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Trent Boult and New Zealand’s top Twenty20 stars come from the Indian Premier League (IPL), but there is an extremely tight window between the end of their 14 days in managed isolation and the Black Caps’ first game since March.
Boult, along with his Black Caps teammates Kane Williamson, Lockie Ferguson, Mitchell Santner, Jimmy Neesham and Tim Seifert, has returned from the IPL following his man-of-the-match performance in the Mumbai Indians final victory on Wednesday (New Zealand time).
However, the availability of New Zealand’s No. 1 seamer for the first T20 international against the West Indies on November 27 is uncertain.
The 31-year-old left goalkeeper, speaking to the media via a Zoom call from the Chateau on the Park hotel in Riccarton, Christchurch, said he was not sure if his first home game would be in the three-game T20 series. . because he’s “targeting those test matches” in December.
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“It’s my favorite format and I want to make sure I can move towards them,” Boult said Friday.
“If I can participate in the T20s, that is also exciting. But we ended up here a day before it starts, so I’m not really sure. “
His managed isolation is not scheduled to end until November 26. The other returning Black Caps are expected to be available for the series, but it’s still tight.
Boult was grateful to be playing cricket again, as the IPL moved from India to the United Arab Emirates, but it will mean more than three months away from his wife Gert and their two children, once their isolation ends.
Meanwhile, he has training, exercises through Zoom, his lego, and a guitar with a broken string to keep his mind occupied in a cozy hotel room.
“I have my children, two under the age of two, and that was the hardest part of my entire journey. It’s a great sacrifice, as you can imagine, to go away for three months, ”said Boult.
“But looking at the big picture, having that opportunity in the first place is what motivated me the most, so I consider myself very lucky.
“Once I get out of here at the end of this month, I hope to have a couple of days of family time. We will go to the camp at the end of November at this stage. I am very lucky to have a loving and caring wife who supports me at all times. “
The Black Caps return to the international stage, after the Covid-19 pandemic, at home against the West Indies with T20, starting at Eden Park before two at Boult’s house, the Bay Oval of Mount Manganui, and two tests at Hamilton and Wellington.
The IPL’s respective New Zealand and West Indian contingents arrived in New Zealand on Thursday and took a charter flight from Auckland to Christchurch on Friday to begin their isolation administered in separate bubbles.
Members of the West Indies team were found to have broken the rules of isolation administered within their hotel this week, but the violation will not affect the start of T20 in Auckland on November 27, a day after Boult and the returnees be ready to finish your fortnight. in quarantine, subject to non-positive Covid-19 tests.
Those Black Caps, after more than two months of strict protocols in the UAE, including Covid-19 testing every three days, will be able to resume training in a bubble at a managed isolation facility in Lincoln starting Monday, in waiting for negative tests.
“I could almost do a test myself if I had to,” joked Boult.
They are joined by guest coaches Shane Bond and Brendon McCullum, as well as Black Caps coach Chris Donaldson and physical therapist Tommy Simsek.