Cricket: Devon Conway, Will Young and Henry Nicholls lead New Zealand’s strong batting lineup to face the West Indies

It sounds like a law firm specializing in expensive divorces, but Conway, Young & Nicholls will be desperate for attention when the New Zealand Athletics program kicks off in Queenstown in nine days.

Team A will play the West Indies in a three-day, then four-day match, before turning their attention to West Indies A and then Pakistan A in a hectic pre-Christmas schedule.

With Devon Conway, raised in Johannesburg and claimed by Wellington, qualifying this year to be eligible for New Zealand, the Black Caps have, on one of the rare occasions in their history, many options in the middle order.

While captain Kane Williamson and New Zealand’s best test run scorer Ross Taylor are locked in at numbers 3 and 4, Henry Nicholls could be starting to look over his shoulder anxiously after a sudden loss of form. in long form last summer followed by an eight month streak. -Shutdown due to calf injury.

“It’s great that Henry is back in the park after what I know has been a frustrating winter with his left calf injury,” said Black Caps coach and coach Gary Stead. “He will leave for Canterbury this weekend on the Plunket Shield before heading to Queenstown … we are confident that if he comes out unscathed from both games he will be ready for the first test in Hamilton on December 3.”

While there’s no indication that your spot at No. 5 is in immediate danger (five tons and a 40-push test average gives you some leeway), you’ll appreciate the value of not giving a fool an even rest.

No one can claim to be as unfortunate as Will Young. In most other eras he would have played 20 rounds by now, but a combination of bad luck and mismanagement has seen him waiting to debut.

All three have a point to prove: gorging on racing against the backdrop of the Remarkables will be a good way to remind the selectors where they stand in the pecking order.

Another feature of the selected side is the proliferation of Otago bowlers.

While not a national powerhouse, the bowling unit of the ever-consistent Jacob Duffy, Michael Rae, Nathan Smith, and the unorthodox left-arm spinner Michael Rippon has shown enough to warrant closer inspection.

Stead said it was going to be a very busy season for New Zealand’s elite cricketers.

“The complexities of the international schedule, coupled with the size of the touring teams and the time they will spend in the country, has allowed us to build a very strong A program.

“The flip side of this is that pressure will be put on our group of players this season and we need to be smart about how we use our resources, therefore we are likely to add and subtract from this team as we go along.”

Canterbury captain Cole McConchie will lead the team with Dane Cleaver taking the gloves.

New Zealand A will meet in Queenstown next Wednesday with Bob Carter and Paul Wiseman leading the coaching staff.

The Black Caps open their international summer at home against the West Indies at Eden Park in Auckland on Friday 27 November.

All members of the initial group on the West Indies tour, currently in administered isolation in Christchurch, returned negative results from their third and final Covid-19 test following news that players violated quarantine rules this week.

New Zealand One template for games one and two: Joe Carter (ND), Dane Cleaver (wk) (CD), Devon Conway (Good), Henry Cooper (ND), Jacob Duffy (Otago), Ken McClure (Cant), Cole McConchie (c) (Cant), Henry Nicholls (Cant), Michael Rae (Otago), Rachin Ravindra (Good), Michael Rippon (Otago), Ben Sears (Good), Sean Solia (Auck), Nathan Smith (Otago), Blair Tickner (CD), Will Young (CD ).

New Zealand Schedule A:

v West Indies, November 20-22, Queenstown

v West Indies, November 26-29, Queenstown

v West Indies A, December 3-6, Mount Maunganui

v Pakistan A, December 10-13, Queenstown

v Pakistan A, December 17-20, Whangarei