As the cricketing world looked elsewhere, a development crew of T20 Blackcaps went 2-2 in Pakistan and showcased the depth of New Zealand cricket. There isn't much of a home advantage for Pakistan in T20s vs Aotearoa as they share a 4-4 record in 10 games (including a couple washed out fixtures) and for all the noise about this weakened Blackcaps outfit or Colin Munro's availability, this Blackcaps squad highlights a new age of kiwi cricket.

The initial squad named to tour Pakistan featured a cluster of lads snapping up development opportunities which was amplified when Finn Allen and Adam Milne were ruled out of the series due to injury. During the series though, Blackcaps battled all sorts of availability niggle with the best T20I seamer in the New Zealand squad Ben Lister only bowling 2 overs before battling illness to miss the last three games.

Josh Clarkson missed games two and three with illness as well. Tim Seifert was ruled out of game four with a back issue, then Tim Robinson and Dean Foxcroft battled were ruled out of game five with groin and back niggles. Blackcaps went to Pakistan with a squad of 15 and three players were unavailable for the fifth game, leaving 12 available players. In the context of this squad there is a case to be made that the players missing for game five (Robinson, Foxcroft, Lister) were all 1st 11 lads for this series.

Aotearoa went to Pakistan with a development squad, had players unavailable due to illness/injury in four of the five games and tied the series 2-2. Emerging Blackcaps played lovely roles in this series with Robinson cracking 51 runs @ 141sr in the fourth T20I, Clarkson whacking 38* @ 146sr in the game five and Will O'Rourke cruising to finish as the Blackcaps best bowler.

Foxcroft had flashes of his talent with two 30-odd scores, the first with a strike-rate of 130 and the second with a strike-rate of 107. Both knocks from Foxcroft came in wins for Blackcaps and the young Otago leader continues to build for Aotearoa with more game time. Zak Foulkes was thrown into the deep end of international cricket and didn't have a breakout series (1w @ 74avg/9.2rpo) but he will be better for the experience. Like the rest of these emerging Blackcaps, Foulkes has a stat nugget to keep stashed away for future intrigue...

Foulkes averages below 25 in First-Class, List-A and T20 bowling.

O'Rourke averages below 26.1 in FC, LA and T20 bowling. O'Rourke averages below 24 in Tests, ODIs and T20Is.

Ben Sears has a T20I bowling average of 22.3 and T20 bowling average of 20.4.

Foxcroft averages 40 in T20 batting.

Robinson has a T20 batting strike-rate of 144 which is 136sr after four T20Is.

Clarkson has a T20 batting strike-rate of 147 and his knock in game five is aligned with that.

Lister conceded 5rpo in his brief stint bowling which is the most economical of the kiwi bowlers. Lister averages 24 in T20 bowling and 25 in FC as the only other lefty in the Blackcaps mix aside from Trent Boult.

None of those lads are likely to feature in the T20 World Cup squad though. The one lad who could command selection is Sears as he has grabbed steady T20I opportunities and he is one of nine Blackcaps who have taken 10+ T20I wickets since the start of 2023. Lister is the only other emerging lad in this group of nine and he's averaging 28.7 during this period, while Sears averages 22.1.

A sneaky storyline about New Zealand cricket is that folks aren't aware how good the next wave is and an easy wrinkle to highlight is that Blackcaps suddenly have two young seamers hitting 140km/h in Sears and O'Rourke. Adjacent to that is rather impressive T20I stats that set the benchmark for all emerging lads to chase. Here are the T20I Blackcaps with 10+ wickets since the start of 2023...

• Adam Milne: 25w @ 23avg/9.6rpo

• Ish Sodhi: 25w @ 27avg/7.8rpo

• Tim Southee: 23w @ 19.8avg/7.9rpo

• Mitchell Santner: 22w @ 22.9avg/7po

• Lockie Ferguson: 13w @ 21.9avg/7.9rpo

• Matt Henry: 13w @ 23.4avg/7.8rp

• Jimmy Neesham: 13w @ 22.9avg/9.3rpo

• Ben Sears: 13w @ 22.1avg/8.7rpo

• Ben Lister: 11w @ 28.7avg/8.5rpo

Kyle Jamieson only played five game during this period and along with O'Rourke (three games), they are averaging 21 in this period.

Blackcaps went 2-2 in Pakistan using just two spinners with Sodhi joined by Michael Bracewell. Skipper Bracewell was solid with the ball but captaincy didn't bring out his best mahi and this frames a fascinating selection pocket for the T20 World Cup. Bracewell averages 14 with the ball in T20Is and 19 in T20s, but he is yet to showcase his slugging. Bracewell and Neesham are two of the best sluggers from Aotearoa but they couldn’t fire in Pakistan.

Bracewell rolled out 54 runs @ 104sr and since the start of 2023, he has a stirke-rate of 91.

Neesham scored 34 runs @ 113sr but this was a detour away from his 145sr since the start of 2023.

Both have 1st 11 all-round talents and along with Mark Chapman, they provide an interesting trio of lefty batters in the middle order. Chapman finished as the leading run-scorer in this series and has established himself as a key T20 Blackcap since the start of 2023.

Chapman has played 34 games and is the only bloke to play 30+ games during this period., which is part of a compelling case as a 1st 11 T20 World Cup player, just don't expect him to bowl. Chapman has bowled 1 over in those 34 games, didn't bowl in Pakistan and he has bowled 4ov in T20Is since 2017.

For all the complaints about the strength of this Blackcaps T20 squad, Chapman and Tim Seifert are two of the best Blackcaps T20 players since the start of 2023. Allen was meant to be in this squad and he is second for runs during this period, while Seifert is third and finished this series with 52 runs @ 157sr.

Six Blackcaps have scored 200+ runs since the start of 2023 and three were playing in this series, while all six have strike-rates over 130...

• Mark Chapman: 771 runs @ 36.7avg/142sr

• Finn Allen: 539 runs @ 29.9avg/163sr

• Tim Seifert: 538 runs @ 28avg/142sr

• Daryl Mitchell: 474 runs @ 26avg/137sr

• Glenn Phillips: 456 runs @ 32.5avg/130sr

• Jimmy Neesham: 246 runs @ 24.6avg/145sr

Any list where Phillips has the lowest strike-rate is lovely. The biggest hole in Blackcaps batting is still Devon Conway who has a record of 16.8avg/119sr since the start of 2023 as part of his form slump and this could be a selection pocket to keep tabs on.

Allen, Seifert, Kane Williamson and Rachin Ravindra are chasing top order batting spots for the T20 World Cup along with Conway. Blackcaps have ample oomph through the middle with Mitchell, Phillips, Chapman, Bracewell and Neesham the main lads in the mix here. That's nine blokes listed excluding Conway and assuming squads will feature 15 lads, there are six more spots up for grabs; Boult, Southee, Ferguson, Sodhi, Santner, Milne.

Rolling with that group of 15, Conway and Henry are the notable lads on the outer. Sears, Lister or O'Rourke could elevate to cover injuries. Conway is fantastic batting cover and depending on who is out of action, further batting cover is offered by the likes of Young, Clarkson and Robinson.

35 blokes have played T20I cricket for Aotearoa since the start of 2023. That's two T20 World Cup squads and a few more leftover. The squad that drew 2-2 with Pakistan featured a bunch of lads ranked outside the top-15, probably even the top-20. Little ol' Aotearoa heads into the T20 World Cup where the will chasing their fourth semi-final in a row and while we all want a bit more, enjoy a bit of gratitude for how competitive New Zealand is against far bigger cricketing nations.

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