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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