Being the boss-dawg of the Niche Cache World Tour allows yours truly to kinda do whatever the fuck I want and for the second NCWT, we're taking a few bowlers and batsmen, however we'll also be taking a gang of wicket-keepers. Aotearoa's wicket-keeping situation is rather intriguing and it's not just because each domestic team has a young w-k on the come up, this starts with the funky situation at the top with the Blackcaps.

Later this week I'll name a few batsmen to round out the NCWT squad, but Aotearoa's w-k situation means that I've gotta roll with four of them instead of just one or two.

As kiwis, we dream of sporting depth as we don't have the numbers to really establish deep roots of depth like other nations. While the Blackcaps worry themselves with the lack of runs from Luke Ronchi and Tom Latham, our World Tour will serve as a wonderful platform for Tom Blundell, Dane Cleaver, Tim Seifert and Glenn Phillips to battle it out. There'll be competitive vibes as they try to prove themselves over the other bloke, however we're all here for the betterment of kiwi cricket and the idea is that these four will feed off of each other, raising the collective bar and under the Niche Cache umbrella, they'll all be competitive homies.

In another sign of how strong our w-k stocks are, I was forced to leave Canterbury's Cameron Fletcher out and Phillips isn't even Auckland's w-k. Fletcher is part of the wider group of talented young w-k, but doesn't quite have the pile of runs behind him like the others; he averaged 27.61 in the Plunket Shield and 18.60 in Ford Trophy. There's every chance that Fletcher continues to build on his domestic career thus far, so he's still in the mix but given the depth, he's got to stack up some runs in the coming seasons.

Phillips isn't Auckland's w-k because they have Ben Horne and the 23-year-old Horne has only played five First-Class games, but he's already got 219 runs and a couple not-outs down the order, giving him an average of 43.80 from a small sample size. Horne's shown some nifty strokes in T20 cricket as well and in six games he's averaging 50.50 (via three not-outs) at a hefty strike-rate of 177.19.

Auckland started the season with Brad Cachopa holding down that spot, but the winds of youth breezed through and Horne finished the season as a w-k/lower order batsman. He's shown promising signs in his short career and it'll be interesting to see how he develops over time, especially as he'll likely be keeping Phillips in the out-field.

Glenn Phillips

I did roll with Phillips as w-k in the NCWT Selection, largely thanks to the long-term options that having an opening batsman who can do a decent job behind the stumps offers. That's in limited overs cricket specifically and given the brewing depth in kiwi cricket across the board, it's going to be an asset to have Phillips playing his strokes at the top of the order and holding down a w-k spot; assuming that Phillips' glove-work is up to standard.

In all fairness, Phillips could still demand selection in the coming years as just a batsman. Phillips already has a century in all three domestic formats and while most know him as a ruthless T20 blazer (41.55avg/139.03sr), he hit a century and a half-century in seven Plunket Shield innings this summer with an average of 36.50.

Phillips got a shot in a T20I and didn't look all that glorious, but that's how he operates and on the NCWT we're definitely not gonna look to alter Phillips' natural instincts. Those natural instincts need to be encouraged because although it looks rather horrible when Phillips gets out, he's capable of smacking good balls to the boundary all around the park. Sometimes it won't work, but Phillips has shown that he's good enough to make it work enough times and I'm all for individuals batting with their unique swag as long as it produces the goods.

Tim Seifert

With BJ Watling on international duty for much of the summer, Tim Seifert established himself as Northern Districts' w-k and also did a fine job in various roles with the bat. Tom Blundell got most of the Blackcaps attention and Phillips' talent caught the eye of the mainstream media, but Seifert was the major mover in this w-k group as he was the top run-scorer of this w-k group in the Ford Trophy and only Blundell scored more Plunket Shield runs than Seifert.

Seifert finished the season with a FT average of 37.28 and a PS average of 36.70 which is super solid, while his ability to score runs when asked to fill any position in the batting line up is also worthy of praise. A century in both the FT and PS is a good sign that Seifert has the craft to his batsmanship and even more encouraging is that Seifert had a FT strike-rate of 101.55 as well as a PS strike-rate of 42.04; Seifert adjusted between different roles in different formats rather well.

These are still fairly early days for Seifert, so on the NCWT he's got to show that we're not looking at a merely a purple patch of form. Can Seifert genuinely push the likes of Blundell as the leader of the pack or will he struggle to consistently deliver? This can only be answered with another domestic season, but the NCWT will offer Seifert the best opportunity to build on a strong summer

Tom Blundell

While you trip about Luke Ronchi's selection, I'd suggest that you'd be better off flipping that energy into some frustration as to how his Wellington comrade Tom Blundell couldn't get an international opportunity apart from a token T20I appearance in which he didn't even bat. It's borderline disgusting how Blundell was treated, however this is nothing new and Lesson has continuously messed the young players in such fashion as the build 'em up only to cut 'em down.

Blundell only averaged 25.50 in FT this season, but he hit five-straight 20+ scores in Wellington's run to the FT final and it's not as though Blundell hit one good score then numerous single-digit scores. This is off-set by Blundell's PS season in which he averaged 54.66 with a century and five half-centuries, with the century and three half-centuries coming in his last four PS games.

A wee bit older than the others (26yrs), Blundell is the leader of this gang and I'm happy to give him the reins in driving the attitude and training sessions on tour. Blundell has had a teeny taste of the higher level and the NCWT will offer him a chance to respond to his yo-yo summer antics. Given that he immediately responded with a stack of PS runs, I expect him to be the mantis on tour.

Dane Cleaver

Central Districts have a couple 'sexy' names in their squad, names that are always mentioned when talking about those Blackcaps or players who you tell your mates about as being ones to watch. Dane Cleaver isn't one of those blokes, he's heavily slept on and simply goes about his business quietly for CD.

Cleaver's FT average of 25.85 doesn't catch the eye, but a strike-rate of 109.69 does and when that's packaged with a PS average of 39.46 it shows that Cleaver can switch up. Cleaver was the only w-k to hit two PS centuries and while he only had one half-century, he finished the season with a few knocks in the late-40's.

Blundell and Cleaver have done this for a few seasons now and I'm eager to see whether Cleaver has it in him to really stamp his mark as someone who demands attention. Cleaver has shown that he's capable of having a long domestic career and he'll be a cornerstone of this young CD squad, but on the NCWT, it'll be interesting to see if Cleaver can show how he'll put himself in the mix for higher honours.

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