Who Misses Out in the New Zealand ODI Squad After the Brett Randell Call-Up for the Last Two Games?

A record-setting bowler is arriving, and two senior seamers are leaving ahead of the finale against India. New Zealand named 14 players for the fourth ODI, then dropped Henry and Jamieson from the fifth while adding Clarkson and Tickner. Ferguson sits out both games with a calf tear. The shuffle lines up with the Test camp in Wellington, where the series opens on 19 November, and it leaves several names watching from outside. Who misses out depends on which game you look at.

Squad Changes for the Final Two ODIs

New Zealand Cricket announced the revisions on 12 November. Randell joins for the fourth and fifth ODIs against India, while Clarkson is added for the fifth only, which makes the finale a different selection puzzle from the match before it. Santner leads a fourth ODI group of 14 that also holds Henry and Jamieson, the seamers who disappear a game later. Young, Seifert, Kelly, Hay, Foxcroft, Fisher, Duffy, Clarke, Bracewell and Allen make up the rest.

The fifth ODI list keeps most of that core but loses Henry and Jamieson, with Clarkson and Tickner taking their places. The announcement gave no reason for the pair’s exit, which is why it reads as a managed decision and not an injury. Walter described the changes as small movements across the series. That leaves the explanation open to guesswork, and the Test timeline is the obvious candidate given how close the first match now is.

Brett Randell call-up

Randell arrives off a spell that explains the selection. At McLean Park in Napier on 8 March, he took five wickets in five balls against Northern Districts, then six in eight, and ended with 7/25 from 11 overs as the opposition were dismissed for 82. Five in five balls is rare in any grade of cricket. Selectors rarely overlook a return that startling, particularly when a series is down to its last two matches.

The 7/25 stands as his best figures, and he has 145 professional caps. Derbyshire used him in 2026 for 20 wickets at 18.60, a rate that suggests the Napier spell was no fluke. In List A cricket, he has 100 wickets from 55 games at an average a little above 22, though published figures differ by a few hundredths. Those numbers back up the strike power, and a bowler who takes wickets in bunches suits a short series.

Fitness Calls on Tickner and Ferguson

Tickner was struck by a ball while batting in the second ODI on 7 November. He was cleared of concussion but must sit out the stand-down period the ICC requires, seven days in all. He is named in the fifth ODI squad and in the Test group, so the break has not cost him his place. His return date comes from the ICC protocol, set by days and not by symptoms.

Ferguson is in a different position. A low-grade tear in his right calf rules him out of the fourth and fifth ODIs, and the Test squad does not include him either. New Zealand lose a pace option for the rest of the India run, which stretches the depth of the group at the exact moment the schedule tightens. Randell arrives in an attack that has now lost players for three different reasons: injury, protocol and, apparently, scheduling.

Test Series Implications for Seamers

A Test squad of 14 was named on 11 November, and it includes Henry, Jamieson, Duffy and Tickner. A release issued on 9 November had Henry and Jamieson heading to the Wellington camp once the third ODI finished, yet both stayed on for the fourth. Together those names form the bowling core New Zealand will want fresh for the first Test. Their omission from the fifth ODI list therefore reads as preparation for the Tests more than as a verdict on form.

The Tests begin on 19 November in Wellington, so lighter ODI duty for two frontline bowlers makes sense. That reading is inference, not an announcement. Randell, meanwhile, gets two ODIs to show what the March spell meant against international batters. Whatever the stated reasoning, the Brett Randell call-up shows how fast the pecking order among New Zealand’s seamers can shift.