The end of the cricketing summer in Aotearoa comes with the annual phone call from BLACKCAPS coach Mike Hesson to continue the tradition of the Niche Cache's BLACKCAPS 2nd XI cricket tour. This tour consists of private jets, cricket all around the world and absolutely no T20 cricket, with the main objective being to give the best kiwi cricketers from the domestic scene an opportunity to impress around the world. 

In that phone call with Hesson, we agreed to lean towards youth in a ploy that will ensure that there is pressure on the current BLACKCAPS to perform. There's no point in having a decent Test team now if there isn't that next wave coming through so we've opted for more younger players with a sprinkling of experience.

Thankfully, Hesson really likes me and my cricketing thoughts so he's allowed me to pick my Plunket Shield batting line up that consists solely of youngsters, the best youngsters from the 2015/16 season. 

Jeet Raval: The classy 27-year-old Auckland opener has toiled away in domestic cricket for a while now and he's on the cusp of BLACKCAPS selection. He's a lefty who averaged 55.71 in Plunket Shield cricket this season and Coach Hesson wants to see if Raval really wants that BLACKCAPS opening spot alongside Tom Latham, a strong showing on this tour will do the trick, especially on Australia/South Africa's quicker pitches.

Ben Smith: Despite averaging 61.13 for Central Districts this season, the 25-year-old opener still has some work to do according to Coach Hesson. Smith has shown that he can score runs in Aotearoa against domestic bowling attacks, whether Smith can take this sort of form into tougher conditions like India or the United Arab Emirates will determine is standing after this tour. Smith needs another strong kiwi summer, so this is a learning experience more than anything for him.

Rob O'Donnell: Coach Hesson and I love the idea of throwing these young batsmen to the wolves and 21-year-old O'Donnell looks like a talented prospect who would benefit greatly from a world-wide tour. He batted all through Auckland's batting line up and averaged 40.05, so there's certainly some talent to work with.

Bharat Popli: The star of the kiwi summer was Northern Districts' Popli who averaged 67.58 and made the local bowlers look silly all season. Coach Hesson doesn't know too much about Popli but was impressed - as we all were - by Popli's weight of runs and he clearly deserves the opportunity to continue to stack those runs up. Hesson wants a bit of depth in that middle order and he's eyeing up Popli as a potential No.4/5 should Ross Taylor, Corey Anderson and/or Henry Nicholls miss a beat through form or injury. Popli needs to show he's not a one-summer-wonder though.

Will Young: Another highly talented prospect who has been on the radar for a number of years now, Young averaged 45.81 for CD and at 23-years-old he's got his best years ahead of him. Coach Hesson isn't quite sure on Young (or O'Donnell's) best spot in the batting line up and he wants Young to show that he can score runs in all conditions before he considers his BLACKCAPS chances.

Ken McClure: Canterbury's 21-year-old sensation who averaged 60.63, McClure joins Young and O'Donnell as our country's finest young batsmen. McClure has to stack many more runs up in domestic cricket before he's in the BLACKCAPS mix and a tour around the world's Test playing nations should only continue his development as a up and coming batsmen.

Tom Blundell: A 25-year-old wicket-keeper/batsman from Wellington who averaged 44.76 is exactly what Coach Hesson wants, especially as BJ Watling is only getting older and we'll need some wicket-keeping cover soon enough. Blundell's work with the willow puts him ahead of the other young wicket-keepers in domestic cricket and we just want to see how Blundell handles the jump in levels from kiwi domestic cricket to these games around the world.

Scott Kuggeleijn: The leading wicket-taker who wasn't a spinner deserves the tour and Kuggeleijn offers the sort of all-round ability that makes him an asset to any cricket team. There's a bit of pace and hostility in Kuggeleijn's work with the ball that has both Hesson and I excited, while Coach Hesson was also very impressed with how Kuggeleijn led the Knights' bowling attack this summer without Tim Southee or Trent Boult, both of whom speak very highly about Kuggeleijn.

Ed Nuttall: We were robbed of seeing Nuttall enjoy a full Plunket Shield campaign, however we did see enough from Nuttall to suggest that he could make the jump into the international arena. Nuttall is only 23-years-old and took wickets for fun in the Ford Trophy with his left-arm swing, Coach Hesson does want to see if Nuttall has the tricks of the trade to still pose a threat in conditions that don't offer swing/seam.

Matt Quinn: Coach Hesson has been tuned into Quinn's work for a few seasons now and likes what he sees from the Auckland seamer. Quinn offers right-arm mediums and we would like to see him extract a little bit more pace, however with Quinn joining Essex in English County cricket, we're very excited to see how much Quinn improves under the weight of so much cricket. We've pushed the start of this tour back a few weeks to accommodate Quinn's County commitments.

Ajaz Patel: Why wouldn't we select the leading wicket-taker in Plunket Shield cricket? Patel is a left-arm spinner from the Stags and at 27-years-old he's still got plenty to offer kiwi cricket. On this tour he will need to juggle being the main threat in spin-friendly conditions while also doing a job in seam-friendly conditions, I convinced Hesson that Mark Craig wasn't doing an adequate job in holding up an end so he's keen to see whether Patel can fill that void or not. Coach Hesson was also wary of his young spin duo of Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner and is well aware of the need to put pressure on them, complacency is the devil.

We are also taking two more players who will play and tour with the starting XI depending on circumstance. Andrew Ellis made it impossible to leave him out of this side and he offers cover with both bat and ball, plus he's a great bloke to have in this squad full of young blood. We need our young cricketers to learn from the best and there's no-one in domestic cricket who I would rather they learn from than Ellis.

There's also Lachie Ferguson from Auckland who has been selected to offer some raw pace. I was impressed by Ferguson's wicket-taking ability and his average of 22.12 caught Coach Hesson's eye as Hesson knows that we don't have too many quick bowlers who offer something similar to what Adam Milne offers. He'll need another quality domestic summer to work himself into the BLACKCAPS mix, however how he applies himself on tour will also be crucial.