Five uncapped players in Kiwi squad

Canterbury's Rob Nicol is among five uncapped players to be named in New Zealand's provisional 30-man squad

New Zealand Cricket today named five uncapped players in a provisional 30-man squad for the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean.

Brent Arnel, Rob Nicol, Kieran Noema-Barnett, Bradley Scott and Shanan Stewart were all included after impressing in the domestic Twenty20 HRV Cup earlier in the year although it remains to be seen whether they will make the final cut.

The squad is halved at the end of March by which time Ian Butler, Jacob Oram, Andy McKay, Kyle Mills and Jesse Ryder need to have proved their fitness.

“We are required by the ICC to name 30 players two months out from a world tournament, with the final 15 named a month out,” said coach Mark Greatbatch. “It’s a big squad and we are covering all our bases.

“Realistically there are 22-23 players there who have a good chance of making the final 15. We have some very competitive players to compete at the World Cup.

“We feel that we have some depth and good skill level available for selection. It will be nice to get some of our core players back fit. It is an important month for them to get themselves ready and up to speed.”

The Black Caps open the tournament when they meet Sri Lanka on April 30 with Zimbabwe the third team in their group.

New Zealand provisional 30-man squad: Brent Arnel, Shane Bond, Neil Broom, Ian Butler, Brendon Diamanti, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Gareth Hopkins (wkt), Jamie How, Peter Ingram, Michael Mason, Brendon McCullum (wkt), Nathan McCullum, Peter McGlashan, Andy McKay, Kyle Mills, Rob Nicol, Kieran Noema-Barnett, Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel, Aaron Redmond, Jess Ryder, Bradley Scott, Mathew Sinclair, Tim Southee, Shannan Stewart, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Daryl Tuffey, Daniel Vettori (captain).