Published: Feb 08, 2018, 11:55 AM (IST)
Edited: Feb 08, 2018, 11:55 AM (IST)
After becoming the first Hong Kong batsman to score an ODI century, Mark Chapman followed Eoin Morgan’s way. Morgan had moved from Ireland to England, while Chapman moved to New Zealand and has now bagged a national team call-up for New Zealand’s upcoming T20I in the Trans-Tasman tri-series. Chapman, who plays for Auckland nowadays, qualifies to play for New Zealand as his father is a citizen of New Zealand. Along with Chapman, uncapped Tim Seifert has also been included in the squad as the Kiwis seek their first victory in the series.
“Mark has been very consistent over the past couple of seasons and has taken his game to another level in recent times,” New Zealand chief selector Gavin Larsen spoke of Chapman, reported ICC. “His ability to hit the ball in all areas makes him a real threat and we’ve seen in the domestic competition some of the power he possesses.”
If picked for the T20I, Chapman will be the sixth cricketer to represent two different countries.
New Zealand had to sacrifice the spot of Tom Blundell to introduce Seifert into the squad as their wicketkeeper-batsman and Larsen feels sorry.
“It’s hard on Tom Blundell, but with Tom Bruce not in the squad we wanted to inject some further power into that middle-order and Tim has shown he’s one the most dynamic in the country at that. We have some strong options with the gloves at the moment, but it’s about what best complements the rest of the squad and we think that’s Tim for this series,” Larsen concluded.
Squad:
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (c), Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Ross Taylor, Mark Chapman, Tim Seifert (wk), Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Ben Wheeler, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult, Anaru Kitchen.
