Will Young Has Been Building Winter Foundations In England
While on the outside of Aotearoa's limited overs 1st 11 teams, Will Young has been busy scoring runs and leading Northamptonshire in England. Those runs haven't led to many wins recently as Northamptonshire finished 2-6 in the Royal London One-Day Cup with Young as skipper, although that is countered by being mid-table (2-2-6) in County Championship's division tahi.
Young is averaging 40+ in both competitions.
County Championship: 10inns, 449 runs @ 44.90avg, 1 x 100, 3 x 50.
One-Day Cup: 8inns, 345 runs @ 49.28avg/114.23sr, 1 x 100, 2 x 50.
This may be an important phase for Young as he suffered a dip in Test runs against South Africa and early in the England series, both were lost series. Young scored five of his six 50+ knocks in his first seven Tests, while the last five Tests feature just one score over 50 and seven innings under 10 runs. Outside of Test cricket, Young's class is obvious. Last year he scored back to back hundreds for Durham (278 runs @ 39.71avg) and has been better this winter with Northamptonshire.
Some kind of adjustment is required for emerging Blackcaps who earn selection through consistent domestic cricket mahi, then make sporadic appearances and the need for runs/wickets doesn't stop. Young popped up for one game of Plunket Shield and Super Smash, plus two Ford Trophy games. 23 runs @ 153sr in Super Smash and a Ford Trophy century were Young's highlights in domestic cricket last summer.
Solid winter stints in England either side of that summer bolster the foundations for Young which will probably lead to another summer opening the batting in Test cricket. England and Sri Lanka are definitely touring Aotearoa this summer for two Tests each across February and March. Apparently Aotearoa is touring Pakistan earlier in the summer and there isn't much official information about that tour. Assuming Aotearoa does play Test cricket in Pakistan, Young will continue to brew his experience in all conditions.
Young has played six Tests in Aotearoa, four Tests in England and two Tests in India. That's half in Aotearoa and half overseas. Every player's Test experience is different but very few are split in half like Young's travels. Take Henry Nicholls as an intriguing comparison; 29 Tests in Aotearoa, 19 overseas.
Nicholls is also a Test cricketer who is now outside the ODI and T20I outfits. Nicholls also encountered some wobbles this year as he has no scores over 40 in his last six innings, but the Cantabrian tends to find a score when everyone's barking about him. Nicholls hasn't been as busy as Young though and Young enters the season with runs piled up.
That presents intrigue as to how a bloke averaging 41.08 in First Class cricket, 39.30 in List-A, with a healthy T20 record of 26.64avg/133.61sr and a winter of top-tier cricket in England, goes about his mahi this summer. Young is classy operator and he might sneak below the Blackcaps ODI/T20I radar in coming months so don't overlook his mana and runs for Central Districts.
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