Cricket in New Zealand has always been the headline act of an Aotearoa summer and it is one of the many sports in which kiwis out-perform nations with far more resources. Recent achievements for Blackcaps/White Ferns won't change much in that regard as the blokes have consistently generated big crowds in all formats and the ladies were already in the process of building a self-sustainable progamme. Recent achievements provide a hefty boost to New Zealand Cricket's status as an organisation though.

Over the last few years, NZC has invested heavily in cricket below the international level and all the cool initiatives offered by NZC have bumped up against a perception of a stumbling organistaion. Whether it's the results of Aotearoa's national teams, hiring of different personnel or how various players have been managed, the positivity of NZC's mahi below the international arena wasn't quite aligned with the negativity lingering around the elite level.

The reality vs perception difference is all good because most kiwi cricket fans wouldn't know about the introduction of Pasifika and Maori representative cricket. Only the hearty kiwi cricket fan would know about the full menu of girls tournaments and participation that was already humming while White Ferns were losing more than they won.

Slide back to 2017 when NZC whipped up an All Weather Training Facilities Plan that resulted in a Bay Oval revamp, in tune with the high performance centre in Lincoln. This gives little ol' Aotearoa a state of the art training base in north and south, while there is also the Rodney Green Foundation Turf Training Facility in Napier (that is part of an exceptional multi-sport development in the Hawke's Bay) that 'in conjunction with NZC, ensured we were able to deliver our outstanding new training facilities at Mitre 10 Park'.

These facilities aren't the nets that you find at your local park, they can dictate conditions and NZC has all the technology required to prepare players for cricket overseas. Add in more development tours such as 'A' series for men and women, comprehensive age-group opportunities boosted by Under 19/Development squads for women and specific moves like the Tim Robinson/Dean Foxcroft/Mitch Hay excursion to India a few months ago for a compounding effect.

Yes, the White Ferns should play Test cricket. This provides an insight into the top-tier perception and the reality of NZC's investment. The lack of women's Test cricket in Aotearoa overlaps with a period in which the NZC investment in women's cricket has seen females of all ages and cultures playing more cricket. It's easy to be critical of NZC for a lack of White Ferns Test cricket, it's more difficult to get feet on the ground and bask in the sight of Aotearoa Maori playing alongside Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu at the Pacific Cup in a delightful festival of women's cricket hosted by NZC.

NZC isn't a perfect organisation, but they rarely get the credit they deserve. Cricket in Aotearoa leads the major sports in catering to fans and delivering ample high performance programmes for males and females. The main thing fans should worry about with ownership of their favourite sporting franchise is the willingness to spend money and invest in all levels of that franchise. NZC doesn't own a franchise but they have generated enough funds to invest heavily in all aspects of kiwi cricket.

All of this was already evident prior to the last month, although the health of cricket in Aotearoa wasn't on display in Blackcaps or White Ferns results. Folks don't want to hear about more polynesians playing cricket or the many representative tournaments available to young women, when losing becomes more frequent or their favourite player has been dropped.

This angle of observation hit a weird climax as Blackcaps lost both Tests in Sri Lanka, White Ferns lost 0-3 in their T20Is vs Australia and the Women's Development team lost all of their T20s/one-dayers vs Australia and Sri Lanka. All that losing happened in a few weeks, just before a drastic change.

The low patch of results was in contrast to the impressive work NZC was doing. Similar to how NZC the organisation was doing far better than the perception, Blackcaps and White Ferns results were worse than many have described.

Since the 2021 World Test Championship success, Blackcaps had Test series losses in Aotearoa to Bangladesh, South Africa, England and Australia. Blackcaps had lost four Tests in a row before the tour of India and while there were nifty results such as a Test win in Bangladesh, Blackcaps had a horrible T20 World Cup before being swept in the Sri Lankan Test series.

Anyone tapped into the Niche Cache knows that the White Ferns T20I losing streak was tricky to assess. All those losses were against England and Australia, although White Ferns had lost a T20I series vs Pakistan in Aotearoa to start last summer. That forms their 2-14 T20I record from December 1st 2023 up until their T20 World Cup and they were 16-21 in T20Is under coach Ben Sawyer heading into the T20WC.

Add in a 9-12 ODI record under coach Sawyer and a precarious yet kinda safe position in the Women's Championship (6th/10 with a 9-10 record). The losing habit seeped into Blackcaps and White Ferns cricket, which made the flip into winning mahi so much more impressive.

Both teams had contributions from a new wave of players as key elements of their respective success. Blackcaps made a notable shift in Test selections when Sam Wells took over as the chief selector. Glenn Phillips got the nod for Tests in Bangladesh last year, followed by Rachin Ravindra getting the numero wha batting slot when Blackcaps returned to Aotearoa for the series vs South Africa and that also saw Will O'Rourke make his Test debut.

Phillips and Ravindra had played Test cricket before, but Phillips played his second Test in Bangladesh and Ravindra played his third Test vs South Africa. Both played different roles in their Test debuts compared to Phillips being the lead all-rounder and Ravindra commanding a top-order batting role. Along with O'Rourke, these three have been among the best Blackcaps in Test series v South Africa, Australia, Sri Lanka and India.

Blackcaps have played 11 Tests since the start of last summer. Phillips has played all of them, Ravindra has played nine and O'Rourke has played seven. The emerging White Ferns were also in the mix for a few years but were unable to add enough runs or wickets to the senior core, which kept White Ferns out of T20I/ODI World Cup semi-finals in recent years.

Georgia Plimmer has played 30 T20I innings and the T20WC was the second time she has had three 10+ scores in a row. Plimmer hit her first 30+ score in the T20I series vs Australia and went from no 30+ scores in 23 T20I innings, to four 30+ scores in her last seven innings.

Plimmer's first 30+ score was a knock of 53 and Izzy Gaze hit her first 50+ score in Wellington vs England earlier this year. Gaze has three 20+ scores in her 21 innings, all of which came this year. The T20WC is the only pocket of Gaze's young T20I career in which she has consecutive not-outs and she finished the tournament with three in a row.

During the T20WC, Brooke Halliday had three consecutive scores over 10 runs for the second time in 33 T20I innings. Halliday loves batting against England so the first time she did this was earlier this year when she had four consecutive 10+ scores. These two phases form the best run-scoring zones of Halliday's T20I career and there is a notable difference between the two as Halliday had a strike-rate of 95.06 in nine T20Is vs England compared to 123.67sr at the T20WC.

Rosemary Mair has been a regular member of the White Ferns group since her debut in 2019. Mair started the T20WC with 4 wickets against India and that was her first time taking more than 2w in a T20I. That was followed by 2w against Australia and which is the first time Mair has taken 2+ wickets in consecutive games. Mair finished with 3w in the final vs South Africa, so the only games in which Mair has taken 3+ wickets in T20Is were during this T20WC.

Blackcaps and White Ferns success over the past month also featured lots of spin bowling. Both teams were well served by a skillset that isn't usually associated with Aotearoa cricketing excellence. Blackcaps had plenty of spin options available, especially with Phillips being the best all-rounder as a spinner and Ravindra offering another spin option. Ajaz Patel and Mitchell Santner did most of the damage in India, while Ish Sodhi and Michael Bracewell were also in the Test squad as spinners.

Phillips is the least experienced of the main spinners but he bowled in every Test since his return to the 1st 11 in Bangladesh and he has a wicket in all those Tests. Blackcaps have five bowlers with 20+ wickets in this World Test Championship cycle and three of them are spinners (Patel on 37w, Phillips on 30w, Santner on 26w).

Spin bowling is a strength for White Ferns. Amelia Kerr is one of, it not the best female cricketer in the world featuring her leggies and she was Aotearoa's best bowler at the T20WC. Rosemary Mair was next on 10w and then Eden Carson was the only other kiwi bowler who took more than 5w and she snared 9w.

Five White Ferns have taken 10+ T20I wickets since the start of 2023. Fran Jonas joins Kerr and Carson in that group, meaning that three of NZ’s five best T20I bowlers are spinners. Jonas only had 3w at the T20WC but she bounced back from a tricky 2023 (69.33avg) by holding steady in her busiest year of T20I bowling (26.64avg).

Aotearoa has plenty of talent simmering below the international arena. Many would be correct in assuming that there are all sorts of batters and seamers waiting for an opportunity, but Blackcaps and White Ferns have a buffet of spinners working hard in domestic cricket.

The best emerging spinner for Blackcaps is 22-year-old Adithya Ashok who has already debuted in ODIs and T20Is. Dean Foxcroft is a 26-year-old batter who bowls spin and while he's already played five T20Is/one ODI, Foxcroft is yet to bowl and that may change during this Sri Lankan tour.

Tim Pringle can't be overlooked even though he is out injured as he is 22-years-old and has already played 20 T20Is for Netherlands in multiple World Cups. Pringle is a hearty kiwi who was born in Netherlands so he has taken up the opportunity to represent his nation of birth, but he will be a key figure for Northern Districts if/when he returns to cricket this summer.

Pringle is a lefty finger spinner who whacks boundaries and has sneaky batting craft in longer formats. That's the same recipe for 24-year-old Otago spinner Ben Lockrose. Michael Rippon has already represented Aotearoa as a lefty-leggy and Peter Younghusband continues to build a case as a leggy who can plug a hole for Blackcaps if required.

Women's cricket is full of spinners in Aotearoa. Wellington's Leigh Kasperek covered the spin department at the T20WC and along with Canterbury's Frances Mackay, they set the benchmark. Xara Jetly is a 23-year-old from Wellington who offers the same skillset as Carson, plus Wellington has 18-year-old Kate Chandler who is following the Amelia Kerr style as a young leggy who excels in all areas.

Auckland has 17-year-old leggy Rishika Jaswal who made her domestic debut last summer. 21-year-olds Ocean Bartlett and Flora Devonshire do most of the spin bowling for Central Districts, while 19-year-old Abigail Hotton joins 24-year-old Sarah Asmussen in Canterbury's spin group.

Spinners are everywhere in New Zealand. Young phenoms, grizzly veterans, athletic fielders and slick batters who all bowl spin. Having facilities that help elite batters prepare for spinny conditions has been a major boost in Blackcaps and White Ferns achieving success overseas, but the quality of top-tier spin and depth of spinners around the country can't be overstated.

Future success is not a certainty for either New Zealand cricket team. Blackcaps are in Sri Lanka with a young squad and then host England for three Tests, after going 1-4 vs England over their last two series. White Ferns host Australia for three ODIs and it doesn't get any more difficult than that for kiwi sports teams.

Results will matter but kiwis will show up because they love cricket. The double dose of Blackcaps/White Ferns success over the past month is a product of Aotearoa's love for cricket and NZC's mahi in developing the game at all levels. Whether it's a brief window or part of a wider vista, the alignment of NZC initiatives and investment with Blackcaps/White Ferns results deserves to be celebrated.

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