New Zealand Find An ODI Groove Leading Into 2025 Champions Trophy
After taking an emerging squad to Sri Lanka late last year, Aotearoa's Blackcaps have won five of their last six ODIs with three consecutive wins in the ODI Tri-Series vs Pakistan and South Africa. This phase stretches across two different countries and three different opponents, plus the five wins have all come by significant margins...
vs Sri Lanka: win by 9 wickets
vs Sri Lanka: win by 113 runs
vs Sri Lanka: loss by 140 runs
vs Pakistan: win by 78 runs
vs South Africa: win by 6 wickets
vs Pakistan: win by 5 wickets
The ODI Tri-Series did little to suss out the Blackcaps 1st 11 as Rachin Ravindra missed two games due to injury, while Ben Sears played two games and was ruled out of the Champions Trophy due to injury. Ravindra batted once and was typically delightful in scoring 25 runs @ 131.5sr, then Devon Conway had scores of 97 and 48 runs batting alongside Will Young in Ravindra's spot.
Young struggled in his three outings with 28 runs @ 9.3avg/67sr. Despite his struggles, Young is still the leading run-scorer for New Zealand in their nine ODIs since the start of their tour of Sri Lanka and he is second to Daryl Mitchell for ODI runs since the start of 2023. Young has been one of the most consistent ODI selections in recent years and his average of 43.7 since the start of 2023 is nicely aligned with his ODI career average of 43 and his List-A average of 41.9.
With Conway operating in his best format and in one of his favourite countries to bat (averaging 59.6 for ODIs in Pakistan), Blackcaps could roll with Conway and ease Ravindra back from concussion symptoms. This would maintain the right/left combo with Young and Blackcaps tend to extend selection faith to all their players, so persisting with Young would not be a surprise.
That selection faith will definitely apply to Tom Latham, who has been struggling for ODI runs as the numero tahi wicket-keeper. Latham had back to back ducks in his first two innings of the tri-series which formed a streak of three consecutive ODI ducks and he had a score of 1 run prior to those three ducks.
Latham did make the most of his opportunity in the last game with 56 runs @ 87sr to help steer the kiwis through their run-chase. There are funky tweaks that could be made such as Conway taking over as wicket-keeper and Young/Ravindra sliding down the order, but Latham has too much mana in the Blackcaps to be shuffled out of the 1st 11 fresh after a 50-odd and right before a major tournament.
It is important to note that Latham is in the worst two-year stretch of his ODI career. Latham was excellent in limited doses over three years (averaged 40+ in 2020, 21, 22) before dropping to 29.8avg during 2023 which featured the World Cup. Latham didn't play ODI cricket in 2024 and he's now averaging 11.4 in 2025, which is compounded by Latham averaging 22.1 in World Cups.
The role of Latham in the middle order can ease anxiety though as he just needs to provide a few gritty knocks to tie innings together with powerful hitters around him. Kane Williamson's not a powerful hitter but he is one of the most dominant ODI batters in the world and he is averaging 80.6 in his last 10 ODIs. Here are his last 10 scores: 26, 85, 53, 78*, 05, 14, 69, 58, 133*, 34
For anyone who loves Williamson statistical glory, here are his Test and ODI averages in recent years...
Test | ODI
2018: 59.1 | 46.8
2019: 51.4 | 59.2
2020: 83 | 20.5
2021: 65.8 | -
2022: 74 | 54.2
2023: 57.9 | 70
2024: 59.5 | -
2025: - | 112.5
Williamson was joined by Mitchell as the only Blackcaps to put up two 50+ scores in the tri-series. Mitchell is averaging 49.7 in ODIs since the start of 2023 and he is a smidge below 100sr (99.7), currently cruising along at 50.4avg/97.8sr in ODI batting. Add in Glenn Phillips who was not dismissed in his three innings of the tri-series and casually cracked 154 runs @ 125sr, including an epic 106* @ @ 143sr to win the first game vs Pakistan.
Phillips only bowled 9ov with 1w @ 6.5rpo and should be viewed as a useful ODI bowling option who hopefully isn't required. His main role is to push the tempo during the middle stages with his top-notch speed while always being on the brink of smashing boundaries. The craft of Williamson is quickly balanced by Mitchell's funk, then the grit of Latham is packaged with Phillips' frisky batting style and there are strong finishers in the 'beast' Michael Bracewell and skipper Mitchell Santner.
Bracewell showed his value with 33 runs @ 127sr during the tri-series and the same bowling mahi as Santner. Santner was only required to bat once and he hit 8 runs @ 160sr, giving Blackcaps a trio of batters in Phillips, Bracewell and Santner who all had strike-rates over 125 for this tri-series.
