Black Caps v England: Devon Conway dropped from Twenty20 first XI, Rachin Ravindra returns to top order

Devon Conway has been dropped from the Black Caps’ Twenty20 playing XI, as captain Mitchell Santner named his side to face England in Christchurch tomorrow.

For most of his international career, Conway has been a walk-up starter for the Black Caps in all formats.

However, the 34-year-old has struggled of late to replicate the form he showed at the start of his international career, notably scoring 200 on his test debut at Lord’s, and opted out of a New Zealand central contract as a result.

Earlier this year, he was dropped from New Zealand’s T20 squad to face South Africa and Zimbabwe in a T20 tri-series, only to be recalled once Finn Allen was forced out with a foot stress fracture.

Conway’s place at the top of the order tomorrow will be taken by Tim Robinson, who scored an unbeaten 106 in the series-opening T20 against Australia earlier this month, partnering Tim Seifert.

That allows Rachin Ravindra to slot back in at No 3, after he missed the series with a facial laceration.

Unless he returns for the second or third games of the series, Conway’s last chances to impress selectors before next year’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka will come either against the West Indies or playing in South Africa’s SA20 competition.

Elsewhere, captain Santner returns to the side after missing the start of the summer with a sports hernia, suffered playing in English franchise cricket.

Speaking on the eve of the three-match series, Santner outlined that while leaving Conway out of the side was a positive for New Zealand, and showed the strength in depth that the Black Caps possess.

“It’s a good position to be in. It causes a few headaches at times; we’ve got a few guys out as well.

“If you look at the lead-in, there’s injuries around, there’s [SA20], Big Bash away. Trying to find your team might just be right before the World Cup.

“But guys who have come in have stepped up and are performing. There’s plenty of competition for spots, which is good.”

The Black Caps will be up against several familiar faces against England.

In the coaching ranks, former captain Brendon McCullum has moved into the white-ball role, having led the test side since mid-2022.

McCullum has also appointed former teammates Tim Southee as bowling consultant and Jeetan Patel as spin mentor.

“It is still strange seeing them in purple shirts,” Santner added. “But there’s no hiding these days in international cricket.

“We know Southee has probably given Baz [McCullum] and Harry [Brook] plenty of info on us. That’s natural.

“It’s cool to see these guys showing their craft in a different team.”

England named their playing XI yesterday.

Saturday’s series opener at Hagley Oval is sold out, despite clashing with Canterbury’s NPC semifinal against Hawke’s Bay.

Black Caps XI: 1. Tim Robinson, 2. Tim Seifert (wk), 3. Rachin Ravindra, 4. Daryl Mitchell, 5. Mark Chapman, 6. Michael Bracewell, 7. Jimmy Neesham, 8. Mitchell Santner (c), 9. Kyle Jamieson, 10. Matt Henry, 11. Jacob Duffy

England XI: 1. Phil Salt, 2. Jos Buttler, 3. Jacob Bethell, 4. Harry Brook (c), 5. Tom Banton, 6. Sam Curran, 7. Jordan Cox (wk), 8. Brydon Carse, 9. Liam Dawson, 10. Adil Rashid, 11. Luke Wood

Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.