Henry takes bowling spot in NZ’s T20 WC squad

AUCKLAND: Matt Henry has edged out Ben Sears for the vacant seam bowling berth in New Zealand's squad for the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and United States.

Henry slots into a seam bowling attack featuring Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson, with Adam Milne ruled out due to ankle surgery and the injured Kyle Jamieson also unavailable.

Kane Williamson will captain the T20 World Cup squad for a fourth time as New Zealand hunt for a maiden title after reaching the semi-finals of the last three tournaments and the final in 2021.

It will be the sixth appearance for Williamson at a T20 World Cup and fourth as skipper, with Southee set for his seventh appearance at the tournament and Boult his fifth as the Kiwis seek a first title in the shortest international format of the game.

"We expect the venues in the West Indies to offer quite varied conditions and feel we’ve selected a squad with the scope to adapt to those conditions," Black Caps coach Gary Stead said in a news release on Monday.

Henry and batsman Rachin Ravindra will be making their T20 World Cup debuts. "Matt has worked exceptionally hard on his skills across the phases of a T20 game to come back into selection consideration," said Stead.

"Rachin has made every post a winner in the past 12 months and it was exciting to see him continue that trajectory over the summer in the T20 format against Australia." The squad is otherwise highly experienced, with Boult selected for his fifth World Cup, Southee his seventh and batting linchpin Williamson appearing at his sixth.

New Zealand squad:

Kane Williamson (capt), Finn Allen, Trent Boult, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee.