NZ Test squad reselected

By Andrew Dunford

New Zealand Cricket’s national selection panel has today re-selected the squad for the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka, in an attempt to better reflect the opinions of the New Zealand cricketing public.

Originally the 13-man squad from the England series was retained unchanged, but a wave of hot takes expressed on social media has forced the selectors into a late rethink.

The revised squad is:

C Bowes (Canterbury)

M Guptill (Quetta Gladiators)

D Foxcroft (Otago)

H Nicholls (Canterbury)

G Phillips (Otago)

T Bruce (Central Districts)

M Abbas (Wellington)

R Ravindra (Wellington)

M Santner (Northern Districts)

D Bracewell (Central Districts)

L Ferguson (Auckland)

T Boult (Otumoetai Cadets)

J Boult (Otumoetai Cadets)

The three-member selection panel of Gavin Larsen, Gav and The_Postman_36 explained their thinking:

“The one-run win over England was great, but it was more than a week ago and none of the players involved has done anything of note since then. We want to reward players who are in form right now, and at the same time be in synch with what the Twittersphere is saying about our cricketers.”

When challenged about the continued inclusion of Henry Nicholls – the only player retained from the original squad – Larsen responded that “form is temporary; class is permanent”.

Addressing claims that Bay of Plenty club bowlers Trent and Jono Boult are in fact the same person, Larsen seemed unconcerned, noting “there was only ever one Marshall brother and we got away with that for years. If these boys can run through Papamoa they’ll have no trouble dealing to Sri Lanka.”

There are a number of concerns over availability and fitness of squad members with Guptill playing overseas, Bowes suffering a concussion in the current Plunket Shield round and Foxcroft not even eligible for selection, but Larsen said there is still room for players who perform well in the Plunket Shield today to be added at the last minute.

Although the pace bowling stocks look thin with both Ferguson and Trent Boult on bowling workload plans restricting them to a maximum four overs per innings, Larsen is “excited to see how good the over rate will be with five spin bowling options picked”.

With Gary Stead having been voted off the island, the team will be coached by a new combination of Stephen Fleming, Justin Langer and Darren Lehmann. Fleming is expected to do the actual coaching, while Lehmann’s role is to make sure Langer doesn’t get anywhere near the players.

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