Williamson to lead New Zealand at the Twenty20 World Cup; Southee to make his 7th appearance

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Veteran seamer Tim Southee will play at his seventh Twenty20 World Cup after being included Monday in an experienced New Zealand squad for the tournament starting June 1 in the Caribbean and United States.

Kane Williamson will make his sixth T20 Cricket World Cup appearance and will captain the team at the tournament for the fourth time. He is warming up for the tournament in the Indian Premier League.

Southee’s regular new ball partner Trent Boult has been included to play at his fifth world T20, despite no longer having a central contract with New Zealand Cricket.

The 35-year-old Southee is New Zealand’s leading wicket-taker in T20 internationals with 157 and is also the Black Cap’s top wicket-taker at T20 World Cups with 29, five more than Boult.

The New Zealand selectors have sprung a minor surprise by selecting Matt Henry among four specialist seamers and ahead of Ben Sears, who was named as a traveling reserve. Henry, 32, will be playing at a T20 World Cup for the first time and has made only 20 previous appearances for New Zealand in the short format.

“Matt has worked exceptionally hard on his skills across the phases of a T20 game to come back into selection consideration,” head coach Gary Stead said.

Lockie Ferguson is the other specialist seamer in New Zealand's 15-man squad. Adam Milne and Kyle Jamieson were unavailable because of injury.

Allrounder Rachin Ravindra also will play at a T20 World Cup for the first time, after being one of the breakout stars of last year’s 50-over World Cup. He adds to New Zealand’s spin options along with Mitchell Santner, Michael Bracewell, Ish Sodhi and Glenn Phillips.

“Rachin has made every post a winner in the past 12 months and it was exciting to see him continue that trajectory over the summer in the T20 format against Australia,” Stead said.

Wicketkeeper Tim Seifert has been omitted, meaning Devon Conway and Finn Allen will share the gloves. Conway is still recovering from a thumb injury sustained in New Zealand’s T20 series against Australia last month while Allen recently has been sidelined with a back injury.

Thirteen of the 15 squad members took part in New Zealand's last tour to the West Indies in 2022. Six have played in the Caribbean Premier League.

“We expect the venues in the West Indies to offer quite varied conditions and feel we’ve selected a squad with the scope to adapt to those conditions," Stead said.

New Zealand has reached the semifinals of the last three T20 World Cups, losing at that point to India in 2016 and Australia in 2022. The Black Caps lost to Australia in the final in 2021.

New Zealand’s first match is against Afghanistan at San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago on June 8. They meet co-host West Indies at the same venue on June 12.

The tournament final will be played at Kensington Oval, Barbados on June 30.

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New Zealand: Kane Williamson (captain), Finn Allen, Trent Boult, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee .

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket