The Board of Directors of Indoor Cricket New Zealand are proud to announce the New Zealand Open Men’s Squad selected to compete in the World Indoor Cricket Federation (WICF) Asia Cup tournament, to be held in Singapore from April 4th-7th 2019.
New Zealand will compete alongside the hosts Singapore, India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia in the tournament.
Other participating teams are yet to be confirmed at this stage but details will be made available later.
The squad selected includes four players from the team that competed at the 2017 World Cup in Dubai, UAE.
There are some experienced players leading the way for the side mixed in with some youth for this tour.
This tour will also present opportunities for new players to integrate into the Open Men’s environment and put forward performances at international level for the first time, whilst we look to test out different options ahead of the next World Cup to be held in Australia in 2020.
In all there will be four players making their debut on this tour, which we are quite excited about.
There have also been some recalls for players who have previously played for the Open Men’s side in recent years, and this is a testament to their persistence and performances at Provincial level that they have earned a recall to the side.
New Zealand Open Men’s Squad for Asia Cup:
Micah Campbell
BJ Crook
Darrin Crook
Victor Davies
Michael Dodunski
Bryce Fellows
Braden Gardner
Mitchell Gardner
Taine Jolley
Corey Perrett
Ben Saunders
Coaching Staff:
Leigh Kelly
Jonathan Routhan
Tony Watkins
Points of note from the squad:
1. Retained and unavailable players
a. Victor Davies, BJ Crook, Michael Dodunski and Ben Saunders retain their places from the World Cup.
b. Jesse Ryder was unavailable for selection for this tour
2. There are four new debutants on this tour.
a. The Gardner brothers, Mitchell and Braden. Mitchell is a former Under-21 New Zealand representative and has been a consistent performer for Canterbury for a few years now, and earns his selection. We also see a lot of potential in his brother Braden, who made his debut for Canterbury this year and took the most wickets at this year’s Provincial tournament.
b. Taine Jolley and Corey Perrett. Both Taine and Corey played for New Zealand at Under-22 level at the previous World Cup and have performed well for their provinces in recent times. They are a couple of dynamic young players and this is a good time to bring them up from the age group level to the open men’s side.
2. Returning players:
a. Darrin Crook returns to the side for the first time since 2007. It is a well-deserved selection for Darrin, who is also in the Over-35 squad for this year’s Masters World Cup in South Africa. He was named the MVP at this year’s Provincial tournament, as well as the National Club Championships. He joins his brother BJ in the side (to make it two sets of brothers in the squad overall).
b. Bryce Fellows and Micah Campbell have also earned recalls to the side, after last featuring at the 2014 World Cup in New Zealand. Bryce is the most experienced player in this squad, having played 44 times for New Zealand, and he has performed well for Wellington over the last couple of years in regaining his spot. His experience will be invaluable to this group and he is also in the Over-35 squad alongside Darrin. After spending some time playing outdoor cricket in England, Micah has been a consistent performer and leader for Canterbury, and we are looking forward to seeing him back in the squad and what he has to offer.
