A result of the success of our Blackcaps has been that individuals enjoy great demand from teams in various competitions around the world. The easiest example of this is T20 cricket because there's simply more money and a higher demand for skilled players, yet I don't think it's a coincidence that this winter we have had a strong kiwi contingent in County cricket on the back of the Test team's impressive growth.

Interestingly, County cricket doesn't leave a whole lot of room for T20 mercenaries as the IPL goes down as the County season kicks off. This gave us a core group of Blackcaps who jumped on the Kiwi County Tour bus and enjoyed a healthy dose of consistent cricket against quality opposition -ain't nothing better than that from a kiwi cricket fan's perspective.

Mitchell Santner didn't quite play enough County cricket with Worcestershire for us to really catch any sort of vibes about how he's coping with being a T20 superstar. He is quite a funny bugger though...

Worcestershire did enjoy the services of Matt Henry and his performances add an interesting layer to this African tour, it's also important to add Neil Wagner into this discussion as he also took a bunch of wickets for Lancashire. Henry and Wagner were in great form with their respective teams, while Tim Southee and Trent Boult were no where to be seen on the Kiwi County Tour. Southee and Boult have had a hectic schedule so no dramas there, however Henry and Wagner have been taking wickets and could both push Southee and Boult for starting spots.

Henry was nothing less than lethal for Worcs; 27 wickets in 6 games and 11 innings with an average of 26.51. Only two bowlers in Division Two have lower averages than Henry and no bowler with more wickets than Henry's 27 currently have a lower runs-per-over than Henry's 3.06.

Wagner was in Division One and formed a nice new-ball combo with fellow African Kyle Jarvis for Lancashire. The funk here is that Jarvis is Zimbabwean, but won't be rolling out for Zim in their Test team as many of Zim's best cricketers view County cricket as a better career option. Wagner took 32 wickets in 9 games/16 innings at an average of 29.98 and an rpo of 3.26.

WATCH some of @NeilWagner13's wickets for @LancsCCC as he flies back to New Zealand.

Showed real passion for the 🌹🌹https://t.co/ClUlwpytBF
— Lancashire CCC (@LancsCCC) July 7, 2016

Neither Henry or Wagner are currently Test-certainties and of late they have had to either wait for an injury or been battling with Doug Bracewell for that third seamer spot. Here they both are, two Blackcaps who aren't certain starters, in the top-10 wicket-takers for either County Division. That's some handy depth folks.

Jeet Raval has been selected as part of this Test squad and I'd suggest that it's Martin Guptill who is under far more pressure for his Test opening spot than Tom Latham. Guptill has a sketchy history in Test cricket against quality opposition while Latham continued his development as a lefty who defends/leaves smartly, while pouncing on anything loose outside off-stump and anything slightly too straight.

Latham played 6 games/9 innings at the top of the order for Kent in Division Two and while he couldn't manage a lofty century or two, he did hit 4 half-centuries in 6 games. That gave Latham the fairly healthy average of 46.75, with a high-score of 90 and 374 runs total, perhaps more importantly it gave Latham the opportunity to just bat as much as possible and I'm very interested in his growth as an opener. Will we see the benefits of Latham's County stint in Africa?

Kane Williamson had a horrible time by his standards in 2 games for Yorkshire as he hit scores of 10, 0, 28 and 4 ... he did take 2 wickets though. While Williamson endured a bit of a slump, the other willow-wielding OG of the Blackcaps Ross Taylor was all class for Sussex and I'm pretty damn excited to watch Taylor play a leading hand in this Blackcaps side alongside Williamson, both with the bat and as leaders.

Taylor played 8 games/11 innings and did manage a biggun' as he finished his County stint with 142* and 68 against a Kent team without Latham. With an average of 47.80, 478 runs and a decent strike-rate of 61.36, Taylor gave Sussex their money's worth and I'd suggest that there's plenty of life left in Taylor's Test career for the Blackcaps.

There will be a preview ahead of the first Test against Zim, but for now we should all bask in the simple numbers of our Blackcaps on the Kiwi County Tour...

Matt Henry: 27 wickets @ 26.51.

Neil Wagner: 32 wickets @ 29.28.

Tom Latham: 374 runs @ 46.75.

Ross Taylor: 478 runs @ 47.80.