“Michael has been a part of our team for a long time, he’s a fantasy player, we like the look of his skills,” Gary Stead said. I think sometimes it’s difficult to fit in 13 to 11.Bracewell’s off-spin provides a bit of variety to New Zealand’s bowling attack – rather than playing alongside four right-arm pacers and left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner – and his batting also reinforces the middle order of late, but becoming a New Zealand regular is not easy.
“I think there have been a lot of teams in the team of late – we try to be consistent in the way we select and select teams. I think we have a lot of players you will look at in history and say… There are many players here who have also been Great Players of New Zealand.
“You put all these things together and the style we try to play and try to play for each other and I think the players have done really well in the last six to eight years. That’s why no matter what the outcome in Christchurch, New Zealand will remain at the top of the ICC ODI rankings as they look forward to next year’s World Cup in India. But Gary Stead is not interested in where his statistical position of New Zealand team.
Gary Stead also said, “For me, the ranking is really a bit irrelevant. Once the game starts, it doesn’t really matter what you’re ranking – it’s the two teams that are playing against each other.
After Wednesday’s match, New Zealand have got a short break before heading to Pakistan for two Tests starting December 27 and three ODIs starting January 11.