The Champions Trophy is back and it comes at an intriguing time for New Zealand cricket as the Blackcaps have transitioned towards a younger, fresher group. The Blackcaps Test team has slowly integrated Aotearoa's best young talent over the past year and a bit which saw them ride a hectic rollercoaster of results, which now flows into the ODI squad as the likes of Will O'Rourke, Nathan Smith and Ben Sears are selected for their first majour tournament.

After making the ODI World Cup semi-finals for the fifth consecutive time in 2023, there was a hiatus in the one-day format until the Blackcaps started their away/home series vs Sri Lanka late last year. During that hiatus, Blackcaps had T20 World Cup where they had losses vs Afghanistan and West Indies which saw the kiwis bundled out of the tournament at the group stage.

Blackcaps had made three consecutive T20 World Cup semi-finals prior to the 2024 tournament. Since the start of 2015, New Zealand made the semi-finals in all six ODI and T20 World Cups with three appearances in the final. Not bad for the smallest Test playing nation and along with success in the first World Test Championship, this was the basis for New Zealand being the best cricketing nation in the world on a per capita/kg for kg basis.

Even without the Aotearoa bias, Blackcaps established themselves as a top-three cricket team. Top-four is undeniable when consistently making semi-finals when 'better' teams don't do that. This can be sharpened to top-three when making finals and winning an ICC event, although Blackcaps have settled back in the top-five mix with solid WTC campaigns around the T20WC failure last year.

There have been threads of transition across all three formats over the last few years but the shift from the T20WC to Champions Trophy signals the greatest change for Blackcaps selection. Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Ish Sodhi, Jimmy Neesham and Finn Allen were all part of the T20WC and Allen was the only lad in this group who was not in the 2023 ODIWC squad.

None of those players are in the Champions Trophy squad. Boult is the only player who could still command 1st 11 selection in the ODI team and regardless of what he says, Boult's actions tell us that he doesn't really want to represent Aotearoa any more. Southee played four games at the last ODIWC, Neesham played three and Sodhi played one so they weren't even 1st 11 certainties back in 2023.

Allen was given a crack at the ODI opening job in 2023 and didn't take that opportunity with 17.7avg/91sr in 18 innings leading into the World Cup. Rachin Ravindra took that opportunity instead with 578 runs @ 64avg/106sr during that tournament, then Allen scored 35 runs @ 8avg/81sr in the T20WC last year.

Blackcaps moved past Allen as an ODI opener mid-way through 2023. There are other batters who are younger and more invested in Aotearoa cricket who will get T20 opportunities, while the trio of Ravindra, Devon Conway and Will Young are all better ODI batters than Allen right now.

When pondering the Blackcaps transition, it's important to note lads who are invested in Aotearoa cricket and have played ODIs who add to the Blackcaps depth. Kyle Jamieson, Henry Shipley, Tim Robinson, Mitch Hay, Zak Foulkes, Dean Foxcroft, Ben Lister and Adithya Ashok will contribute more to Blackcaps after the Champions Trophy.

Jacob Duffy is in the wider squad as cover for Lockie Ferguson so he may or may not play, but he's enjoying a nice patch of form as a depth bowler too. Duffy averages 25.9 in ODI and 21.3 in T20I, so the pivot towards a fresher Blackcaps group could be amplified if Duffy steps in for Ferguson.

Ferguson's availability depends on the status of his walkabouts and his selection is aligned with the x-factor offered by O'Rourke and Sears. Ferguson is not among the best ODI bowlers for Blackcaps though as the only format he averages 30+ in is ODI and he averages 42.7 since the start of 2023, as well as averaging 40+ for ODI in 2022 and in 2023.

Matt Henry is the best Blackcaps bowler right now and then there are they 140km/h crew in O'Rourke, Sears and Ferguson who all offer skillful movement as well. While Smith hasn't snared baggies of wickets since making his Blackcaps debut, the combination of his bowling skill with useful batting and elite fielding could make him a handy 1st 11 player in a tournament like the Champions Trophy.

The general vibe of cricket in Pakistan and United Arab Emirates (where NZ plays India) is lots of runs vs skilled and funky bowlers. This is probably why Blackcaps opted for the O'Rourke/Ferguson/Sears trio, while all-rounders like Smith and Michael Bracewell can provide important runs down the order. There is a chance that the 1st 11 has Smith and Bracewell, which in the case of Smith would amplify the transition/pivot thread as that would mean that Smith has quickly settled as a 1st 11 cricketer for Aotearoa.

