New Zealand's head coach Gary Stead has informed that the Blackcaps have opted out of the warm-up games offered by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in the lead-up to the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 tournament due to logistical challenges.
Notably, the members of New Zealand's World Cup squad will arrive in the Caribbean in multiple batches between May 23 to June 1 and hence it would become very difficult for the entire squad to assemble in time for the warm-ups.
Instead of warm-ups, the group will indulge in several training sessions ahead of their campaign opener against Afghanistan on June 7 and rely on their experience of playing in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) to do well in the tournament.
"West Indies is a tough place to get to for a start, so it's not easy to get everyone to Trinidad and Tobago at the same time," head coach Gary Stead said. "For us, we don't have warm-up games. There's a number of guys who have been in the IPL for the last two months and we've also recently come off the tour to Pakistan.
"There's a lot of experience in the group who have played in the CPL before, so we'll be leaning on those guys and making sure the trainings we get prior to the first game puts us in a position of where we want to be," he added.
Kane Williamson (Barbados Tridents), James Neesham (Guyana Amazon Warriors and Trinbago Knight Riders), Glenn Phillips (Barbados Royals and Jamaica Tallawahs), Ish Sodhi (Jamaica Tallawahs and St Kitts and Nevis Patriots) among other Kiwi players who are a part of New Zealand's World Cup squad have already played for several CPL franchises and therefore the unit can rely on their experience.
Apart from Matt Henry and Rachin Ravindra all the other players who are a part of the World Cup squad have the experience of playing in the T20 World Cup and Stead feels that can help the unit this time around.
"We've only got two players who haven't been to a T20 World Cup that are in this squad. That shows our group is experienced and they can lean back on those past experiences," he concluded.
