(New Zealand Herald) Brendon McCullum won’t play in the one-dayers and Twenty20 internationals on New Zealand’s upcoming tour of the West Indies, which begins in June.
The wicketkeeper-batsman has played a heavy diet of cricket in the past few seasons and national selection manager Kim Littlejohn said it was a good opportunity to give McCullum a rest. “We have picked three strong squads for what will be a tough tour of the West Indies,” Littlejohn said.
“We asked Brendon McCullum to take a break during the short-form component of the tour. The team is about to embark on a heavy programme of international cricket and we will need to sensibly manage the workload of our players. This also allows other very talented cricketers to get an opportunity and for us to continue to build depth across our squads. Going forward we are looking to identify opportunities for other players such as Doug Bracewell, Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson, to take a bit of time out and freshen up.” McCullum’s non-selection is one major talking point of the squads. South African-born Otago paceman Neil Wagner has predictably been included in the test line-up after having his international eligibility confirmed by the ICC last month. Wellington’s James Franklin was also not required for the trip, but Littlejohn said it was best let him play his specialist form of Twenty20 ahead of the world championship event in Sri Lanka in September. “We see James as a key part of our Twenty20 squad going forward and have worked with him to organise a stint playing for Essex in the County Twenty20 competition. With the ICC World Twenty20 coming up we felt the best preparation for James would be to play a large number of Twenty20 matches in that competition rather than two matches in this tour.” Canterbury youngster Tom Latham has been picked for the one-day and Twenty20 squads and Tarun Nethula has forced his way in to the test group and 50-over squad. BJ Watling has overcome a hip injury and has been included in all three squads alongside Northern Districts team-mate Daniel Flynn, and Jacob Oram has recovered from a calf problem to claim a spot in the limited overs line-ups. The tour will be the last for coach John Wright, who declined to extend his contract with New Zealand Cricket this week. Colin de Grandhomme, Michael Bates and Andy McKay were all mentioned as unlucky to miss selection. The Black Caps will play two Twenty20 Internationals, five ODIs and two test matches during the five-week tour.
Squads: Twenty20: Ross Taylor (c), Martin Guptill, Doug Bracewell, Dean Brownlie, Andrew Ellis, Daniel Flynn, Ronnie Hira, Tom Latham, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Rob Nicol, Jacob Oram, Tim Southee, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson
One-day: Ross Taylor (c), Martin Guptill, Doug Bracewell, Dean Brownlie, Andrew Ellis, Daniel Flynn, Tom Latham, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Tarun Nethula, Rob Nicol, Jacob Oram, Tim Southee, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson
Test: Ross Taylor (c), Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Dean Brownlie, Neil Wagner, Daniel Flynn, Mark Gillespie, Martin Guptill, Chris Martin, Brendon McCullum, Tarun Nethula, Kruger van Wyk, Daniel Vettori, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson