De Grandhomme has only played in one ODI, which came all the way back in March 2012
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
New Zealand have brought in uncapped pace bowler Lockie Ferguson for the three-match ODI series against Australia next month.
Ferguson has only featured in eight List A matches, but has taken 16 wickets at an average of 28.12. Furthermore, he has began the Plunkett Shield season, New Zealand’s first-class competition, with a bang as he has registered figures of 5/101, 4/107 and 6/89 in his most recent matches.
As a result, the national selectors could not overlook the 25-year-old, who is the perfect replacement for the injured Adam Milne, according to selector Gavin Larsen.
“Lockie has bowled with pace, and with Milne not available through a series of injuries, Lockie was the obvious guy to step up,” he said. “He bowls consistently in the 140kph range, and clicks over 150 every now and then. There is some real gas to Lockie Ferguson. There’s an element of surprise and no batsman likes bowlers who are up at that pace.”
All-rounder Colin de Grandhomme also found a place in the side after his impressive Test debut against Pakistan in Christchurch, where he took seven wickets in total, with six coming in the first innings.
In addition to De Grandhomme, New Zealand also included leg-spinner Todd Astle, and batsmen Henry Nicholls and Colin Munro in their side. Astle took the place of Ish Sodhi as Larsen felt that the 24-year-old was too inconsistent during the five-match ODI series against India in October.
“Todd offers us good all-round balance – with the runs he can score lower down the order – but he’s primarily been picked as a legspinner,” Larsen said. “It’s important to add that Ish has been a little a little inconsistent, and he’s returning to Northern Districts and is working very hard on his game. Ish does remain very clearly in our plans for the future.”
Milne is not the only player to be left out of the squad due to an injury as Mitchell McClenaghan, and all-rounders Corey Anderson and George Worker, suffered the same fate. Veteran batsman Ross Taylor will also miss the series as he will undergo eye surgery at the end of the ongoing two-Test series.
As for wicketkeeper-batsman Luke Ronchi, he failed to make the cut as BJ Watling was preferred over him.
“Luke remains on our radar, but we felt we wanted to give BJ Watling further ODI experience – Luke knows he was a bit shy of runs across the last year or so,” Larsen said. “BJ is a little more classical in his batsmanship. There are a lot of explosive players in the team. If you think about Henry Nicholls and the way that he plays – we think those two complement the overall batting of the team.”
The Chappell-Hadlee will get underway on December 4 in Sydney before the final two games are played in Canberra and Melbourne on December 6 and 9 respectively.
New Zealand ODI Squad: Kane Williamson (capt), Todd Astle, Trent Boult, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Colin de Grandhomme, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Colin Munro, Jimmy Neesham, Henry Nicholls, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, BJ Watling.