Cricket - ICC Cricket World Cup - Afghanistan v New Zealand - The County Ground, Taunton, Britain - June 8, 2019 New Zealand's Martin Guptill after being caught by Afghanistan's Najibullah Zadran after the first ball of innings Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge/Files
(Reuters) - New Zealand have named a largely settled 15-man party for the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia with Finn Allen and Michael Bracewell the only players who did not feature in the squad that made the final in 2021.
Martin Guptill will play in his seventh T20 World Cup and Devon Conway will keep wickets in addition to his batting duties at the tournament, which starts for the Black Caps with a re-run of last year's final against Australia in Sydney on Oct. 22.
Seamer Adam Milne, who was an injury replacement for Lockie Ferguson at last year's tournament in the United Arab Emirates, was retained in the absence of Kyle Jamieson, who has a back problem.
Hard-hitting batsman Allen and all-rounder Bracewell are the numeric replacements for leg spinner Todd Astle and wicketkeeper Tim Seifert, who both missed out.
"It's great to have this tournament so soon after last year's event in which we played some really good cricket, but couldn't quite get over the line at the end," said coach Gary Stead.
"With the nucleus of that squad retained along with the exciting additions of Finn and Michael, we should go into the tournament with plenty of optimism."
New Zealand also face Afghanistan, England and two as yet undetermined qualifiers from the opening stage of the tournament in Group 1 of the Super 12.
Squad: Kane Williamson (captain), Finn Allen, Trent Boult, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway (wicketkeeper), Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Adam Milne, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney; Editing by Stephen Coates)
