The Blackcaps 2nd XI is back! After an extravagant World Tour last year in which yours truly and the gang sampled cricket nets around the world, dabbling in all sorts of things forbidden in Aoteaora but completely fine in every other country and doing our fair share of volunteer work to spread the good vibes, the Niche Cache World Tour is back in action.

It needs to be said that the Niche Cache is doing a better job in developing kiwi cricket talent than NZ Cricket themselves, even with a fictional World Tour. We only saw development Aotearoa cricket teams in action against a touring Bangalesh team, after an Emerging vs 'A' fixture last year. There appears to be little intention of taking an Under 19 team or Aotearoa 'A' team on tour to foreign conditions in the near future and when I floated this idea out on Twitter, one possible excuse I received was because of financial reasons.

Which is a bit dumb given that the diet we are fed of limited overs cricket - at the expense of Test cricket - in summer is purely to stack up cash. That's why we have so many silly T20 internationals during the holiday period because NZC can bolster their bank accounts, then we've got the thought that sparked all of this; Sri Lanka U19 are currently touring Australia.

If Sri Lanka can suss an U19 team to tour Australia, then surely NZC can do something ... not anything specific, just something. We are Australia's homies, Anzac vibes are in the air and Sri Lanka U19 are in Australia, not an Aotearoa U19 team. Don't worry, we'll be fed some noise of a possible token tour at some stage this year and we'll be told that there's winter training programs down at Lincoln, yet compared to other nations this is all pretty shit.

Right now though, I expect nothing less.

Right now I am so disenfranchised with the lack of planning and foresight that I want to distance myself completely from 'them'. Hence this group will no longer be known as the Niche Cache World Tour's Blackcaps 2nd XI, but the Niche Cache World Tour's Cricket Selection.

Another change for this year's World Tour is that we will be on tour while that weird little series against Ireland and Bangladesh is going down, as well as the Champions Trophy. This means that no player named in the squad for the European excursion (we're off to Asia and South America) was available for selection, also meaning that I couldn't quite come up with an actual team, so while this is the Aotearoa 2nd XI, it's more of a squad.

This first stanza is all about a group of bowlers and there'll be something about the batsmen coming soon.

As Ed Nuttall, Ben Wheeler and Doug Bracewell weren't considered for tri-series selection, they are also unavailable. I found if pretty weird that this three were highlighted as being unavailable for selection, instead of simply not being mentioned and then Gavin Larsen talked up how impressive Seth Rance, Hamish Bennett and Scott Kuggeleijn had been; were Rance, Bennett and Kuggeleijn only selected because the other three were unavailable or were they worthy of selection over the injured trio? It doesn't really matter, it's just a weird message to send out but again, we expect nothing less.

It would be like me naming all the bowlers who were unavailable for this World Tour when I told these jokers below that they had been selected. Just a bit weird.

Kyle Jamieson

Also currently injured, but not named on that list of injured bowlers was Kyle Jamieson and I'll happily take the heir to not-quite-2m-Peter's throne on a World Tour with the Aotearoa 2nd XI. Before getting injured, Jamieson took 24 wickets in five Plunket Shield games at an average 18, largely thanks to a 10-wicket game against his home province Auckland in which he took 8/74 and 3/86.

Jamieson has a natural gift via his height, however he's also skillful as well and when you can move the ball from a funky angle, you've got a rare package. Fitness has hindered Jamieson's progress thus far, however in 14 First-Class games he is averaging 25.82 and in 10 List-A games he's averaging 26 so he's showing that if he's on the park, he's taking wickets. I've seen a fair bit of Jamieson, so he's on the World Tour to build up his fitness and continue his progress, we'll probably looking at some alternative medicine/therapy to keep his body injury free as well. All avenues will be explored in that regard.

