Ben on...Twenty20 squad announced

The 15-man squad to contest the Twenty20 Championship has been announced, chosen from the preliminary 30-man list. Or rather, 15 guys were crossed off. Here is the squad below, also showing the guys who were left out.

Andre Adams
Shane Bond
Neil Broom
Grant Elliott
Stephen Fleming
James Franklin
Peter Fulton
Mark Gillespie
Chris Harris
Paul Hitchcock
Gareth Hopkins
Jamie How
James Marshall
Chris Martin
Michael Mason
Brendon McCullum
Nathan McCullum
Peter McGlashan
Craig McMillan
James McMillan
Warren McSkimming
Iain O'Brien
Jacob Oram
Jeetan Patel
Aaron Redmond
Bradley Scott
Scott Styris
Ross Taylor
Daniel Vettori (captain)
Lou Vincent

The notable (but not too surprising) omissions are Fleming and Franklin.

The newcomers are Gareth Hopkins, Nathan McCullum and Bradley Scott. Hopkins has in fact represented NZ in 5 ODIs as a wicketkeeper – he didn't actually face any balls the one time he did get to the crease, though he has taken 8 catches. He looks to be very good cover for Brendon McCullum behind the wickets and should do okay if given a chance to bat. Brendon's brother, Nathan McCullum, impressed with some strong hitting in the recent Emerging Player's Tournament in Australia. Bradley Scott is an Otago all-rounder who will fill Franklin's place.