With a five-match T20 series starting Friday morning, XAVIER VOIGT-HILL picks a dream team from the World Cup rivals
No New Zealander has more T20 international centuries than 32-year-old Colin Munro, and he seems to be hitting his stride at the ideal moment following a middling CPL, where he averaged 33 in nine games with Trinbago Knight Riders.
Playing in Wednesday's warmup against an inexperienced England attack led by Tom Curran and Matt Parkinson, Munro reached his fifty with the first ball of the 15th over before switching gears and plundering eight boundaries to claim his ton just 15 deliveries later. England's more-than-competitive total of 188/5 was surpassed with nine balls going spare.
Unlucky to miss out is Martin Guptill, whose miserable form at the World Cup is matched in the shortest form this year. Only once in 14 outings for New Zealand, Worcestershire and Sunrisers Hyderabad has he passed 50 – albeit that one knock being an unbeaten 86 from only 31 balls at New Road in July – and an injured stomach muscle has kept him quiet since the Blackcaps' tour of Sri Lanka last month.
After smiting 549 runs in his breakthrough T20 Blast campaign – finishing with a tally second only to superstar teammate Babar Azam – bringing Tom Banton along for his maiden international tour was a no-brainer for England selectors Ed Smith and James Taylor.
Having plied his trade as an opener in all but one of his 16 T20 knocks to date, nabbing four fifties and an electric ton against Kent in the process, pairing the young wicketkeeper with the calm veteran head of Munro as a specialist opener feels like an ideal way to introduce him to the international cauldron.
Though he faces stiff competition in the likes of the currently absent Jason Roy and Jos Buttler for a spot up top in next year's T20 World Cup, and his return of 17 runs from 17 balls hasn't exactly set the world alight in the two warm-up games, that Banton has made this touring party is a massive vote of faith from the selectors, and he deserves an opportunity to continue his red-hot form and make a mark on the world stage.
Somerset's Tom Banton is in the squad following 549 runs in his first full T20 Blast campaign
In recent times Jonny Bairstow has been half of one of the most successful opening pairs in the history of the ODI game, but with partner-in-crime Roy rested from the tour and Banton a candidate for filling in at the top, we're sliding the Yorkshireman down to a position he hasn't batted in a T20 international in over two years.
He should have fond memories, though – in back-to-back games against South Africa, he blasted 107 runs at a strike rate just shy of 150 and picked up a player of the match gong in the process.
With Kane Williamson a late dropout from this series after aggravating a right hip issue that kept him out of the Test side in Bangladesh in March, World Cup winner Bairstow secures his place as a senior member of our combined side – and his runaway top score of 78 in the opening warmup game doesn't harm his chances either.
Captain Morgan is the first name on any white-ball teamsheet at the moment. If lifting England's maiden World Cup trophy wasn't reason enough to plant him in as skipper of a combined XI, how about his disdainful treatment of Afghanistan's bowlers with a historic century of sixes at Old Trafford, or lashing 83* in 29 balls in the largest chase in T20 Blast history to extinguish Somerset's hopes of a quarter-final place with three entire overs to spare?
The next chapter in his friendly rivalry with Blackcaps skipper Kane Williamson will have to wait due to his opposite number's injury concerns, though he will nevertheless have worthy competition in the shape of stand-in Tim Southee.
If you asked 100 people to pick one player who offered the best of both worlds from these two sides, anyone who offered an answer that didn't relate to Colin de Grandhomme would be severely misguided.
In 28 appearances for the Blackcaps in T20 cricket, the Auckland product strikes at 164 when batting six or lower, and his importance with the ball was dramatically underlined with miserly figures of 10-2-25-1 that almost secured New Zealand the World Cup crown at Lord's in July.
Both a handy change bowler and an accomplished slogger anywhere in the middle-order, The Big Man completes an impressive core to our combined side.
