Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell will miss the T20I series against Australia for different reasons. While Mitchell is recovering from the foot injury that saw him miss the second Test against South Africa, Williamson will be on paternity leave.

Rachin Ravindra and uncapped Josh Clarkson, meanwhile, come into the T20I squad to bolster the batting. 

Meanwhile, Trent Boult returns to the T20I team ahead of the upcoming ICC Men's T20 World Cup later this year, having last played a T20I in November 2022.

Boult will be available for the second and third games with Tim Southee playing the first one and then resting for the remainder of the series to manage his workload ahead of the Australia Tests.

Santner will lead the 14-member squad that also sees Lockie Ferguson come in for Ben Sears.

“It’s never ideal missing two of your best players for such a big series, but in saying that, we do have a lot of faith in the guys coming in,” selector Sam Wells said.

“Both Josh and Rachin have been in our white-ball squads this summer and it’s really exciting for them to now get this opportunity.

“Josh hits the ball as long and as hard as anyone and we were encouraged by his performances with the ball in his maiden ODI series against Bangladesh before Christmas.

Jimmy Neesham was unavailable for selection while Michael Bracewell is still out with a finger injury.

Fixtures

1st T20I - February 21 - Wellington

2nd T20I - February 23, Auckland

3rd T20I - February 25, Auckland

New Zealand T20I squad: Mitchell Santner (c), Finn Allen, Trent Boult (games 2 & 3), Mark Chapman, Josh Clarkson, Devon Conway (wk), Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Adam Milne, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Tim Seifert (wk), Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee (game 1)