The Levels of Depth Pushing Blackcaps Test Cricket Forward
Another summer of domestic cricket lurks on the horizon and the recent confirmation of contracts dished out has a fresh crop of young talent moving into the domestic cricket circuit. There are new players getting contracts every winter and by nature these tend to be younger players, although the past few weeks have had me pondering the impact of the most recent graduates into the domestic landscape.
Auckland Aces gave Adithya Ashok a contract and he is someone who has been on the radar for a couple years now. Northern Districts Knights gave Kristian Clarke a contract and he's a talented all-rounder just like Luke Georgeson who was promoted with Wellington. These three are among the most talented youngsters to get contracts of recent memory and someone like Georgeson has already showcased his talents for Wellington last summer.
I'm also intrigued about Will O'Rourke with Canterbury, without seeing too much of his seam bowling. Given their history with developing seamers (Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson) and how this is now evident in the low key dominant work of Will Williams, Fraser Sheat, Sean Davey and Ed Nuttall; if Canterbury are scouting and signing a seamer then I'm paying attention.
Central Districts Stags are full to the brim with solid talent, so there is less space for a fresh youngster. Of the same ilk of these lads named above, I've got Bayley Wiggins as someone to keep an eye on after he has shown potential in Stags white ball cricket. Otago Volts have a very similar batsmen to Wiggins in Llew Johnson who will be eager to force his way into the Volts team without a contract this summer.
Ashok, Clarke, Georgeson and O'Rourke have the highest pedigree. Wiggins and Johnson are just some of my intriguing deep cuts. One of the most pressing ideas following World Test Championship glory was forecasting forward to the next WTC cycle and how Aotearoa would maintain their competitive stature through possible retirements etc. We've never had this level of talent in Aotearoa cricket so it is a bit foreign, however I reckon there are encouraging signs across Aotearoa.
The lads who are on the Blackcaps fringes from the WTC Final team are Tom Blundell (who will now be promoted to 1st 11 Test status), Daryl Mitchell, Ajaz Patel and Will Young. As I explored in this 'Slow Cooking Test Contenders' yarn Mitchell, Patel and Young made their FC debuts way back in 2012, while Blundell made his FC debut in 2013. Kyle Jamieson burst out of nowhere right? Well he's been battling away since his FC debut in 2014.
We all know the Devon Conway story - he debuted back in 2009. Jeet Raval's Test opener stint came after he made his FC debut in 2008, while Colin de Grandhomme played for Zimbabwe 'A' in 2005 before coming to Aotearoa a year or two later. Jimmy Neesham and Ish Sodhi made their Test debuts a few years after their FC debuts and they were overtaken in the Test arenas by the slow-cooked lads.
Blackcaps Test success has come from a group of world-class cricketers, with the emerging depth of experienced players who have found comfort in their growth and maturity. Now we are entering a phase where the sheer amount of talent could change the cycle or phase of player development and we got an early sign of this in Rachin Ravindra's squad selection to tour England. Ravindra was joined by Jacob Duffy in that squad and while both are young lads fizzing for cricket, Duffy made his FC debut in 2012 (he's only 26yrs) and Ravindra made his FC debut in 2018.
Ravindra is the point of difference in the Blackcaps Test depth. Literally everyone else in this cluster has toiled on the domestic circuit for years, enduring ups and downs to settle on what works best for them. They then enter the Blackcaps Test group and are best equipped to deal with the challenges await. This has been a decent factor in Blackcaps success, now we have various lads across every team who could slide into the rapid-rise Ravindra category.
This will be fascinating to see play out because we still have a large crop of experienced fringe Blackcaps. All of that has been evident in my Kiwi County Tour and whether it's Glenn Phillips, Lockie Ferguson, Adam Milne, Blair Tickner, Tim Seifert, Scott Kuggeleijn, Neesham or Sodhi; there is a small army of kiwi cricketers in the middle between top-tier and hot youngsters.
These groups will collide in the coming years. There will be lads like Ravindra or Finn Allen who leap up a few levels quickly. There will be lads from the middle group who could rise or fall in this imaginary depth chart. Maybe the top-tier lads all continue to dominate and no spots open up. The key point here is that these levels of kiwi cricket depth will fuel the Blackcaps Test team over the next WTC cycle.
ODI and T20I cricket will also benefit. The next WTC cycle has more anxiety around it though as the 'best ever' group of Blackcaps will be coming to the end of their reign. Aotearoa doesn't just have fringe Blackcaps offering depth around Test squads, there is a talented group of younger lads who are only heading in one direction and having this depth at different stages of development could be crucial to future Blackcaps success.
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