Sam Billings roars an appeal during Sunday's warm-up fixture at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval
Injury kept Sam Billings out from the international summer and much of the county season, but his importance to the England side is underlined by the fact he has been named Morgan's official deputy in the absence of regular vice-captain Jos Buttler.
Having taken the gloves for England's warm-up fixtures, Billings outscored opposite number Tim Seifert on both occasions, and the makeup of our combined side provides a perfect spot for him at his regular spot of number 6.
In 10 innings in the position – including his debut against the Blackcaps in 2015 and a 47-ball 87 last time out against the West Indies – he strikes at 150 precisely and provides both reliable support in case of collapse and a thunderous ability at the death.
Though Jimmy Neesham's last T20 outing in national colours came at the start of 2017, the rejuvenation he experienced in this summer's World Cup makes him a straightforward selection for the lead allrounder spot.
Having picked up 15 wickets and 258 runs during New Zealand's run to an agonising defeat in the final, arguably only the now-suspended Shakib Al Hasan came away from the competition with a stronger all-round record.
Neesham's ability in the most critical of scenarios is also without question – he picked up 15 runs in the five balls he faced during the dramatic Super Over, and it was his sharp throw to run out Mark Wood that ended England's innings with scores level in the first place.
Despite being ranked as the fifth-best bowler in the international T20 circuit, New Zealand's Mitchell Santner flies under the radar as a worthy successor to Daniel Vettori as the Blackcaps' bespectacled left-arm spinner.
With his home pitches unlikely to favour spin too much, Santner edges his way up the selection trio past the leg-spinning trio of compatriot Ish Sodhi and England's Roses duo Matt Parkinson and Adil Rashid.
Following a longstanding shoulder injury that ended his season after the World Cup, England will likely be wary of overusing Rashid while they manage his return to competitive cricket.
Acting as a worthy stand-in for the injured Kane Williamson, veteran seamer Tim Southee's tally of 71 T20I wickets is 28 more than his closest seam-bowling countryman Kyle Mills.
Through six games leading the Blackcaps' T20 side thus far, these scalps also come at a phenomenal average of 11.27 and at a cost of less than a run a ball.
His record and experience see him nudge out an inexperienced pace offering on both sides – teammates Blair Tickner and Scott Kuggeleijn have yet to set the world alight in their eight international T20 caps to date, the uncapped Lewis Gregory and Saqib Mahmood are yet to demonstrate attack-leading pedigree in the shortest form, and England regular Chris Jordan enters the tour off the back of his weakest summer haul (11 wickets at 30+, going above 9 an over) since 2015.
New Zealand paceman Lockie Ferguson provides our XI with vicious pace after a breakout World Cup
After claiming 21 wickets – second only to Mitchell Starc – in a breakout World Cup campaign, the rapid Lockie Ferguson injects venom into a combined XI lacking the sheer pace of Jofra Archer and Trent Boult, who will join the Blackcaps squad later in the tour after Test preparation in the Plunket Shield tournament.
Though a fractured thumb on his bowling hand ruled Ferguson out of New Zealand's 2-1 victory in last month's T20 tour of Sri Lanka, he appears to be fit and firing once again – with the wickets of Tom Banton, James Vince and Joe Denly in the opening warm-up clash on Sunday, his 3 for 32 are the best figures of any bowler on the tour so far.
With a league-leading 48 wickets across his two T20 Blast campaigns with Worcestershire, 21-year-old seam bowler Pat Brown offers England another fresh-faced debutant to throw into the mix during this tour ahead of next year's T20 World Cup.
Knuckleballs and a magic box of pace variations have pegged Brown as one to watch on the franchise circuit, and his performances on the Rapids' run to consecutive Finals Day appearances ensure he comes into the national setup no stranger to big game moments.
Like fellow potential debutant Banton, while Brown may not be the most fancied name in the squad due to his lack of international experience, a thrilling array of domestic performances has earned him his place and the strong prospect of him rising to the occasion is enough to earn him the final spot in our dream side.
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