Hong Kong OG International Mark Chapman, he ain't whack man.

We've brought you the d-low on the players selected for the New Zealand XI and Emerging Players XI, so let's take it further and follow the three 50-over games (or 45-over games by the looks of things) that will go down this week. After each game, I won't focus so much on the details of the result, instead I'll try to put individual performances into some sort of context and there could even be patterns that start to emerge with players dominating or not doing too well across the three games.

Game one saw the NZ XI win, cool. They batted first and hit 260, thanks to notable scores from Jeet Raval (88) and Mark Chapman (72). We obviously want a bloke like Raval to be scoring runs when he drops down from being in the Blackcaps squad, to a domestic level so to see him scoring runs at the top of the order is precisely what the Diggity Doc ordered.

Chapman was one of three young batsmen - along with Will Young and Rob O'Donnell - who I was most interested in and he put those other two young guns in the shade with Young dismissed for 14 and O'Donnell dismissed for 10 in the Emerging XI's innings. Interestingly, Young and O'Donnell both came in at No.3 which is a classic nod to their ability while Chapman wasn't too far behind at No.4.

There wasn't a whole lot else in that NZ XI innings in terms of runs. Cameron Fletcher took the wicket-keeping gloves, batting at No. 7 while Tom Blundell batted at No.5 which is fair enough as Fletcher's more of a keeper than a batsman and Blundell's more of a batsman than a keeper.

Seth Rance took 3/38 off 8 overs for the Emerging XI and was the pick of their bowlers. Rance is definitely one of the best limited-overs seamers in the country, I just can't his ceiling raising much higher than a sporadic T20 game for the Blackcaps. This shows however that Rance is still dominating and for domestic batsmen across Aotearoa, that's a scary sign.

Matt Henry took 2/40 off 8 overs and there's not much to report in that as Henry's a class above this level. Todd Astle also chipped in with his leggies, taking 2/50 off 8 overs while Scott Kuggeleijn went without a wicket and conceded 6.17rpo from 6 overs. I'm intrigued how Kuggeleijn backs up last season and whether he can level-up, this isn't a great start and with his court dramas lurking in the background, a lack of wickets will see him drift back into the pack.

The NZ XI then defended their total to grab the win, with Hamish Rutherford and Corey Anderson hitting half-centuries. Rutherford somehow slipped under my radar in the preview, but it's great to see him back in Aotearoa after a stint on the Kiwi County Tour with Derbyshire, scoring 51. Anderson also hit 51 and while Rutherford needs to stack the runs up to get back into the Blackcaps mix, you'd expect Anderson and Rutherford to dominate a domestic bowling attack; business as expected.

Tim Seifert is a name y'all should probably jot down as the Northern Districts wicket-keeper hit 43 batting at No.6 and took the lead with regards to the wicket-keepers.

Adam Milne didn't bowl for the Emerging XI - neither did Anderson - instead playing as a batsman at No.7. In a funky twist, Milne had his stumps skittled by his main competitor as Aoteroa's quickest bowler Lockie Ferguson and Ferguson finished with an impressive 5/61 off his 8 overs. Plenty of wickets, but Ferguson was by far the most expensive of the bowlers who bowled 8 overs, going at 7.63rpo with a game-high 4 wides.

Jacob Duffy and Ben Wheeler took a wicket each, while Anton Devcich operated as the main spinner for the NZ XI and took 2/22 off his 6 overs. Youngsters Chapman (spin) and Shawn Hicks (seam) struggled, going at 8rpo and 7.33rpo off a few overs; Hicks was also dismissed cheaply for 10.

Stay tuned tomorrow as we'll roll through the second game's performances and see who is backing up their work from game one. 72 from Chapman is my pick of the run-scorers as he's a youngster looking to make his mark while the other notable scores came from fringe-Blackcaps players, while Ferguson's 5/61 off 8 overs made him the pick of the bowlers. Besides that, seeing Raval, Anderson and Rutherford score runs along with Henry taking a few wickets, is fantastic with the Blackcaps in mind.