Michael Bracewell will stand in as one-day captain next month when New Zealand head to India, with Mitchell Santner resting a sore groin before reclaiming the armband for the T20s. The selectors have mixed experience with opportunity, handing first senior call-ups to left-arm seamer Jayden Lennox and all-rounder Kristian Clarke in the 50-over squad.
New caps, familiar absentees
Lennox’s inclusion is the headline. The 24-year-old has been nagging away for Central Districts and has eight wickets from five Ford Trophy outings this summer. Head coach Rob Walter has tracked him for a while. “Jayden has been an identified player of interest for some time and has some good New Zealand ‘A’ experience under his belt,” Walter said. “He’s consistently been one of the top performers in white-ball cricket domestically for a number of seasons.”
The tour timing – January in India – is no coincidence either. “Playing in the sub-continent is obviously very different to what we’re used to in New Zealand, so any opportunity we can get to expose our guys to those conditions can only be a good thing, especially prior to a T20 World Cup in the subcontinent.”
Clarke, another who keeps flirting with a debut, gets a second invite after warming benches against England and West Indies earlier in the year. Leg-spinning all-rounder Adithya Ashok, big-hitting Josh Clarkson and quick Michael Rae round out a 15-strong ODI party that won’t feature Kane Williamson (SA20), Tom Latham (family leave) or Matt Henry (calf rehab).
Henry, though, slots back in for the five T20s starting 21 January in Nagpur. Santner’s comeback for that leg pushes Bracewell into a senior player’s role rather than captaincy. Batter Bevon Jacobs and youngster Tim Robinson add dash, while Mark Chapman returns from an ankle niggle.
Busy schedule, rotating cast
New Zealand’s conveyor belt is whirring. Lockie Ferguson and Adam Milne will hop across from franchise gigs late in the T20 series. Finn Allen and Tim Seifert are on similar watch-lists from the Big Bash. Meanwhile Rachin Ravindra and Jacob Duffy get a breather from the ODIs after a heavy home summer, a nod to workload management that—love it or loathe it—seems here to stay.
Not involved this time are Nathan Smith (side strain), William O’Rourke (back) and Blair Tickner (shoulder). Fast bowler Kyle Jamieson, managing his return from back surgery, makes both squads.
Keeping duties are split: Mitchell Hay with the gloves for the ODIs, Devon Conway in T20s, a neat way of sharing minutes without cluttering the batting order.
Analytical glance
On paper the ODI side looks light on caps but heavy on bowling options—seven seamers including Clarke and Rae, plus Ashok’s wrist-spin and Bracewell’s off-breaks. Runs will lean on Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls and Will Young, with Glenn Phillips roaming between formats.
The T20 outfit is nearer full strength. Santner and Sodhi handle spin, Jamieson and Henry the new ball, with Neesham and Mitchell filling the hybrid roles modern short-form sides crave. If anything, selection underlines a willingness to experiment now rather than at the World Cup itself.
Fixtures
The ODI series starts 11 January in Vadodara, followed by games in Indore and Rajkot. A short hop then to Nagpur, Hyderabad, Pune, Lucknow and Bengaluru for the T20s, all tight turnarounds in peak Indian winter.
New Zealand ODI squad
Michael Bracewell (capt), Adithya Ashok, Kristian Clarke, Josh Clarkson, Devon Conway, Zak Foulkes, Mitchell Hay (wk), Kyle Jamieson, Nick Kelly, Jayden Lennox, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Glenn Phillips, Michael Rae, Will Young.
New Zealand T20I squad
Mitchell Santner (capt), Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway (wk), Jacob Duffy, Zak Foulkes, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Bevon Jacobs, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Tim Robinson, Ish Sodhi.
It’s a busy, slightly patched-together itinerary, yet it gives New Zealand a valuable look at fringe players under Indian lights while senior names juggle injury and franchise commitments. Fair to say it’s modern cricket in a nutshell: flexible, relentless and never short of opportunity for the next cab off the rank.
