Christchurch, March 31 – Nine players with international experience have been selected for the New Zealand A (NZ A) squads that will tour Sri Lanka later this month.
The tour consists of three 50-over matches and two four-day matches in Galle and Hambantota, starting on April 5.
Eight BlackCaps are included in the NZ 'A' 50-over squad: 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 NZ A tour to join the ODI squad in Bangladesh, with Robinson also departing after the first Test match to join the BlackCaps T20I squad.
The Test squad will be strengthened by four fast bowlers: New Zealand's latest Test debutant, Michael Rae, Otago's Jarrod McKay, and Canterbury's Fraser Sheat, along with all-rounders Ryan Harrison from Auckland Aces and Peter Younghusband from Wellington Firebirds.
Harrison, McKay, Sheat, Younghusband, and Rohit Gulati from Auckland Aces have all earned their maiden NZ A call-ups after impressive performances for their provinces throughout the season.
Selection Manager Gavin Larsen said it was exciting to provide 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 have 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 domestic system," he said.
The 50-over squad will depart for Sri Lanka on Friday, April 3, followed by the four-day squad members on April 10.
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