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New Zealand rest Kane Williamson & Trent Boult for T20Is vs WI | NZ decide to rest Williamson & Boult for T20Is – to prepare for Tests

Kane Williamson and Trent Boult have been asked to rest for the upcoming T20I series against West Indies and prepare for the Test matches. During the short format games, Tim Southee will be taking the role of captaincy as Kane will join the team in the long-form games. Doubts about Colin de Grandhomme and Ajaz Patel’s return will be cleared in the course of time as both the players are still recovering from their injuries.

Devon Conway has been selected by the NZ board for the first series against West Indies whereas Gary Stead, NZ head coach confirmed that Colin Munro is missing the squad due to Big Bash League commitments. “We’re looking forward to welcoming Devon into our environment for the first time and I’m sure he’ll soak up the experience. With Colin Munro heading to the Big Bash and therefore unavailable for the Pakistan T20 series pre-Christmas, the selectors are keen to look at other batting options at the top of the order. We’ve had to make a decision on Kane and Trent to prioritize the Test matches, given how important they are to our red-ball team and the fact they both played such big roles in the recent IPL while also managing injuries”, he said.

The T20 squad also sees return of Glenn Phillips who was last seen smashing 316 runs at a strike rate of 127.41 in 10 CPL outings. “There’s no secret we’re right in the hunt for the World Test Championship Final following our two-nil win over India and having Trent and Kane fully fit and focussed for the upcoming series will be crucial. Colin and Ajaz have quite different injuries which are requiring a different return to play protocols. It’s too early at this stage to definitively say what their chances are but we’re hopeful the next two weeks will make that clearer”, Stead added.

Written by Anjali Jha. Follow Anjali on Twitter today.