For information's sake, I have conjured up four levels of kiwi Test cricket. Below you will find four different Test teams and the idea is that I will offer a similar grouping for 50-over cricket and perhaps T20 cricket. I have offered brief commentary for each team, expressing any funky notes that err on the dramatic side of things. I have also steered clear of dropping any heavy stats, mainly for ease of use for youz as this would be an endless task if I compared all the different stats of players to provide my reasoning.

You can check out the batting and bowling Plunket Shield stats from ESPN Cricinfo for reference. I relied on this stats to make tricky selections, so open those tabs and hit them up, I just won't go deep into outlining those stat-based decisions.

Youz also know that I tend to lean towards younger players and for the purpose of this exercise - to showcase Aotearoa's depth - leaning towards youth is important as it shows what is to come in the next few years. Comment on Facebook with your four levels.

1st XI

Tom Latham, Jeet Raval, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Jesse Ryder, BJ Watling (wk), Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Neil Wagner, Trent Boult.

Ok, so I didn't say anything about copying those Lesson folk and straight up; Jesse Ryder is in somewhere in the 11 most talented and best-performing kiwi cricketers. He's been shafted for various reasons, which is fine but his work in domestic cricket is worthy of 1st XI selection and this is the Niche Cache, not the Blackcaps.

Ish Sodhi also gets the nod ahead of Colin de Grandhomme after showing that he can do Test batting things. Two spinners and three spinners is exactly the type of bowling attack I want.

2nd XI

Greg Hay, George Worker, Colin Munro, Will Young, Henry Nicholls, Tom Bruce, Tim Seifert (wk), Colin de Grandhomme, Todd Astle, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson.

This was fairly straight forward, until I realised I needed to get George Worker in here. I briefly pondered having Worker in the 1st XI, opening ahead of Raval after Raval's mediocre Test series vs England and borderline horrible Plunket Shield season, but I played it safe. Wiggling Worker in came down to Martin Guptill vs Will Young and I'm Young found delightful form in the back-end of the Plunket Shield, captaining Central Districts to the title, while there's just too much unknown uncertainties about Guptill's middle order batting in long-form cricket.

I really tried to play it safe, but tough decisions gotta be made. Lockie Ferguson's consistently awesome Plunket Shield work gets him a spot ahead of a few more fancied long-form bowlers.

3rd XI

Chad Bowes, Luke Woodcock, Ken McClure, Martin Guptill, Dane Cleaver (wk), Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Doug Bracewell, Logan van Beek, Ajaz Patel, Hamish Bennett.

The team of all-rounders. We are stacked with talented all-rounders in Aotearoa and they all deserve a place in this 3rd XI. Daryl Mitchell continues to improve for Northern Districts, Jimmy Neesham got back on the wagon in the second stanza and responded to his adversity well, Doug Bracewell was a better batsman than bowler last summer and Logan van Beek exploded as a lethal seamer.

Ken McClure also bounced back from his adversity strongly for Canterbury and his Canterbury comrade Chad Bowes is a low key opening prospect to keep an eye on.

You don't know how close I came to putting Ajaz Patel in the 2nd XI ahead of Todd Astle, I should have, I really should have given what Patel has done over the past three seasons.

4th XI

Hamish Rutherford, Henry Cooper, Sean Solia, Glenn Phillips, Corey Anderson, Tom Blundell (wk), Anton Devcich, Tim Johnston, Kyle Jamieson, Joel Baker, Jacob Duffy.

Yes, that's Tom Blundell in the 4th XI. Blundell made his Test debut this summer and did bloody well on debut, however the depth of kiwi wicket-keepers is immense. I had to fall back on some stats here because Blundell was the worst-performing wicket-keeper/batsman in the Plunket Shield this summer; Tim Seifert, Derek de Boorder, Dane Cleaver, Cameron Fletcher, Ben Horne and BJ Watling did better than Blundell.

That means that I should even go as far as considering de Boorder, Fletcher and Horne ahead of Blundell. I've gone with Blundell though and obviously I'm only comparing their work with the bat as I there's nothing to prove who is the best wicket-keeper. Someone like Cleaver is a Plunket Shield champion wicket-keeper, Tim Seifert is a limited overs international wicket-keeper and de Boorder has been a domestic wicket-keeper for a decade so it's not like they aren't good wicket-keepers, or that Blundell is blatantly a better wicket-keeper.

This 4th XI team was the hardest to select as there are so many guys on this bubble. Guys like Henry Cooper, Glenn Phillips and Kyle Jamieson will force themselves into the Test mix over the next few years. Corey Anderson made another comeback this summer and while his talent is obvious, he's got to stack up another season of consistent cricket. Then you have guys like Hamish Rutherford, Tim Johnston and Joel Baker who perform at a high level every season in their respective roles and did so once again this summer.

I did ponder Neil Broom in the batting line up, but injected Anton Devcich instead. Broom had a quiet Plunket Shield summer, while Devcich was at his robust best and there wasn't much room in that middle order left over.

Hit an ad to support the kiwi cricketing Niche Cache funk.

Or jump on Patreon and support the Niche Cache directly. There are some bonus bits and bobs on Patreon and we look after the homies.

Peace and love 27.