The word that has annoyed All Blacks fans for many years indicates Black Caps followers may be none-the-wiser as to their 1st XI for the Twenty20 World Cup by the end of next week.
New Zealand will meet Pakistan and Bangladesh in a tri-series in Christchurch starting on Friday – when the two visiting sides meet at Hagley Oval – as part of their warm-up for the World Cup starting in Australia later this month.
The tri-series hosts are expected to use the 15 players in the Black Caps squad for the tournament, with selector Gavin Larsen saying on Monday that rotation would be a notable factor over four or five games, depending on results.
“Certainly the goal is to rotate the squad across the playing opportunities through that tri-series and to basically fine-tune what has been our existing game plan over the recent time,” Larsen said.
“There's certainly nothing majorly different that we're going to be focusing on – they're very important preparation games for us.”
The player with the most to gain from the series is likely to be opener Finn Allen.
The Black Caps used Martin Guptill and Devon Conway as their opening batting combination for all three games in their most recent T20 series, versus the West Indies in the Caribbean in August.
It wasn’t a memorable series for Guptill, with 51 runs at 17, and the 36-year-old hasn’t passed 50 in nine T20Is this year.
Allen was hit-and-miss earlier this year against Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands but did hammer a century off 56 balls against Scotland as a sign of his explosive capabilities.
New Zealand fans will also be desperately keen to see captain Kane Williamson find some form after struggling following his return from injury. Williamson made 75 runs in three knocks against the Windies and also had three middling displays in the recent ODI series against Australia across the Tasman.
Bangladesh will likely be without captain Shakib Al Hasan for Friday’s opening game, with the skipper and team bowling coach Allan Donald having their arrivals in New Zealand delayed.
New Zealand are also set to play warm-up games in Australia against India and South Africa before their Cup opener versus the hosts at the SCG on October 22.
Black Caps followers will also have their fingers crossed for no one to get injured as the notable absentee list for the World Cup grows.
Star Indian pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah will miss the tournament with a back injury while their squad was already weakened by the absence of allrounder Ravi Jadeja with a knee injury.
West Indian batter Shimron Hetmeyer was dropped from their squad on Tuesday (NZ time) after a run-in over when he would leave for Australia.
Australian allrounder Marcus Stonis has been ruled out of the home warm-up games against the Windies with a side strain suffered in the ODI series versus New Zealand in Cairns last month.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/crick...twenty20-triseries-versus-pakistan-bangladesh
