Somerville included to take on Aussies

Former NSW Blues off-spinner Will Somerville will get the chance to line-up against some of his ex- teammates after being included in the New Zealand squad to face the Aussies in three unofficial games in Brisbane next week. 

The matches between an Australia XI and the New Zealand XI will serve as preparation for the 15-man Australian World Cup squad before they head to the UK in mid-May. The matches will not carry official status and will not be live-streamed, but there will be extensive highlights available on cricket.com.au. 

Somerville and pace bowler Seth Rance were the final two names added to the New Zealand squad that is captained by Tom Latham and will also feature the Black Caps' World Cup-bound players Tom Blundell, Matt Henry, Jimmy Neesham and Henry Nicholls. 

The remainder of the New Zealand World Cup squad will remain with their IPL franchises while Ross Taylor is with county side Middlesex. 

Somerville played 12 first-class matches with the NSW Blues between 2014 and 2018, taking 48 wickets at 25.29, before returning to Auckland to chase his dream of international selection.

It arrived much quicker than he ever thought, with a maiden Test appearance coming last December for New Zealand against Pakistan in the UAE. 

Born in Wellington in New Zealand, Sommerville is a dual citizen. He played his junior cricket in Sydney before moving to New Zealand to study accounting at university, and made his first-class debut for Otago in 2005.

He later returned to Sydney where he was called into the NSW Blues team for the start of the 2014-15 Shield season and was the Blues' leading wicket taker in the JLT Sheffield Shield in 2016-17, taking 35 wickets at 23.14 in seven matches.

New Zealand's shadow squad have been preparing at a training camp in Lincoln for the one-day matches to be played on May 6, 8 and 10.

Australia's players will assemble in Brisbane on Thursday ahead of their initial training session on Friday that will mark the first official involvement in the national side of Steve Smith and David Warner after their bans stemming from last year's Cape Town ball-tampering scandal.

Warner and Smith have been in action in the IPL in recent weeks, with the opener in particular on a hot-streak of form including hitting 81 for Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday evening in his final IPL match of the season. 

The left-hander has scored a league-leading 692 runs in his 12 innings for the Sunrisers, 172 more runs than any other player, including eight fifties and a century. "I think it just goes back to being still as a batsman," he said.

"I get the tendency to moving around a bit if there have been a few dots. But I have worked hard over the last few months.

"Just put the bat down and tried to be the best man I can be, the best husband I can be and that's worked for me."

New Zealand XI squad:

Tom Latham (c), Todd Astle, Hamish Bennett, Tom Blundell (wk), Doug Bracewell, Matt Henry, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Henry Nicholls, Seth Rance, Hamish Rutherford, Will Somerville, Blair Tickner, George Worker, Will Young.

2019 World Cup

Australia's squad: Aaron Finch (c), Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey (wk), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa

May 25: (warm-up) England v Australia, Southampton

May 27: (warm-up) Australia v Sri Lanka, Southampton

June 1: Afghanistan v Australia, Bristol (D/N)

June 6: Australia v West Indies, Trent Bridge

June 9: India v Australia, The Oval

June 12: Australia v Pakistan, Taunton

June 15: Sri Lanka v Australia, The Oval

June 20: Australia v Bangladesh, Trent Bridge

June 25: England v Australia, Lord's

June 29: New Zealand v Australia, Lord's (D/N)

July 6: Australia v South Africa, Old Trafford (D/N)

July 9: Semi-Final 1, Old Trafford

July 11: Semi-Final 2, Edgbaston

July 14: Final, Lord's

For a full list of all World Cup fixtures, click HERE