Michael Bracewell will captain New Zealand for the first time on home soil when they meet Pakistan in a five-game T20 series, leading a squad named on Tuesday, which missed several key players because of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Bracewell starred as the Black Caps reached the final of the Champions Trophy and is one of seven players from that one-day team selected for the T20s.
But a host of top names are not available due to IPL commitments, including regular skipper Mitchell Santner, along with Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson and Glenn Phillips.
Kane Williamson also made himself unavailable for the series, which gets under way on Sunday in Christchurch.
“It’s a great honour and a real privilege to captain your country,” said Bracewell, who led the side on their white-ball tour of Pakistan last year but has yet to take the reins at home.
“Mitch Santner’s done a great job since taking over as white-ball captain and I’ll really just be trying to build on his good work and create an enjoyable environment for the guys to perform in.
“Pakistan are always a dangerous short-form side with lots of power and pace and we know they’ll be hurting after an early exit in the Champions Trophy,” he added.
Spinner Ish Sodhi was recalled while paceman Ben Sears is back after recovering from a torn hamstring.
Finn Allen, Jimmy Neesham and Tim Seifert were also included as both teams start building up to next year’s T20 World Cup in India.
New Zealand went down to India by four wickets in the Champions Trophy final in Dubai on Sunday, suffering a fourth loss in four short-format global finals over the last decade.
““I guess it’s bittersweet,” Santner told reporters after the final.
“You always want to win one of these, and I don’t know how many more chances we’ll get, but this one was up there for us.
“I think we were playing some good cricket leading into this, and we thought we were a real sniff today, but I guess we just got beaten by a good team,” the skipper acknowledged.
New Zealand squad: Michael Bracewell (capt), Finn Allen, Mark Chapman, Jacob Duffy, Zak Foulkes (games 4 and 5 only), Mitch Hay, Matt Henry (games 4 and 5 only), Kyle Jamieson (games 1, 2 and 3 only), Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Will O’Rourke (games 1, 2 and 3 only), Tim Robinson, Ben Sears, Tim Seifert, and Ish Sodhi.