T20 World Cup 2026: ‘We have the stocks to make up the overs’ - Glenn Phillips on Kiwis’ bowling setbacks

New Zealand have had to navigate multiple setbacks ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026. Adam Milne was ruled out due to injury, Michael Bracewell failed to recover from a calf issue, while Lockie Ferguson returned home on paternity leave. Matt Henry is also set to head back temporarily, though both Ferguson and Henry are expected to rejoin the squad for the Super Eights. In the meantime, the Black Caps will need to cover for these absences and ensure momentum is not lost.

With key bowlers unavailable, New Zealand have experimented with part-time options in Rachin Ravindra and Glenn Phillips. Ravindra rolled his arm over in the opening match against Afghanistan, while Phillips chipped in with overs against the UAE. The Black Caps emerged victorious in both encounters, and their upcoming fixture against Canada could see further involvement from the duo.

"Obviously, Beast [Bracewell] is a big loss for us with his power and obviously his bowling as well. But we do have the stocks with both Ish [Sodhi], Rach, and obviously myself to be able to make up overs, especially in this part of the world,” said Phillips as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

"We both love our bowling. And we love being given the opportunity to contribute in both facets of the game. But having Neesh [James Neesham] there as well provides the opportunity to be able to make up that fifth bowler with both seam and spin which is quite handy,” he added.

New Zealand will shift base to Sri Lanka for their Super Eight fixtures, with all three matches scheduled to be played in Colombo. The conditions there are expected to offer considerable assistance to spinners.

"The conditions in Sri Lanka are going to be very different to the ones that we've got here. It poses a completely different challenge. And I guess there's no one thing in cricket that's a magic nugget to be able to give performances, so it's just about trying to be a little bit better and doing our things that we do best for longer periods of time, especially if the conditions dictate that we're going to have to take a game a little bit longer. Maybe scores of 160-150 might be different in Sri Lanka with a bit more turn, but you never know. We may get an absolute belter and then 200 is still on,” said Phillips.

New Zealand’s current team combination places significant responsibility on their senior players. Phillips is relied upon to provide quick runs in the middle and death overs, the new-ball bowlers are expected to deliver early breakthroughs, and the captain plays a crucial role in controlling the tempo and maintaining discipline in the field. However, there have been moments of vulnerability. During the bilateral series against India and in their recent outing against South Africa, the wheels occasionally came off, exposing lapses in execution under pressure.

"There's not necessarily been a pattern per se [to NZ's defeats]. If our top order's gone down, then our middle order stepped up. And, sometimes it just happens to be the way that the top order gets off to a start and then the middle can't go through. So that's just the nature of T20 cricket when you're trying to keep the momentum going the whole time. But if you look at the options the boys took, they're in really clear mindsets. Obviously, it just comes down to execution at the end of the day,” said Phillips.

"And then with the ball as well, we're just trying to make sure that we're hitting our straps as much as possible. And guys are allowed to hit your good balls and then if we didn't bowl as well as we have on previous days, then we look at that and we go, we can be better on the next day and that's fine,” he added.