2025 England Tour Of New Zealand: ODI Domination
Blackcaps brushed aside England in their ODI series with a 3-0 sweep and they are now 14-3 in ODIs this year. West Indies start their tour of Aotearoa on Wednesday in the first T20I so before we swing into that series, here are a few quick themes from the ODI series and there will be more deep cuts delivered in our Monday newsletter - newsletters are full of kiwi cricket notes every dispatch.
Best Batters
Daryl Mitchell and Rachin Ravindra are Aotearoa's best all-format batters right now. They scored the most runs for Blackcaps in this ODI series and helped ensure that enough runs were scored throughout the series. This is especially notable given that Kane Williamson scored 21 runs @ 10.5avg/52sr in his two innings, while Will Young couldn't make the most of his opportunities with 6 runs @ 2avg/43sr and Tom Latham managed 36 runs @ 12avg/68sr.
Mitchell had scores of 78*, 56* and 44. His main duty was to hold the innings together and when compared to England, Mitchell's class was evident in how he steadily tinkered through his innings to adapt to the situation.
Ravindra had scores of 17, 54 and 46. He didn't have the weight of runs of Mitchell but Ravindra's ability to score quickly is now a staple of Blackcaps cricket with 117 runs @ 104sr compared to Mitchell's 178 runs @ 82sr. This is notable because Ravindra has an ODI career record of 43.5avg/109sr and that lines up nicely against Harry Brook's 36.5avg/103sr.
Mitchell and Ravindra are already among the best ODI batters for Aotearoa...
Highest Blackcaps ODI batting averages for 1,000+ runs
Daryl Mitchell: 51.6avg/93.5sr
Kane Williamson: 48.69avg/81.5sr
Luteru Taylor: 47.55avg/83.3sr
Glenn Turner: 47avg/68sr
Devon Conway: 44.39/87.4sr
Rachin Ravindra: 43.54avg/108.78sr
The Seamers
Blackcaps didn't just sweep England without much mahi from Williamson, they did so with Matt Henry only playing the first ODI. That means that Aotearoa dismissed England for less than 250 runs twice without their best bowler and Henry still sits as the leading wicket-taker for Blackcaps in ODIs this year (26w @ 16.3avg/4.9rpo).
The seamers in this squad also highlight the culture and steady development on offer in the Blackcaps environment. Blair Tickner took 1w @ 7.8rpo to start Ford Trophy and then stepped up to the ODI level with 8w @ 12.2avg/5.4rpo for Aotearoa. Coach Rob Walter knows Tickner well and the way Tickner settled back into the mix with winning mahi reflects his character, as well as the culture brewing in this fresh era of Blackcaps cricket.
Tickner had dipped out of Blackcaps cricket in part due to the rise of Jacob Duffy as an ODI/T20I monster who could add to his Test caps this summer. Duffy snared 7w @ 18.1avg/5.7rpo in this series and he has quietly gathered bowling averages of 23.4 in ODIs and 18.2 in T20Is.
Tickner and Duffy are both in their early 30s. While it's fun to celebrate the youngsters and their freaky skills, there is a clear trend of older players getting better throughout their careers and adding to the Blackcaps. Don't judge players by their age in the Blackcaps because all that matters is who scores runs, takes wickets and does winning mahi.
Aotearoa does have youngsters with freaky skills as well and so this is a glorious combination for kiwi cricket fans to saviour. Zak Foulkes took 7w @ 14.4avg/5rpo vs England and anyone who has followed Foulkes in domestic cricket, then tracking his T20I mahi closely, would be surprised by how Foulkes entered the ODI arena.
Foulkes averages under 27 in all six bowling zones. He averages 26 with bat and ball in List-A (one-day) cricket which shows his ability as a batter, so does Foulkes' T20I strike-rate of 144. Foulkes and Duffy have been two of the best T20I bowlers for Blackcaps over the past year and now we are seeing that flow into all formats as both made their Test debuts in Zimbabwe, as well as their winning ODI mahi.
Kristian Clarke was a funky call up to the ODI squad and offers another example of the depth available to Blackcaps. Here's how the seam stocks look right now...
Played vs England
Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy, Nathan Smith, Zak Foulkes, Blair Tickner
Injured
Will O'Rourke, Ben Sears, Kyle Jamieson, Lockie Ferguson, Adam Milne, Matt Fisher (hasn't played Ford Trophy)
That's 11 seamers not include Clarke - who is currently the leading run-scorer in Ford Trophy.
Mitchell Santner Pockets
Blackcaps under skipper Santner
Test: 2-0
ODI: 12-5
T20I: 20-11
Santner and his spinning all-rounders in ODIs this year
Glenn Phillips: 353 runs @ 70.6avg/115sr | 3w @ 67.3avg/6.5rpo
Michael Bracewell: 282 runs @ 28.2avg/102sr | 17w @ 30.1avg/4.4rpo
Mitchell Santner: 156 runs @ 26avg/105sr | 21w @ 26.8avg/4.5rpo
In England's tour of Aotearoa, Santner had scores of 36, 27, 34*, 27. He scored 88 runs @ 124sr in the ODI series and was solid with the ball (3w @ 34.6avg/4.8rpo). Santner's ODI bowling record of 36.4avg/4.8rpo when not captain drops to 32.2avg/4.6rpo when he is captain and his 2025 ODI bowling mahi is among the best of his career...
2017: 26w @ 26.3avg/4.6rpo
2025: 21w @ 26.8avg/4.5rpo
2023: 20w @ 38.5avg/5rpo
2016: 18w @ 34.7avg/4.6rpo
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Peace and love.