Wellington Firebirds rising star Finn Allen has been called up to the Black Caps for the first time as part of a 13-strong T20 squad to take on Bangladesh in the three-game T20 series, starting this Sunday in Hamilton.
The 21-year-old opening batsman was the standout player of this season’s Super Smash, amassing a league-leading 512 runs at an average of 56 and an incredible strike-rate of 193 — featuring a table-topping 56 fours and 25 sixes.
The former New Zealand Under-19 representative is one of four fresh faces in the T20 side, with Central Stags batsman Will Young also called up for the first time and speedsters Lockie Ferguson and Adam Milne returning after injury lay-offs.
Ferguson was the star of the early part of the home summer, claiming five for 21 in the season-opening T20 against the West Indies at Eden Park, before succumbing to a partial-stress fracture in his back.
Milne has appeared 61 times for the Black Caps since debuting in 2010, but has not played for the side since November 2018 and has worked his way back most recently through a stint with the Sydney Thunder in the Australian BBL and has been training with Central Districts since exiting managed isolation last month.
Ferguson, Milne and Allen will depart for the IPL immediately after the Bangladesh T20 series, where they will join Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, Mitchell Santner, Kyle Jamieson, Jimmy Neesham and Tim Seifert, none of whom have been selected for this series.
Tim Southee will captain the side, while Devon Conway has been selected as the frontline wicket-keeper.
All-rounder Daryl Mitchell and spinner Todd Astle also return to the T20 team after having featured in squads before Christmas.
Selector Gavin Larsen said compiling this squad, like many this summer, had been complex, but was a good opportunity for the incumbent players.
“It’s especially an exciting time for Finn, who will be getting his first taste of the Black Caps environment," Larsen said.
“His Super Smash campaign with the Firebirds was nothing short of outstanding and we believe he has the skills to succeed at the next level.
“We’re delighted to see Lockie and Adam return after working really hard to get back to this point. They are two of the premier fast bowlers in world cricket and it’s fantastic to be able to call on their services, in what is shaping as a big year of T20 cricket."
The T20 squad was announced during the lunch break of the second one-day international against Bangladesh.
Larsen told commentators Scotty Stevenson and Grant Elliot that Allen would be given free licence at the top of the order.
"We thought seriously about the Aussie series but we thought that this would be the perfect opportunity for him and we'd like to think he would carry that style and that method [that he showed in the Super Smash] into the international game.
"We want, hope and expect that he will play the way he did at the top of the order for Wellington. So that is having licence to go out and play those big shots. You can't expect if you play in that style that you're going to succeed every time in T20 cricket, that's unrealistic. If he were to pop a couple of scores on the board for us in those three games we'll be having our thumbs in the air."
Black Caps T20 Squad v Bangladesh:
Tim Southee (c)
Finn Allen
Todd Astle
Hamish Bennett
Mark Chapman
Devon Conway (wk)
Lockie Ferguson
Martin Guptill
Adam Milne
Daryl Mitchell
Glenn Phillips
Ish Sodhi
Will Young
All three T20s will be played as double-headers alongside the White Ferns v Australia T20 series.
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