New Zealand's Blackcaps are in Sri Lanka were they drew the T20I series 1-1 and lost the first of three ODIs. This is primarily a development exercise for Aotearoa with their touring party full of emerging kiwi cricketers and Zak Foulkes earned the spotlight after impressive mahi in the two T20Is.

Foulkes started with 27* @ 168.7sr in the first game, tied with Michael Bracewell's 27 runs @ 112sr for the leading run-scorer. Foulkes added 3w @ 6.6rpo with the ball as the best kiwi bowler in that innings, followed by 6 runs @ 100sr and 1w @ 5.7rpo. Foulkes was the only Blackcaps batter with a strike-rate over 100 in the T20I series and he finished tied with Glenn Phillips for the most wickets...

Will Young: 49 runs @ 96sr
Mitchell Santner: 35 runs @ 87sr | 2w @ 5.5rpo
Zak Foulkes: 33 runs @ 150sr | 4w @ 6.1rpo
Josh Clarkson: 27 runs @ 87sr
Glenn Phillips: 17 runs @ 77sr | 4w @ 4.6rpo
Michael Bracewell: 27 runs @ 96sr | 3w @ 6.7rpo

Foulkes has taken a wicket in eight consecutive games stretching back to his stint with Birmingham in the T20 Blast and then Ford Trophy. Eight games with a wicket and five of them have seen Foulkes take 2+ wickets.

Zak Foulkes in Ford Trophy

vs Wellington: 3w @ 3.4rpo
vs Otago: 49* @ 106sr | 2w @ 2.6rpo
vs Auckland: 20 runs @ 45sr | 1w @ 6.1rpo
vs CD: 11 runs @ 65sr | 2w @ 3.7rpo

Zak Foulkes T20 Career

T20I: 16.5avg/143.4sr | 23.4avg/7.8rpo
T20: 16.1avg/131.8sr | 18.3avg/7.5rpo

Foulkes didn't play in the first ODI. Nathan Smith made his debut after he didn't play the T20Is, with Tim Robinson and Mitch Hay keeping their spots in the team after they played both T20Is. Josh Clarkson played both T20Is. Dean Foxcroft hasn't played on this tour yet.

Clarkson's knock of 24 runs @ 96sr in the second T20I helped Blackcaps pass 100 runs and salvage their innings, with Clarkson's only boundaries being two sixes. Robinson and Hay combined to score 6 runs in the T20Is. Hay did take six catches in the second T20I and his wicket-keeping was impressive given that he was on debut in this series.

Interesting Blackcaps in T20Is this year...

Glenn Phillips: 323 runs @ 35.8avg/129sr | 4w @ 6.7avg/5.5rpo
Rachin Ravindra: 86 runs @ 21.5avg/139sr
Tim Robinson: 86 runs @ 14avg/126sr
Will Young: 84 runs @ 14avg/100sr
Michael Bracewell: 81 runs @ 13.5avg/100sr | 6w @ 33avg/8.2rpo
Lockie Ferguson: 20w @ 9.2avg/4.8rpo
Mitchell Santner: 100 runs @ 14avg/109sr | 12w @ 28avg/7.1rpo
Ish Sodhi: 12w @ 29avg/8.2rpo
Ben Sears: 10w @ 22avg/8.9rpo

Blackcaps vs Sri Lanka 1st ODI

Jacob Duffy: 3w @ 4.9rpo
Ish Sodhi: 1w @ 6.2rpo
Michael Bracewell: 1w @ 8.1rpo
Mitchell Santner: 10ov @ 5.3rpo
Glenn Phillips: 4ov @ 5.7rpo
Nathan Smith: 8ov @ 8.2rpo
Will Young: 48 runs @ 104sr
Tim Robinson: 35 runs @ 97sr
Michael Bracewell: 34* @ 106sr
Mitch Hay: 10 runs @ 111sr

This was the fourth ODI Aotearoa has played since the last World Cup. As they were building towards the T20 World Cup earlier this year, the ODI team has skewed towards the emerging group and this is evident in the leading players across these four games...

Batting

Will Young: 4inns, 268 runs @ 67avg/100sr
Tom Latham: 3inns, 147 runs @ 73avg/103sr
Henry Nicholls: 4inns, 102 runs @ 25avg/86sr
Rachin Ravindra: 3inns, 53 runs @ 17avg/113sr

Bowling

Jacob Duffy: 4inns, 7w @ 22.5avg/5.3rpo
Will O'Rourke: 3inns, 5w @ 23avg/6.1rpo
Josh Clarkson: 3inns, 3w @ 24avg/6rpo
Adam Milne: 3inns, 3w @ 46avg/6.9rpo

Young generated lots of buzz from his mahi in the Test series sweep vs India but as his mahi above shows, Young is a slick batter in all formats. Young's best Blackcaps format is ODI batting where he has a record of 44.55avg/88.4sr. Young is less productive in T20I batting where he averages below 25 in each of his three years, but he has maintained a strike-rate over 100 in all three years.

Young has played 100+ games in all three formats and these foundations are as solid as they get...

First-Class: 222inns, 40.05avg/48.4sr
List-A: 109inns, 42.34avg/89.7sr
T20: 104inns, 24.61avg/129.7sr

The next ODI is on Sunday night, followed by the third ODI on Tuesday night.

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