Colin Munro Will Lead New Zealand XI In T20 Warm-Up Game Against England
Oct 24, 2019 at 4:54 AM
Ahead of the home T20I series against the visiting side England, New Zealand will play two T20 warm-up games against the visitors. New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has recently announced the T20 squads for the warm-up games where Colin Munro will lead New Zealand XI.
New Zealand will play the five-match home T20I series against England from 1st to 10th November 2019. Before these home T20Is, New Zealand XI will play two T20Is against England. Bert Sutcliffe Oval (Lincoln) will host both these T20 warm-ups on 27th and 29th October respectively.
On Wednesday (23rd November) morning, the NZC has announced the 12-member squad for the upcoming T20 warm-up matches. Colin Munro will lead the New Zealand XI in the T20 warm-up games.
Lockie Ferguson returns in the New Zealand T20 squad
The 28-year-old right-arm pacer Lockie Ferguson has returned to the national squad after recovering from injury. He hasn’t played an international game since the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
Ferguson picked up an injury during the T20 warm-up match ahead of the away T20I series against the hosts Sri Lanka. In that warm-up game on 29th August, which New Zealand won by 33 runs, Ferguson suffered the fracture in his right thumb. Later, he missed out the entire three-match T20I series against the hosts Sri Lanka which the visitors won by 2-1.
Now, Ferguson has returned to the national team after fully recovering from injury. Though he felt frustrated to miss out that T20I series due to an injury, he also feels that it provides him some time to freshen up. He is very excited to face the quality English team in the forthcoming T20I series.
Ferguson told in NZC website, “The thumb has healed well and I’m looking forward to having a hit-out at Lincoln. While it’s obviously frustrating to be side-lined, it’s actually been good to take some time to freshen up and be able to return with plenty of motivation and energy.
“It’s the beginning of a really big summer of cricket and it’s exciting to be starting it against a quality England side.”
After the five-match T20I series, the hosts New Zealand will also play the two-match Test series against the visitors England. The Test series will run between 21st November and 3rd December 2019. However, the Test series will not be a part of 2019–21 ICC World Test Championship.
New Zealand XI squad: Colin Munro (c), Katene Clarke, Josh Clarkson, Blake Coburn, Anton Devcich, Lockie Ferguson, Jake Gibson, Brett Hampton, Anaru Kitchen, Christian Leopard, Tim Seifert (wk), Anurag Verma