Wellington, June 27 (IANS) New Zealand has included uncapped batter Bevon Jacobs and experienced bowler Adam Milne in their 15-strong squad for next month’s T20I Tri-Series with South Africa and hosts, Zimbabwe. The 23-year-old Jacobs is the only uncapped player in an experienced tour party, captained by Mitch Santner and is in line to make his Black Caps debut.

This will be New Zealand’s senior men’s first white-ball tour of Zimbabwe since 2015 and will see them play the hosts and South Africa in a four-match T20I tri-series at the Harare Sports Club, starting on July 16. The top two teams will progress to the final on July 26.

Jacobs was first called up to the T20 side to face Sri Lanka in December but wasn’t utilised in the three-game series and has recently returned from a stint with the Mumbai Indians at the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Milne, who has 53 T20Is to his name, hasn’t featured for the Black Caps since November last year but has impressed for the Texas Super Kings so far in America’s Major League Cricket (MLC), claiming 9-96 across his first four matches.

Milne will bolster the pace bowling stocks alongside the ICC’s number one-ranked T20I bowler Jacob Duffy, and the trio of Matt Henry, Will O’Rourke, and Zak Foulkes.

Henry, the reigning Sir Richard Hadlee Medal winner, is set to be back after a shoulder injury kept him sidelined from international cricket following the ICC Champions Trophy, where he was the tournament’s leading wicket-taker, helping propel the Black Caps to the final.

Pace bowlers unavailable for selection for this tour were Ben Sears (side injury), Lockie Ferguson (load management), and Kyle Jamieson, who is awaiting the birth of his first child.

Jacobs will be joined in the batting department by hard-hitting openers Finn Allen and Tim Seifert, who impressed in the home T20I series against Pakistan in March.

Allen is fresh off a T20 world-record knock for the San Francisco Unicorns (MLC), where he racked up the most amount of sixes (19) in a T20 innings, taking him to a career-best 151 (off 51 balls).

Seifert was New Zealand’s top run scorer during the home series against Pakistan, amassing 249 runs at 62, including a career-best 97* off 38 balls.

Ish Sodhi, New Zealand’s second-highest T20I wicket-taker, will join Santner as the other specialist spinner in the squad.

Kane Williamson wasn’t included after making himself unavailable for selection.

The tour will be incoming head coach Rob Walter’s first assignment with the Black Caps, and he will be joined by batting coach Luke Ronchi, bowling coach Jake Oram, and James Foster, who re-joins the group as a fourth coach.

New Zealand T20 squad:

Mitch Santner (c), Finn Allen, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Jacob Duffy, Zak Foulkes, Matt Henry, Bevon Jacobs, Adam Milne, Daryl Mitchell, Will O’Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi.

–IANS

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