New Zealand won the toss and chose to bowl first vs England
New Zealand won the toss and chose to bowl first in the opening T20I against England at Hagley Oval.
Mitchell Santner, back in charge of the team after abdominal surgery, anticipated a bit of early assistance from a green-tinged pitch, having named a seamer-laden line-up on the eve of the contest.
“There’s a bit of grass, got to be smart with the wind,” he said. “But I think it’s going to play pretty well and see if it does anything first up.”
Despite the contest coming unusually early in the New Zealand season, this will be their fourth home fixture of the month, following a three-match campaign against Australia at Mount Maunganui, which the visitors won 2-0 with one washout.
“It wasn’t easy sitting on the side,” Santner added. “We were close in the Australia series but think we played some good cricket. England bat deep and we know that. We will try and take wickets throughout. We’ve got to be smart, and will try to get them to hit into the big side as much as possible.”
Harry Brook, who will be playing in his 50th T20I, also confirmed the XI that England had named two days ago. He too would have bowled first, and reiterated his insistence that this coming three-match series would have his full attention despite the prospect of the Ashes looming next month.
“This is our main focus with the T20 World Cup in the back of our mind,” he said. “We always name our team early, to give people a bit of freedom and to let them prepare for the game.”
New Zealand: 1 Tim Seifert (wk), 2 Rachin Ravindra, 3 Tim Robinson, 4 Mark Chapman, 5 Dary Mitchell, 6 Michael Bracewell, 7 James Neesham, 8 Mitchell Santner (capt), 9 Kyle Jamieson, 10 Matt Henry, 11 Jacob Duffy
England: 1 Phil Salt, 2 Jos Buttler (wk), 3 Jacob Bethell, 4 Harry Brook (capt), 5 Tom Banton, 6 Sam Curran, 7 Jordan Cox, 8 Brydon Carse, 9 Liam Dawson, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Luke Wood
