Tom Latham in action for the Black Caps. Photo / Getty
With New Zealand Cricket submitting their 30-man squad for the Cricket World Cup today, the countdown has begun for those on the fringe to push further for a spot in the tournament.
The squad will be cut in half in a month with only three ODIs being played before
then.
Those not in the current 15-man squad in the UAE will have a few rounds of Plunket Shield and Ford Trophy to impress before the official World Cup squad is named after the first test against Sri Lanka on January 7.
The 15-men in the squad for the three-match series against Pakistan beginning tonight obviously have the upper-hand along with captain Brendon McCullum and Tim Southee who left after the test series. Trent Boult also arrived home early and hasn't been a regular fixture in the ODI squad but could be hard to ignore come World Cup.
The likes of Anton Devcich, Matt Henry, Dean Brownlie, James Neesham, Adam Milne and Tom Latham could either play themselves in or out of the squad in the series against Pakistan.
Former internationals James Franklin, Hamish Bennett, Neil Broom, Colin de Grandhomme, Andrew Ellis, Grant Elliot, Colin Munro, Rob Nicol and Hamish Rutherford will need to keep relying on domestic form to book a spot but it would take some very strong performances to do so.
