Every summer The Niche Cache checks in with Blackcaps bats and this summer was all about Kane Williamson ascending even further into greatness with his Gray Nicolls blade. Last summer's breakdown lacked Williamson's presence and he smacked four centuries this summer, two of which were double-bangers, with the Gray Nicolls Nova model.

Daryl Mitchell has settled into the 1st 11 and appears to be using the GN Supra, while Henry Nicholls grabbed a double-century with the GN Cobra. The GN Vapour is also floating around and it seems as though each of these notable kiwi batters using GN deploys a different model, led by Williamson's Nova.

GN not only has the best Blackcaps batters in their stable, they have a wide mix of players in also under the GN umbrella. Ajaz Patel and Doug Bracewell made Test appearances as GN players this summer which often gave GN four lads in the playing 11. GN is currently the leading brand in the Blackcaps Test team, thanks in part to the decreasing presence of Gunn & Moore.

Luteru Taylor was a headline act for GM and his retirement coincided with Devon Conway switching from GM to SS Ton, as well as Will Young dropping out of the 1st 11. Young is now the leading GM batter in Aotearoa using the Sparq model and Conway is the only Test batter using SS Ton bats. Conway appears to be using the Player or Gold Edition.

Kookaburra maintains a heavy presence in the Blackacps Test group, led by Tom Latham who loves his Kahuna. Similar to the variety of GN bats deployed by the kiwi players, Kookaburra has other models in rotation with Tom Blundell usually rocking the Ghost and Michael Bracewell using the perfectly named Beast model.

Matt Henry used the Kookaburra Beast in his lovely knock against Sri Lanka, while Scott Kuggeleijn and Neil Wagner also flashed Kookaburra bats this season. Kookaburra Shadows, Beasts and Ghosts seem to have been in rotation for these Blackcaps bowlers and Wagner's move from Adidas to Kookaburra probably ends Adidas' bat-making exploits.

Skipper Tim Southee was also using Adidas bats before popping up with Stanford (SF) gears. Southee and Wagner still wore Adidas kicks but picked up fresh sponsors for their illustrious batting. Most of the Blackcaps Test team wear Adidas, Asics or New Balance footwear.

Blair Tickner and Ish Sodhi are in the NB stable, with Sodhi scoring runs in Pakistan using the TC 1260 model. Tickner seems to rock the DC 1260 with a bit more swag in the design and NB still has a solid presence in the wider Blackcaps mixer as Mitchell Santner and Glenn Phillips in the NB crew.

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Peace and love.