Hamish Rutherford's the batting MVP from the first two games.

The second game between our Emerging Players XI and New Zealand XI was cut short thanks to bad light, giving the Emerging gang a win via Duckworth and his homie Lewis. This time around, it was the Emerging XI who batted first and Hamish Rutherford went back to back with decent scores, hitting 45 after his 51 in game one.

Rutherford has to show that he's far more selective outside his off-stump if he wants to get back in the frame for the Blackcaps Test team, however handy knocks in limited overs cricket could see him make a compelling case for selection in those formats. These two innings come after Rutherford was on the Kiwi County Tour and I still believe that County cricket is the best arena for our young cricketers, especially those like Rutherford who need to make steady improvements. This is a good start to the summer for Rutherford.

Game one had Mark Chapman impressing, game two had Rob O'Donnell hitting 70 at No.3. The battle of the youngsters continues and O'Donnell's innings saw him draw level with Chapman - who hit 16 at No.4 for the NZ XI - and those two have left Will Young (No.3 for NZ XI) behind with Young putting up scores of 14 and 24. This is exactly what we want as kiwi cricket fans with our young batsmen taking turns to put up good scores and it'll be interesting to see whether Young bounces back in the third game, or if either Chapman or O'Donnell can double-up on notable innings across the three games.

Colin de Grandhomme also hit 41 off 21 balls, which is a typical CDG innings.

The NZ XI's bowlers shared wickets, with Jacob Duffy and Seth Rance taking 2 wickets each. Duffy finished with 2/52 off 9 overs while Rance took 2/48 off 8 overs and this again reinforces what a dangerous bowler Rance can be on the domestic stage. I still don't think of him as an option for the Blackcaps though, especially when there are guys like Duffy sniffing around for an opportunity (and Ed Nuttall and Ben Wheeler)

Lockie Ferguson was unable to back up his impressive 5-wicket-haul in game one, he backed up the wides/expensive run-rate though. Game one saw Ferguson concede 7.63rpo with 4 wides and 2 no-balls, game two saw Ferguson concede 5.13rpo and 4 wides; you can't carry a bowler like that who isn't taking more than 3 wickets each game.

I'm also not overly encouraged by the persistence with Hamish Bennett, however I operate with a bias towards young players so keep that in mind. Bennett finished with 0/34 off 8 overs in game one (4.25rpo) and had 1/50 off 8 overs with 4 wides and a no-ball (6.25rpo) in game two. Sure, Bennett appears to be in the mix but I doubt he'll go near the Blackcaps team again.

The only notable score in the NZ XI's chase was 43* from Shawn Hicks. Hicks hasn't taken a wicket and conceded 8rpo in game one, followed by 5.83rpo in game two, luckily he's a genuine all-rounder though and it's great to see a up-and-comer producing with either bat or ball, in this case he's making up for a lack of wickets with a handy innings in the middle order.
Jeet Raval's 33 was the next-best innings.

Scott Kuggeleijn took 2/34 off 6 overs and Ed Nuttall took 2/35 off 6.1 overs for the Emerging XI. Kuggeleijn went wicket-less in game one so it's good to see him back amongst the wickets, while Nuttall continues to chip away with the wickets. Matt Henry wasn't so good with the ball in game two; 0/35 off 6, 1 wide, 1nb.

Cameron Fletcher gave up the wicket-keeping gloves to Tom Blundell for the NZ XI, while Tim Seifert maintained this role for the Emerging XI. Seifert hit 8 at No.6, Blundell hit 36 at No.5 and Fletcher hit 16 at No.7, so I think we've still got to give Seifert the advantage over the other two. What's exciting here is that wickets are falling, which means that we should see all three of these lads enjoy some time in the middle and that even though Blundell and Fletcher are rotating the gloves, both feature with the bat. This sets up an intriguing contest in game three where each will be keen to contribute with the bat.

As a sign of what I love about kiwi cricket right now and the reason why I keep looking forward with the Blackcaps, Rob O'Donnell gets the nod as the most impressive performer from game two. This comes after Mark Chapman won the prestigious award for game two, meaning that we've got some pretty damn good young batsmen coming through.

Hamish Rutherford's 51 and 45 makes him the pick of the batsmen over the first two games.

Seth Rance is the pick of the bowlers over two games with 3/38 off 8 and 2/48 off 8.