The BLACKCAPS have hit London as preparations ramp up for the ICC Champions Trophy.
The 15 man squad assembled in the English capital overnight with captain Kane Williamson and fellow IPL players linking with the other half of the squad who arrived in from the ODI Tri Series in Dublin.
The BLACKCAPS have a stern test if they are to make the finals in the eight team tournament.
They open their campaign against Australia in Birmingham on June 2nd, England in Cardiff on June 6th and Bangladesh in the same city on June 9th.
Williamson believes the condensed nature of the eight team competition means there’s no time be conservative.
“It is such an interesting tournament because it is such a short tournament,” Williamson said.
“There’s many strong teams that are real contenders, so you need to play with freedom, be prepared to take the game and hope things land in your favour.
“On any given day things can happen that might be out of your control and it can go one way or the other, so we have to hit the ground running.
Kane Williamson believes fortune will favour the brave at the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy.
The BLACKCAPS will play a warm-up match against India at the Oval on Sunday, before relocating to Birmingham for a final hit out against Sri Lanka on Wednesday.
Williamson believes his squad come into the tournament match-ready after a build up of consistent cricket.
“Yeh we’ve had guys playing in the IPL and also Ireland, so that’s handy. It counts for something but not for everything because you still come back to one-off clashes against opponents, that if you come out on the right side of the ledger then you can go a long way in the competition.
“But there's not much time for slip ups nor much time for conservative cricket.”
The fourth ranked BLACKCAPS will need to beat either Australia or England in one of their first two matches in order to have a chance at qualifying for the semi-finals.
“We do have a very tough pool, but both pools are difficult. So it's a very interesting tournament, having played in it before. It’s going to go very quickly.”
BLACKCAPS ICC CHAMPIONS TROPHY SQUAD
Kane Williamson (c)
Corey Anderson
Trent Boult
Neil Broom
Colin de Grandhomme
Martin Guptill
Tom Latham
Mitchell McClenaghan
Adam Milne
Jimmy Neesham
Jeetan Patel
Luke Ronchi
Mitchell Santner
Tim Southee
Ross Taylor
