimming it to 15 lucky men.
This is the squad that New Zealand should take to the tournament.
The batsmen are Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson (captain), Will Young and Ross Taylor, with Mitch Santner, James Neesham and Colin de Grandhomme the all-rounders plus Tom Latham and Henry Nicholls providing the two wicketkeeping options.
In the bowling department, Tim Southee, Matt Henry, Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson are the quicks while Ish Sodhi and Jeetan Patel are the spinners.
Guptill, Williamson and Taylor are all world-class players and can single-handedly win games for New Zealand like they have done so many times.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson leads a strong Kiwi outfit to the 2019 World Cup. (AFP PHOTO / MARTY MELVILLE)
While Will Young is uncapped at international level, he’s done well in domestic cricket and for New Zealand A. Colin Munro has had way too many chances to get away with averaging under 30 without a single ODI ton.
Neesham, Santner and De Grandhomme are all bowling all-rounders but can bat according to the situation.
Neesham recently showed his finishing powers by smashing 47 off 13 in his ODI return to the side.
Santner had surgery last year and was out for about nine months but prior to his injury he was instrumental to New Zealand’s white-ball success. He’s been a bit rusty coming back from injury but a full IPL season will have him in good stead come World Cup.
De Grandhomme can be a bit of a liability at times but he’s a handy player to have in your squad and can change the momentum of a game with both bat and ball on a given day.
Tom Latham has been doing well as keeper since Luke Ronchi retired and his batting in the middle overs has improved as well.
Henry Nicholls has kept at domestic level but never in international cricket. Nicholls has also been promoted to the top of the order to open recently and that allows New Zealand to play an extra all-rounder and two possible keepers in their starting line-up.
Swing kings Tim Southee and Trent Boult need no introduction. We all saw what they did in the World Cup four years ago.
While pitches in England are flatter these days, that pair still pose a threat with the new ball.
Matt Henry is a good back-up option for the Kiwis should they want to rest Southee or Boult.
Ish Sodhi is the best leg spinner in New Zealand cricket and his loopy googlies are still tough to pick. His downside is he flights the ball too much and doesn’t vary his pace, but nonetheless he’s still a very good bowler.
Todd Astle is a good leg spinner as well but he bowls too many half volleys and full tosses for a front-line spinner.
Therefore Jeetan Patel would be my second pick as spinner. He hasn’t played ODI cricket in two years but he’s got it in him and can do the job as second spinner over Todd Astle.
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