Anurag Verma

You could consider this a breakout season for Anurag Verma after battling away on the fringes for a few years. Verma moved from Northern Districts to Wellington for an opportunity a few seasons ago and finished the Ford Trophy as one half of Wellington's dynamic duo alongside Hamish Bennett. Verma took 16 wickets @ 20.75avg in the Ford Trophy, but I try not to pick blokes who only perform in limited overs cricket without doing too much in the Plunket Shield. Verma didn't exactly do a whole lot in the Plunket Shield, however he did enough with 4 wickets @23.75avg in his lone game for Wellington to suggest that he's coming along nicely.

On the World Tour, I want to see Verma show that he can hit good kiwi areas consistently. This is where he's going to get a look in at any higher level and if he can showcase a consistent line and length, with a hint of away movement then that will translate into him earning more Plunket Shield game time. I've seen a bit, now on the World Tour I want to get up close and personal and see what else Verma's got.

Nathan Smith

When selecting a Niche Cache World Tour group, an 18-year-old medium pace bowler is exactly what I want. Nathan Smith has already played seven FC games despite his age and while an average of 31.62 doesn't put him among Aotearoa's best bowlers, Smith intrigues the living crap out of me. He caught my eye with 5/56 when the Plunket Shield returned after Christmas in the first innings of Otago's game against Northern Districts and in the seven innings that followed, Smith went wicket-less in just two of them.

Smith also took 7 wickets @26.28avg in four Ford Trophy games and he's quickly established himself as another young cog in an Otago bowling attack that also features youngsters Jacob Duffy, Jack Hunter and Michael Rae. Smith is the major unknown quantity of this group and I haven't been offered enough (/any) Speights to make the journey down, so I want to see how Smith goes about his work, what has led to him playing and going alright in domestic cricket at such a young age.

Navin Patel

The last seaming spot was an almighty decision to make with Wellington's Matt McEwan and CD's Blair Tickner losing out to Tickner's comrade Navin Patel. Tickner played all formats and took more wickets than Patel, however he averaged in the 40's across Ford Trophy and Plunket Shield cricket while I'm all about the youth and Patel is only 22yrs, compared to McEwan who is 26yrs. I'm kinda clutching at straws, but my gut led me to roll with Patel largely because I want to work with him the most.

Patel didn't bowl the house down for CD and only played five Plunket Shield games but after catching my eye last summer, I'm eager to see how he's progressing. He took 16 wickets @33.87avg and has a very handy FC average of 29.90, plus he finished the season strongly with 12 wickets in his last two Plunket Shield games. I see a bit of potential, however Patel is a weird cog in CD's bowling stocks with the Stags able to call on Bracewell, Wheeler, Tickner, Rance and Adam Milne, meaning that if everyone is healthy it's usually Patel who will miss out.

It's also important to note that the kiwi-Indian takeover is real and beautiful in kiwi domestic cricket. Not only do we have kiwi-Indian spinners (Ajaz Patel, Jeetan Patel, Tarun Nethula, Ish Sodhi) and batsmen (Bharat Popli, Jeet Raval), we can also throw in a few seamers into that bucket as well with Verma and Navin. All sorts of stereotypes suggest that we'll always have kiwi-Indian spinners and batsmen on the domestic scene, but the kiwi-Indian seamer best reflects the kiwi-Indian relationship.

Ajaz Patel

Someone who is one of the first names down on the CD team sheet is Ajaz Patel and the left-arm tweaker was once again at the top of the wicket-taking charts. Patel led all wicket-takers in the Plunket Shield with 44, although it's important to note that he was also the only bowler to bowl over 400 overs (441.4). Don't let that take away from Patel's work though as many bowlers could bowl that many overs without taking a wicket every 60 deliveries.

Patel has taken the most Plunket Shield wickets two seasons in a row, taking over 40 wickets in either season and that basically makes him cricketing royalty so it's a pleasure to invite him on to the tour. The prospects of him making the jump up to international cricket appear slim given that Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi and Jeetan Patel kinda have things wrapped up at the moment, but we'll be making some contacts on the World Tour and I'll be pushing Patel's case for a gig somewhere in the world.

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