With the Cricket World Cup just four months away the Blackcaps selectors are looking to fine tune their squad through the three-match ODI series against Bangladesh.
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Todd Astle has been named ahead of Ish Sodhi as the spinner alongside Mitch Santner for the series which kicks off on Wednesday.
Blackcaps selector Gavin Larsen has explained the reasoning behind the selection.
"Ish Sodhi had a good go against India and then Astle was bought in."
"Todd didn't get the volume of bowling we wanted him to get to get a good feel of where he was at," he said.
"We thought it was imperative to get him into the series. Todd offers different skills sets in terms of his batting and fielding ability."
Astle bowled only seven overs in his two games against India, taking one wicket.
Tim Seifert also missed out on selection, to the surprise of a lot of fans.
"Tim is a young player and is still cutting his teeth; he has an X factor that in due course will play a lot for NZ," Larsen said.
"We are still working through the balance of the 15, and clearly there has been some noise on whether we will take a backup keeper, he [Seifert] remains an option."
Larsen confirmed Henry Nicholls will not keep at all during the Bangladesh series although he remains the backup keeper behind Tom Latham.
With two months to go until the World Cup squad is named Larsen said there is a chance players performing through the Plunket Shield could still throw their name in the mix for the tournament in May.
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