Star New Zealand pacer Trent Boult has announced that the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024 will be his final appearance for New Zealand in this prestigious tournament. Since his debut for New Zealand in 2011, Boult has been a key player in the Blackcaps' setup which has featured in multiple World Championship finals across all three formats. In the T20 World Cup history, the left-arm pacer has participated in four editions of the tournament since 2014.
After New Zealand's nine-wicket win over Uganda, Trent Boult acknowledged their earlier struggles in the tournament and their failure to qualify for the next stage, attributing it to the unpredictable nature of T20 cricket. He then announced that this T20 World Cup would be his last.
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“We've been outplayed earlier in the tournament and yeah, we haven't qualified for good reason so it's unfortunate but that's how T20 cricket goes - speaking on behalf of myself this will be my last T20 World Cup. Yeah, that's all I have to say," Boult said during the press conference after New Zealand's win over Uganda.
New Zealand Out Of Super 8 Race Despite Win
Boult's future with New Zealand cricket remains uncertain, as he opted out of a central contract in 2022 to play T20 franchise cricket globally. Despite their emphatic win against Uganda, New Zealand has already been eliminated from the Super 8 race, with Afghanistan and West Indies securing the two spots from Group C. Consequently, New Zealand's final group match against Papua New Guinea will mark the 34-year-old Boult's last T20 World Cup appearance.
"Definitely (it was) not the start we wanted in the tournament. A hard one to take. Just gutted we're not going any further. But any time you get to represent the country, it's a proud moment. There's a lot of pride in the dressing room and in playing for the country, we've had some great records across however many years. Unfortunately we've been off the ball the last couple of weeks and that's what it takes to not qualify,” he said further.
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Meanwhile, the tournament has seen bowlers thrive on tough wickets, resulting in batters' struggles and just one 200-plus score so far. Boult has called for a better balance between bat and ball.
“Yeah, it's been a challenge, there's no doubt about it. There's been some very low scores. I've played cricket all around the world recently and you come up with a lot of different conditions. It's always a challenge in adapting to conditions, but I think the balance has been far too much on the bowler's side, but they just haven't been very good wickets. It's been a good challenge for bat and ball but it's interesting to see in a world tournament," Boult added.