SL vs NZ | Tim Southee to lead New Zealand as Kane Williamson, Trent Boult rested for Sri Lanka T20Is
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Kane Williamson and Trent Boult have been rested for the T20 leg of the ongoing Sri Lanka tour, which led to Tim Southee being appointed as the skipper In Williamson's absence. The team has also had the likes of Tim Seifert and three spin options in Mitchell Santner, Todd Astle and Ish Sodhi.
After losing the first Test to Sri Lanka in a shambolic fashion, where all of New Zealand's spin options failed to turn the ball a bit more than the normal, New Zealand have announced their squad for the T20 series which will commence after the Test series is over. However, in a crucial development, New Zealand cricket have rested Kane Williamson and Trent Boult and gave the captaincy duties to Tim Southee.
"Kane and Trent played an enormous role in our recent World Cup campaign and with a big summer ahead, we see it as a good opportunity to give them a rest," selector Gavin Larsen said, reported Cricinfo.
After being ignored for the World Cup despite a mind-boggling T20I debut against India early in January 2019, Seifert returned to the side along with Tom Bruce. While Bruce was not a part of the New Zealand's squad for their last T20I series against India, he had a huge role to play for Central Districts in the Super Smash T20 competition, hitting 353 runs in 11 innings at an average of nearly 40 and strike rate of 157.58.
Meanwhile, seam-bowling allrounder Seth Rance has replaced Doug Bracewell, who had been included in the squad for those T20Is against India, even though the latter didn't play a single game in the series.
"Following that amazing ride in the ODI World Cup, it's exciting to begin setting our sights on another world event. The series in Sri Lanka will be a challenging one against a team who are tough to beat in their own conditions. Our T20 team has been pretty consistent over the past couple of years and we're really happy with the power and versatility we have in this squad," Larsen added.
All three T20Is will be played in Pallekele, with the series starting on September 1.
Squad: Tim Southee (capt), Todd Astle, Tom Bruce, Colin de Grandhome, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Scott Kuggeleijn, Daryl Mitchell, Colin Munro, Seth Rance, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert (wk), Ish Sodhi, Ross Taylor
