Australia named three uncapped players in the T20I squad to tour New Zealand for a five-match series that starts on February 22 in Christchurch.

Tanveer Sangha, the 19-year-old leg-spinner who plays for Sydney Thunder, Riley Meredith and Josh Philippe were named in the Australia T20I squad that also sees a return for Matthew Wade following the absence of the Test players. Australia were set to tour South Africa for a Test series, which was later cancelled, and the T20I squad does not have any of the Test players.

Read on Tanveer Sangha’s journey here.

The squad also sees fast bowlers Jhye Richardson, who recently bagged an INR 14 crore deal in the Indian Premier League auction, and Jason Behrendorff, while Ashton Agar, who has been missing action since a calf injury during Australia’s ODI series against India in December, also makes a return after missing the Big Bash League.

Sangha had a breakthrough BBL season and finished as the joint-third-highest wicket-taker with 21 wickets in 15 matches at an average of 18.28. “Adam Zampa has developed into one of the best spinners in international white-ball cricket and we have been most impressed by Tanveer Sangha, who has been brilliant throughout the pathways and with the Sydney Thunder this season,” selector Trevor Hohns said in a statement.

There are six fast bowlers in the squad aside from the all-round options: Behrendorff and Richardson are joined by Kane Richardson, Andrew Tye, Meredith and Daniel Sams. Mitchell Marsh and Marcus Stoinis as all-rounders complete the set.

Steve Smith, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Swepson and Sean Abbott, who featured in the last T20I Australia played, are all missing due to them being picked in the Test squad for the South Africa tour that eventually got cancelled.

“You’ve got to be planning well ahead for World Cups,” skipper Aaron Finch said last month, “so when you’ve got one in India (2021) and one in Australia (2022) in two years, you have to be doing your talent scouting and seeing who might be able to fill roles should some vacancies turn up.

“It’s an exciting time for Australian cricket. It’s probably not ideal having two Australian teams playing at the same time, but it’s going to give us a lot of information going forward as well.”

The young squad should help Australia identify their options ahead of the T20 World Cup in India later this year.

You can check the complete New Zealand T20I squad here.

Australia T20I squad for tour of New Zealand

Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Kane Richardson, Jhye Richardson, Daniel Sams, Tanveer Sangha, D’Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa