New Zealand announces 13-man squad for Australia T20Is

New Zealand’s next rising star is a 21-year-old from Auckland who helped Wellington win the Super Smash 2020-21 and defend their title. Finn Allen had an incredible strike rate of 193.93 in the Super Smash this year, finishing with 25 sixes across 11 innings in which he amassed 512 runs and topped the run charts.

His opening partner Devon Conway, another promising talent who made his international debut last year, is second on the top run-scorers list.

New Zealand Cricket have rewarded the young opening batsman with a maiden T20I call up as Allen has been added to the 13-man T20I squad, announced on Sunday, for the upcoming five-match T20I series against Australia at home. Allen has been added as a standby as veteran opener Martin Guptill has been sidelined with a hamstring injury.

The Black Caps are, however, hoping to get the out-of-form Guptill back for the T20I series as head coach Gary Stead and national selector Gavin



Larsen are keen on keeping the record run-scorer for New Zealand in the side. Guptill has to pass a fitness test in Christchurch before final selection. If Guptill fails to prove his fitness, Allen will join the squad as a direct replacement for the 34-year-old.

"Finn's been in outstanding form and he's certainly an exciting talent. Martin's our incumbent opener and our highest T20 international runscorer so we're backing him to do the job at the top of the order, but he will need to prove his fitness, and it's good to know we have a ready replacement in Finn on standby,” Larsen said.

Tickets for the opening T20I, on February 22, at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch have already been sold out.

New Zealand T20I Squad: Kane Williamson (c), Martin Guptill, Tim Seifert, Devon Conway, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Hamish Bennett, Finn Allen (standby)