Here is the funky 1st 11:

Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner, Nathan Smith, Matt Henry, Will O'Rourke

That's the deepest possible batting line up available to Blackcaps and they still have five frontline bowlers with Phillips, Ravindra and Mitchell offering surplus overs. Ferguson/Duffy and Sears offer other bowling options, while Devon Conway and Mark Chapman could easily be 1st 11 depending on personal preferences.

The Conway slump is a well-worn storyline in these estuaries. Here is how Conway has performed across all three formats as a Blackcap...

(Test | ODI | T20I)

• 2020: --- | --- | 58avg

• 2021: 63.16avg | 75avg | 47.55avg

• 2022: 49.92avg | 28.57avg | 47.33avg

• 2023: 32.46avg | 45.61avg | 13avg

• 2024: 21.44avg | --- | 22.85avg

Conway's last dose of ODI cricket was the 2023 World Cup and his 45.6avg that year mainly comes from the first half of the year. Conway had three centuries in 2023 ahead of the World Cup and scored 152* in the first game then he had the following scores to finish the tournament: 32, 45, 20, 0, 28, 2, 35, 45, 13.

Chapman has a stronger case for 1st 11 selection than Conway. Chapman is the ideal squad member as he's had at least four innings batting third, fourth, fifth and seventh in ODI, along with at least four innings batting third, fourth, fifth and sixth in T20Is. Chapman has maintained a strike-rate over 110 in each of those T20I roles and is over 100sr batting fourth, fifth and seventh in ODI; he's not far off for batting three in ODI either with 98.8sr.

Blackcaps batters who have 200+ runs and 100+ strike-rates in ODIs since the start of 2023...

• Michael Bracewell: 293 runs @ 36.6avg/118.14sr

• Rachin Ravindra: 945 runs @ 41.08avg/109.5sr

• Mark Chapman: 474 runs @ 29.62avg/105.56sr

• Mitchell Santner: 335 runs @ 22.33avg/101.82sr

• Daryl Mitchell: 1,244 runs @ 49.76avg/100sr

Young should be deserving of a 1st 11 spot. He has a strong ODI record (46.25avg/88sr) in 37 innings which stays impressive since the start of 2023 with 47.69avg/87sr in 29 innings. Young has also been the best Blackcaps batter of the past six months with strong mahi during the Test series sweep in India and then the T20I/ODI tour of Sri Lanka, before scoring 42 and 60 in his one Test vs England.

Young had a big ol' 90* in the first ODI vs Sri Lanka, which along with a knock of 50 runs @ 135sr in his one Super Smash game, means Young has churned out 50+ scores in all three formats and three different countries during the second half of 2024. Who has the most 50+ scores in ODIs since the start of 2023? Young with 11 while the next best is Mitchell on eight, but Young has one century and Mitchell has five.

Phillips is in an interesting zone as well with his 31.2avg/96sr in ODIs since the start of 2023 dropping to 46 runs @ 11.5avg/77sr in four innings against Sri Lanka. Since his knock of 58* in the first innings of the first Test vs England, Phillips doesn't have a 30+ score in 10 innings and he's got a single wicket in his last six innings.

That doesn't add to the case for Phillips as an automatic 1st 11 player at the Champions Trophy and this could be a spot where Chapman gets an opportunity, or perhaps the batting line up is tinkered to ensure that Conway can open. Phillips doesn't need to provide big contributions in the Champions Trophy as his role will revolve around efficiency, but he does lead an impressive fielding unit alongside skipper Santner as well as lads like Smith.

Part of the Blackcaps dip in results has been a drop in their fielding standards. With games against Pakistan, Bangladesh and India during the first stage of the Champions Trophy, Blackcaps should be the better fielding team in all three games. All three games are winnable for New Zealand and the intensity, focus, crispness of their fielding will be informative about how they are tracking in the tournament.

This Champions Trophy is a significant learning moment for Blackcaps cricket. There has been a drop in performance during a period of transition, but a fresh Test team sliding back into the middle of the WTC ladder has been balanced by the older Blackcaps T20I team stinking up the T20WC last year. They did well to maintain the streak of ODIWC semi-finals during this phase and now it's time to see if this group can make a dent on the global stage once again.

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