{"id":33280,"date":"2026-04-29T11:28:54","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T09:28:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=33280"},"modified":"2026-04-29T11:28:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T09:28:54","slug":"new-zealands-patel-sharp-named-in-t20-world-cup-squad","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/new-zealands-patel-sharp-named-in-t20-world-cup-squad\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand\u2019s Patel, Sharp named in T20 World Cup squad"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Off-spinning all-rounder Nensi Patel and batter Izzy Sharp are set to make their Women\u2019s Twenty20 World Cup debuts after being named in the New Zealand squad for the tournament in England in June, the country\u2019s cricket board announced this Wednesday.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Sophie Devine, Lea Tahuhu and \u00a0Suzie Bates were also named in the defending champions\u2019 squad, with the trio set to call time on their international careers after the tournament.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The 15-woman squad, led by Amelia Kerr, will defend the title they won in 2024.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Before the tournament begins in England in June, the team will play a three-match T20I series against the hosts in late May as part of their World Cup build-up.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cIt\u2019s going to be an extra special time for Izzy and Nensi with it being their first World Cup,\u201d head coach Ben Sawyer said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cTo have our three most senior players all finishing their careers at the same tournament is a rare and special occasion. There\u2019ll be a time at the end of the tournament to further acknowledge and celebrate the trio.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>New Zealand have been drawn in Group B alongside England, Ireland, Scotland, Sri Lanka and the West Indies, and will open their campaign against the West Indies in the 12-team tournament on June 13.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The tournament runs from June 12 to July 5.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":22148,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-33280","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The 15-woman squad, led by Amelia Kerr, will defend the title they won in 2024.","published_date":"","news_description":"The 15-woman squad, led by Amelia Kerr, will defend the title they won in 2024.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33281,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33280\/revisions\/33281"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=33280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}