The Kiwis were runners up in the 2015 and 2019 World Cups and this might just be their third time lucky this time round. I honestly can’t see New Zealand winning the World Cup with it being in India but they will be very hard to beat all the same. Of the players that played in that final, seven of them are in the squad for this year’s World Cup. Get the inside scoop on New Zealand's Cricket Squad for the upcoming GameDay Squad competition with an in-depth analysis and preview. Find out who to watch out for!
Squad
Trent Bolt – Bowler
Mark Chapman – Batter
Devon Conway – Batter
Lockie Ferguson – Bowler
Matt Henry – Bowler
Tom Latham – Wicket Keeper
Daryl Mitchell - Batter
Jimmy Neesham – All-rounder
Glenn Phillips – All-rounder
Rachin Ravindra - All-rounder
Mitchell Santner - All-rounder
Ish Sodhi – Bowler
Tim Southee – Bowler
Kane Williamson – Batter
Will Young - Batter
Batters
After looking at the recent form for all the New Zealand players with a batter position designation, only Daryl Mitchell shows any form from a fantasy perspective. When applying the GDS scoring to their stats over the last ten games played, I’ve come up with the following fantasy point averages for the batters.
Mark Chapman – 31 points
Devon Conway – 62 points
Daryl Mitchell – 96 points
Kane Williamson – 48 points
Will Young - 53 points
Mitchell has been New Zealand’s in-form batsman over the last year. Over his last ten ODIs he’s scored three 100s, one 50 and has four scores of less than 21. The four innings where he scored 21 or less does concern me but when you compare his recent form to the other New Zealand batsman, it’s light and day between Mitchell and the others. Mitchell is also the only New Zealand batsman that has had a bowl over their last ten ODIs. Over this period, he bowled 22 overs, picked up seven wickets and averaged three dot balls per over. This comes to an average of 22 points per game in GDS and this may be a very handy bonus as he has a batter position designation.
Bowlers
New Zealand go into the tournament with five players with a bowler position designation in GDS. When applying the GDS scoring to their stats over the last ten games played, I’ve come up with the following fantasy point averages for the bowlers.
Trent Bolt – 121 points
Lockie Ferguson – 51 points
Matt Henry – 77 points
Ish Sodhi – 60 points
Tim Southee – 68 points
It’s all about Bolt going by these averages. Over his last ten ODIs he has bowled 76 overs, taken 26 wickets and averages four dot balls an over. This is simply quite outstanding as five of these games were after he took a year off from ODIs. Unless it looks like the ball is going to turn sideways, Bolt will be an auto pick for my squad every game.
All-rounders
New Zealand doesn’t have as many all-rounders as other teams and head into the tournament with four players that have the all-rounder position designation in GDS. Jimmy Neesham is the sole seam bowling all-rounder. Their spin bowling all-rounders are Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner and Rachin Ravindra. When applying the GDS scoring to their stats over the last ten games played, I’ve come up with the following fantasy point averages for the all-rounders.
Jimmy Neesham – 60 points
Glenn Phillips – 44 points
Rachin Ravindra – 70 points
Mitchell Santner - 64 points
When choosing which all-rounder to play in your squad it really depends on where New Zealand are playing, who their opposition is and the pitch conditions. I don’t really think the pitches will suit Neesham all that well and I will likely be fading him in most games. I’m also fading Phillips as he doesn’t bowl all that much. He has only bowled more than fours over once in his last ten ODIs.
I believe Santner is most likely to start in most games and he is my top all-rounder, just in front of Ravindra. Ravindra has picked up more wickets than Santner over their last ten games, but Santner tends to bowl a lot more dot balls.
Wicket Keeper
Tom Latham is the only player from New Zealand that has a wicket keeper position designation in GDS. When applying the GDS scoring to Latham’s stats over his last ten games played, I’ve come up with the following fantasy point average for him.
Tom Latham – 46 points
Predicted Starting XI
1. Conway
2. Young
3. Williamson
4. Mitchell
5. Latham
6. Phillips
7. Santner
8. Southee
9. Sodhi
10. Ferguson
11. Bolt