Christchurch, March 31 (IANS) Nine players with international experience have been named across the New Zealand A (NZ A) squads to tour Sri Lanka later this month.

The tour comprises three 50-over matches and two four-day matches across Galle and Hambantota, starting April 5.

Eight BlackCaps feature in the NZ ‘A’ 50-over squad in Muhammad Abbas, Adithya Ashok, Kristian Clarke, Mitch Hay, Ben Lister, Rhys Mariu, Ben Sears, and Tim Robinson.

Abbas, Ashok, Clarke, and Sears will depart the A tour to join the ODI squad in Bangladesh, with Robinson also departing after the first red-ball game to join the BlackCaps T20I squad.

The red-ball squad will be bolstered by four pace-bowlers in New Zealand’s latest Test debutant Michael Rae, Otago’s Jarrod McKay, and Canterbury’s Fraser Sheat, along with allrounders Auckland Aces’ Ryan Harrison and Wellington Firebirds’ Peter Younghusband.

Maiden NZ A call-ups have been earned by Harrison, McKay, Sheat, and Younghusband, as well as Auckland Aces’ Rohit Gulati, after impressive performances for their provinces throughout the season.

Selection Manager Gavin Larsen said it was exciting to reward players with opportunities to continue their development.

“Being able to offer some of our best performing domestic players opportunities to work on their game overseas is crucial to the success of our high performance programme.

“We’ve seen some incredible successes during the summer, with series wins against England, the West Indies, India away, and South Africa, all while relying heavily on our stocks in our domestic system,” he said.

The 50-Over squad depart to Sri Lanka on Friday 3 April, followed by the four-day squad members on 10 April.

Squads:

NZ A to Sri Lanka 50-over: Muhammad Abbas, Adithya Ashok, Matthew Boyle, Max Chu, Kristian Clarke, Rohit Gulati, Mitch Hay, Curtis Heaphy, Simon Keene, Ben Lister, Rhys Mariu, Dale Phillips, Tim Pringle, Tim Robinson, Ben Sears

NZ A to Sri Lanka four-day: Matthew Boyle, Max Chu, Rohit Gulati, Ryan Harrison, Mitch Hay, Curtis Heaphy, Simon Keene, Ben Lister, Rhys Mariu, Jarrod McKay, Dale Phillips, Tim Pringle, Michael Rae, Tim Robinson, Fraser Sheat, Peter Younghusband

–IANS

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