Kyle Jamieson, the NZ pacer, will join Black Caps captain Kane Williamson in sitting out their three Twenty20s against India to focus on the World Test Championship Test match clashes that follow.
The Black Caps may have only played in the final of the T20I World Cup on Sunday [Monday NZ time], but they have more T20s in Jaipur on 17th November[the first ball Thursday 2.30 am NZ time], Ranchi, and Kolkata, ahead of the first Test in Kanpur, which starts next Thursday, and the second in Mumbai, which starts the following Friday.
Kyle Jamieson And Kane Williamson Won’t Play In T20I Series To Focus In Tests
Kane Williamson’s absence was confirmed when pacer Tim Southee took part in the pre-match press conference the day before the first game, but Kyle Jamieson’s news of his absence was only announced on Wednesday.
“We decided through talking with Kane and Kyle that they won’t play in this T20 series,” coach Gary Stead said in an interview supplied by New Zealand Cricket.
“They’re both going to get ready for the test matches and I think you’ll find there will be other guys involved in the test matches that won’t play the entire series either. It’s a bit of a balancing act at the moment and with three T20 games in five days plus travel to three different cities it’s a very, very busy time.”
Kane Williamson has been managing his training workload while nursing an elbow injury that has troubled him since last summer, and his absence from the T20Is was expected. Pacer Kyle Jamieson’s absence could be a hint that he will play in the first Test, which would likely leave fellow seamers Tim Southee and Neil Wagner competing for one spot if the Black Caps go with two-seamers, two spinners, and an all-rounder.
The tall seam bowler didn’t play at the T20 World Cup, while Trent Boult will head home after the completion of the Indian T20Is due to the time he has spent in Covid-19 bubbles and managed isolation already this year. Adam Milne, Trent Boult, and Tim Southee are the Black Caps’ preferred pace trio for T20Is.
Tim Southee, spin-bowling all-rounders Glenn Phillips and Mitchell Santner, and seam-bowling all-rounder Daryl Mitchell are the four other test players in the T20 squad, which now stands at only 13 players altogether.
Tim Southee has only been named as the T20 captain for the first match at this stage. He and Mitchell Santner are the most likely to feature in the first Test, with Glenn Phillips and Daryl Mitchell – called in at the weekend once Devon Conway was ruled out with a broken hand – in line for backup roles.
Gary Stead: Lockie Ferguson Set To Feature In The 1st T20I
Gary Stead said pacer Lockie Ferguson was set to feature in the first T20 after recovering from the calf injury that ruled him out of the World Cup.
“You’ll definitely see that the whole squad will get match time over here and that’s about us managing the workload of the players, especially with the test matches coming up for us, which will be a real key priority for us as we work through the next week.”
Former Northern Districts coach James Pamment has joined the Black Caps setup, which includes more than 40 people at present, including 25 players across both the Test and T20 squads, a swelling that has made for some logistical challenges arising due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“How our day works at the moment is that the test players will go and train from 10 to 1 on the morning of the matches, we then go back and play the match in the evening, we travel the next day, then we repeat that for three games in a row,” Stead said.
“There’s [25] players and 16 or 17 support staff. Some guys will leave after a week, there will be a number that will head back home, staff and players, from the T20 group that we had, but it’s probably the biggest support team and player group that we’ve had together in one place in my time, and it makes it a little bit more challenging to get around everyone and support them and their needs.”
The Black Caps’ tests in India are their first in the new cycle of the World Test Championship. They won the inaugural WTC final in June by beating India by eight wickets in Southampton in England.
Kyle Jamieson has had a terrific start to his Test career so far. In just 8 Tests, he has picked up 46 wickets at a scary average of 14.17 with the ball and boasts an impressive average of 42.66 with the bat.
Black Caps Tour Of India
Squads
Test: Kane Williamson (c), Tom Blundell, Henry Nicholls, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Will Somerville, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner, Will Young
T20: Todd Astle, Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Adam Milne, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee
Fixtures (NZ time)
Thursday, November 18, 2.30 am: First T20 international; Jaipur
Saturday, November 20, 2.30 am: Second T20 international; Ranchi
Monday, November 22, 2.30 am: Third T20 international; Kolkata
Thursday, November 25 – Monday, November 29, 5 pm daily: First test; Kanpur
Friday, December 3 – Tuesday, December 7, 5 pm daily: Second test; Mumbai