Preliminary BLACKCAPS ICC World Twenty20 squad announced

New Zealand Cricket has announced a 30-player squad for the ICC World Twenty20 that begins on 30 April 2010.

Brent Arnel
Shane Bond
Neil Broom
Ian Butler
Brendon Diamanti
James Franklin
Martin Guptill
Gareth Hopkins
Jamie How
Peter Ingram
Michael Mason
Brendon McCullum
Nathan McCullum
Peter McGlashan
Andy McKay
Kyle Mills
Rob Nicol
Kieran Noema-Barnett
Jacob Oram
Jeetan Patel
Aaron Redmond
Jess Ryder
Bradley Scott
Mathew Sinclair
Tim Southee
Shannan Stewart
Scott Styris
Ross Taylor
Daryl Tuffey
Daniel Vettori

The squad, which will be reduced to 15 players by the end of March and has a number of players uncapped at international level.

Brent Arnel, Rob Nicol, Kieran Noema-Barnett, Bradley Scott and Shannan Stewart get their chance after excelling in the domestic Twenty20 HRV Cup earlier in the year.

BLACKCAPS Ian Butler, Jacob Oram, Andy McKay, Kyle Mills and Jesse Ryder are expected to be fit but will need to prove their fitness prior to selection.

“We are required by the ICC to name thirty players two months out from a world tournament, with the final fifteen named a month out,” said Greatbatch.

“It’s a big squad and we are covering all our bases. Realisticly there are 22-23 players there who have a good chance of making the final fifteen.

“We have some very competitive players to compete at the World Cup. We feel that we have some depth and good skill level available for selection. It will be nice to get some of our core players back fit. It is an important month for them to get themselves ready and up to speed.”

The BLACKCAPS match against ICC World Twenty20 finalists Sri Lanka will kick off the event on 30 April 2010 with Zimbabwe the other team in their group.