NZ skipper Williamson set for sixth T20 WC

Captain Kane Williamson will play at his sixth Twenty20 World Cup in June after New Zealand named an experienced 15-man squad on Monday.
The tournament, taking in the United States and the West Indies from June 2-30, will be Williamson’s fourth as captain. The batsman leads a squad including New Zealand’s Test captain Tim Southee, who will be taking part in his seventh T20 World Cup.
Southee, 35, has taken a record 157 T20 international wickets and he spearheads the attack alongside seasoned pace bowler Trent Boult, 34, who will be playing in his fifth T20 World Cup.
Stead said it was difficult to tell some of the players who had performed well in the 2-2 drawn series in Pakistan that they had missed out on the World Cup but stressed that it bodes well for New Zealand’s future.
“I think when you go to World Cups you want experience and you want people that know what it’s like,” said New Zealand head coach Gary Stead.
“That certainly doesn’t exclude those that have really put their hand up. I think that what’s been really exciting about the tour to Pakistan. We’ve seen some performances from some younger players, that’s really exciting for our future.
“And the message I had to them was, look, you haven’t been selected in the side, but in two years there’ll be another World Cup and that should be certainly a big enough carrot for you guys to put pressure on these guys that are here now.”
Seamers Adam Milne and Kyle Jamieson were both ruled out by injury. Milne was ruled out after requiring surgery on the injured ankle that saw him miss the tour of Pakistan.
Seam bowler Matt Henry and batting all-rounder Rachin Ravindra, voted the emerging cricketer of 2023, are the only players in the squad who have not played in a previous T20 World Cup.
“Matt has worked exceptionally hard on his skills across the phases of a T20 game to come back into selection consideration,” said Stead.
“Rachin has made every post a winner in the past 12 months and it was exciting to see him continue that trajectory over the summer
in the T20 format against Australia.”
Stead confirmed that the selectors had discussed the possibility of recalling veteran batters Colin Munro and Martin Guptill despite both being full-time franchise players. But the selectors opted
to stick with a group that has been together regularly in recent times.
“Those guys were discussed because of the experience they have,” Stead said.
“But when you look at the group of batters that we’ve selected, there was no room for them.”
New Zealand squad: Kane Williamson (capt), Finn Allen, Trent Boult, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee.