new zealand Will face England in the first match of the three-match T20 series. This article provides details about the New Zealand vs England playing 11 for the first match of the series.
New Zealand Playing XI vs England – 1st T20I, England tour of New Zealand 2025:
Openers: Devon Conway, Tim Seifert (wk)
New Zealand will be looking to win the first T20I of the three-match series against England to get off to a winning start and take an early lead in the short series.
The Blackcaps will be boosted by the return of their regular captain Mitchell Santner, who was not a part of the team’s last T20I match against Australia, which they lost by a 2-0 margin.
The home team will hope that the batsmen perform better with the bat in both the matches against Australia to give their bowlers the best chance of defending the target.
For this to happen, the onus will be on New Zealand’s openers to get the team off to a good start in the powerplay.
The opening combination of Devon Conway and Tim Seifert will look to deliver strong performances as a pair and individually against a powerful English bowling lineup.
Middle-order batsmen and all-rounders: Mark Chapman, Tim Robinson, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (captain), Kyle Jamieson.
As far as the middle order is concerned, it will have to take advantage of the platform created by the openers to help the team score more than 200 runs, which could prove to be a winning total if batting first.
If we look at the resources, New Zealand’s middle-order has a good mix of youth and experience with the presence of names like Daryl Mitchell, Tim Robinson and Mark Chapman.
Tim Robinson, who scored a century in the first T20I against Australia, will be looking to continue his form in the series opener against England.
Mitchell, who was involved in a big partnership with Robinson in the same match, would also like to make an important contribution with his ability to play spin well in the middle overs.
Apart from both the batsmen, Mark Chapman and James Neesham will also be expected to perform well with the bat.
Bowlers: Jacob Duffy, Matt Henry
When it comes to the bowling department, there is the return of Mitchell Santner, who will also provide batting depth to the team, as well as Michael Bracewell, who captained the side in Santner’s absence against Australia.
The pair will handle the spin bowling of the team, while the fast bowling department will be handled by Jacob Duffy and Matt Henry.
Duffy and Henry will be assisted by Kyle Jamieson and James Neesham as the two fast bowling all-rounders.
The home team will have a minimum of six bowling options, which could increase to seven if Daryl Mitchell also stops bowling, which will further strengthen an already well-balanced bowling lineup.