Here's how the bowling stacked up...
Will O'Rourke: 25.3ov, 6w @ 26.8avg/6.3rpo
Matt Henry: 19.5ov, 5w @ 22.4avg/5.6rpo
Michael Bracewell: 30ov, 5w @ 24.4avg/4rpo
Mitchell Sanntner: 30ov, 5w @ 24.6avg/4.1rpo
Nathan Smith: 7ov, 1w @ 46avg/6.5rpo
Jacob Duffy: 7ov, 1w @ 48avg/6.8rpo
Glenn Phillips: 9ov, 1w @ 59avg/6.5rpo
Ben Sears: 16ov @ 6.5rpo
Rachin Ravindra: 3ov @ 4.6rpo
Sears has been replaced by Duffy in the squad and Blackcaps won the ODI Tri-Series final without Henry. They dismissed Pakistan for 242 with a seam attack of Duffy, O'Rourke and Smith which is one of the most encouraging elements of this warm up phase.
Henry has been the Blackcaps best ODI bowler since the start of 2023 (39w @ 24.9avg/5.1rpo) and during the recent wave of ODIs (14w @ 14.6avg/4.5rpo). Along with Santner and Bracewell who are the only other Blackcaps to take 10+ wickets since the start of their tour of Sri Lanka, these three form the core bowlers in the 1st 11.
O'Rourke is in that core too as a 23-year-old who is averaging below 30 in all six bowling formats. With Phillips and Ravindra offering bowling options, 1st 11 selection narrows down to Duffy/Smith/Ferguson and all three have solid cases for selection.
Duffy has the second lowest average (8w @ 24.2avg/5.7rpo) behind Henry for Blackcaps in the recent wave of ODIs. Often overlooked in the Blackcaps depth chart, Duffy has quietly gathered an ODI career record of 27.1avg/6.3rpo and 21.3avg/7.2rpo in T20I, while also averaging 25.5 in 93 List-A innings.
Smith is an irresistible talent who amplifies an Aotearoa fielding unit that is already on track to be the best at the Champions Trophy. Nuance is required in assessing Smith's Blackcaps career so far as he averages 45+ in Test and ODI bowling, with few signs of his genuine batting ability yet.
Smith has 7w in four innings of Test bowling and 6w in six ODI innings, taking at least a wicket in seven of his 10 innings combined. He has also scored 10+ runs in three of his four Test innings and his best ODI knock came in his last outing with 17 runs vs Sri Lanka in Auckland.
There isn't a compelling statistical case for Smith as a 1st 11 ODI player at the Champions Trophy, but Smith has chipped in with every opportunity to represent Aotearoa. Most notably, he is an elite fielder who along with Phillips is guaranteed to save runs in the out-field while the likes of Santner and Bracewell get busy closer to the wicket.
This all-round ability will probably see Smith start as a squad member and with Mark Chapman sitting just outside the 1st 11, these lads are fabulous squad members who can step into any role their team requires. As for Ferguson, many would view him as a mandatory 1st 11 selection and yet he has two years in a row of averaging 40+ in ODI bowling.
Ferguson put up 47avg/6.2rpo in 10 innings during 2022, followed by 43.3avg/5.rpo in 17 innings during 2023 and hasn't played since then. He does have a strong World Cup record with 22.9avg/5.1rpo in 16 innings and his experience would be beneficial for a Blackcaps seam attack that skews younger.
In the Big Bash League, Ferguson took 8w @ 21.5avg/7.1rpo and this was followed by 11w @ 18.1avg/7.1rpo in the International League T20. Then came an injury and apparently he is on track to be available, so that may impact his selection otherwise there is a decent chance that Ferguson slides in as the third seamer alongside Henry and O'Rourke.
Blackcaps start the Champions Trophy on Wednesday night against Pakistan, fresh after back to back wins over Pakistan in their home conditions. Pakistan is one of the more volatile cricket teams in the world so who knows what to expect. The one thing that did shine through the ODI Tri-Series is that New Zealand is a far better fielding team and these kiwi fundamentals give the Blackcaps an encouraging baseline heading into the Champions Trophy.
Enjoy our cricket coverage? Join the Niche Cache Patreon whanau to support our kiwi sports content straight up, get a karma boost and find extra podcasts. You can also Buy Me A Coffee to show your support.
Every Monday and Friday we fire off an email newsletter with bonus content. Sign up here!
Peace and love.