Oram And Wagner In New Zealand Squads To Tour West Indies

Oram And Wagner In New Zealand Squads To Tour West Indies

Jacob Oram (centre) returns to the New Zealand squad while Brendon McCullum will be rested for the limited overs leg of the tour

©REUTERS / Action Images

New Zealand have named their 15-man squads to tour the West Indies for a series of Twenty20 Internationals, One-Day Internationals and Tests in June, July and August.

Brendon McCullum has been rested from the limited overs leg of the tour, James Franklin is not selected, enabling him to feature for Essex in Twenty20 cricket and Jacob Oram returns from injury.

Recently qualified fast bowler Neil Wagner is included in the Test squad while those missing out on selection include Colin de Grandhomme, Michael Bates and Andy McKay.

Explaining the selection, National Selection Manager Kim Littlejohn said: "We have picked three strong squads for what will be a tough tour of the West Indies. 

"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.

"James Franklin will also miss the tour.  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 Tweny20 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.

"Tom Latham comes back into the short-form teams after showing a great deal of promise during his first series against Zimbabwe. This tour presents an opportunity for Tom to build on the good start he has made to his international career.

"Wicketkeeper-batsman BJ Watling has overcome his hip injury and has been included in all three squads as has Daniel Flynn who proved in the recent Test match against South Africa that he has the ability to make an impact at international level.

"Jacob Oram has recovered from his calf injury, adding experience and all-round skill to the Twenty20 and ODI sides.

"The Test squad sees the addition of Neil Wagner, an exciting fast bowler who recently qualified to play for the BLACKCAPS.  Neil has been an extremely good performer in the Plunket Shield for a number of seasons and deserves his opportunity.

"A number of players, including Colin de Grandhomme, Michael Bates and Andy McKay, are unlucky to miss out on selection but are still very much in our thinking for the future."

New Zealand T20I squad: Ross Taylor (captain), 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

New Zealand ODI squad: Ross Taylor (captain), 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

New Zealand Test squad: Ross Taylor (captain), Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Dean Brownlie, Daniel Flynn, Mark Gillespie, Martin Guptill, Chris Martin, Brendon McCullum, Tarun Nethula, Kruger van Wyk, Daniel Vettori, Neil Wagner, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson

© Cricket World 2012