Preliminary BLACKCAPS squad named for Champions Trophy

New Zealand Cricket has released its preliminary squad of 30 players for the ICC Champions Trophy 2009, to be held in South Africa in September-October.

The squad is:

Daniel Vettori
Brent Arnel
Shane Bond
Neil Broom
Ian Butler
Craig Cumming
Brendon Diamanti
Grant Elliott
James Franklin
Peter Fulton
Martin Guptill
Gareth Hopkins
Jamie How
Peter Ingram
Brendon McCullum
Nathan McCullum
Peter McGlashan
James Marshall
Chris Martin
Kyle Mills
Iain O'Brien
Jacob Oram
Jeetan Patel
Aaron Redmond
Jesse Ryder
Shanan Stewart
Tim Southee
Scott Styris
Ross Taylor
Daryl Tuffy

All members of the squad have current or recent international experience with the BLACKCAPS or New Zealand A sides.

Head of the selection panel, Glenn Turner, said the preliminary squad provided depth for the selection of the final team.

“The majority of these players will be in action over the next six weeks with the BLACKCAPS in Sri Lanka, or the New Zealand A side going to India,” he said. “This means that the players who make the final Champions Trophy squad will have had some cricket under their belts going in to the tournament”.

The final tournament squad of 15 players, to be selected from the above list, is due to be named by 23 August.