The New Zealand A cricket team stretched out their undefeated streak in Unofficial Tests with a win then a draw in Bangladesh, making it six games in a row without a loss and three wins in their last four games overseas. This is a wee bit different for the Unofficial ODIs where NZ-A lost the first two games and won the third which is their only win in their last nine games of one-day cricket.

NZ-A did win the third one-dayer vs Bangladesh A so they had two wins and a draw in their last three games of this tour. While the one-day results balance out the longform mahi, it's still impressive that a NZ-A team using a wide range of players had three wins over Australia A in their four games of a home/away series and followed it up almost two years later with a win in Bangladesh.

In NZ vs Australia A: Win by 3 wickets
In NZ vs Australia A: Draw
In Australia vs Australia A: Win by 225 runs
In Australia vs Australia A: Win by 68 runs
In Bangladesh vs Bangladesh A: Win by 70 runs
In Bangladesh vs Bangladesh A: Draw

Nick Kelly was the leading run-scorer in Plunket Shield last summer and backed it up with two centuries in his three innings of the longform series. Kelly had scores of 20, 122 and 103 after scoring less than 20 runs in each of his three one-day appearances vs Bangladesh A. Add in Kelly's four centuries from the Plunket Shield season and he has six centuries in his last nine FC games.

There is a funky wrinkle in Kelly's second century of the tour as he hit seven fours and six sixes, which took him to 10 sixes in the two games. Fellow veteran Joe Carter was next best on two sixes and he was the only other NZ-A batter who had two 50+ scores in the longform series (17, 58, 62).

Aotearoa cricket is flush with fabulous young talent and many of them flashed their ability in Bangladesh. Kelly and Carter were joined by Jayden Lennox as the best players of the longform series though as Lennox was the leading wicket-taker and churned out 78.4 overs, meanwhile every other NZ-A bowler had less than 30 overs.

Lennox is the youngest of these three at 30-years-old and he made his FC debut in the summer of 2020/21. Stuck behind Ajaz Patel in the Central Districts spin department, Lennox was primarily a Super Smash wizard and he has quietly developed into a slick all-round spinner who dipped below 30avg for the first time in Plunket Shield last summer.

24w @ 23.3avg made him CD's leading wicket-taker and now Lennox leaves Bangladesh as NZ-A's leading wicket-taker in their FC series. There are similar wrinkles for Kelly and Carter who have both been simmering away in domestic cricket...

Nick Kelly last few seasons in Plunket Shield

20/21: 579 runs @ 44.5avg
21/22: 675 runs @ 51.9avg
22/23: 470 runs @ 29.3avg
23/24: 605 runs @ 46.5avg
24/25: 749 runs @ 57.6avg

Carter hit two centuries in the 2022 NZ-A tour of India and while he has not been as consistent or hit the heights of Kelly, Carter has flowed through form on the back of the Indian tour. Carter averaged 53.9 in the 2023/24 Plunket Shield and backed that up with 49.8avg last season, featuring a century in his final game of Plunket Shield which gives him scores of 138, 17, 58 and 62 in his last three games.

Other NZ-A batters who put up a 50+ score in the longform series were Curtis Heaphy (71), Mitch Hay (81) and Matt Boyle (58). That was Heaphy's only innings in the longform portion of the tour and all three of these youngsters scored more in their one 50+ score than the total of their one-day series.

Lennox was the only player to bowl in all four innings of the longform series. The next best bowlers were Adithya Ashok (6w), Josh Clarkson (5w), Ben Lister and Kristian Clarke (4w) who played one game each. Lennox was the most economical bowler with 2.46rpo, followed by Clarkson on 2.83rpo and Boyle rolled the arm over to finish as the third most economical bowler on 3rpo.

Dean Foxcroft and Dale Phillips were the only NZ-A batters who scored 100+ runs in the one-day series, as well as being the only batters with a 50+ score. Rhys Mariu didn't have a 50+ score in the tour but he was the only other player who scored 50+ runs in the one-day series.

Ashok and Clarke took 4w each in the one-dayers, with Foxcroft next best on 3w. Lister, Foulkes and Lennox took 2w each. Lennox was the most economical on 4.14rpo and his 28ov made him the only NZ-A player to have 20+ overs, because he played all three games of that series.

Lennox, Kelly and Phillips were the only lads to play all three one-dayers. Lennox, Kelly, Foxcroft, Carter, Hay and Mariu played both longform games which means Lennox and Kelly were the only players who featured in all five games.

Ashok and Clarke were the only bowlers who took 4+ wickets in both series, with wickets in every innings that they bowled. Ashok was the only NZ-A bowler to take a baggy of 5w in the tour, while Clarke snuck in scores of 0, 39*, 28 and 1.

One pocket that can't be overlooked is Foxcroft playing as a spinny all-rounder who batted down the order. Like Phillips, Foxcroft scored 100 runs with a strike-rate over 100 in the one-day series while also being the third best bowler for wickets and perhaps the best as he had the lowest average of the lads who bowled 10+ overs.

Kelly (245 runs), Carter (137) and Hay (102) were the only batters over 100 runs in the longform series, then Foxcroft was fourth for runs on 95. Foxcroft was second for one-day runs and fourth for longform runs while batting down the order, plus he had the highest strike-rate for NZ-A batters in the longform series.

He was also the only other bowler aside from Lennox who bowled in at least three innings of the longform series. While Foxcroft finished with just 1w from his 25ov, he was highly efficient in the one-day series and among many intriguing Blackcaps connections, Foxcroft had the biggest change in role from his regular mahi with Otago and he impressed in a role that is more similar to the job he could do for Blackcaps.

This NZ-A tour provided a lovely snapshot of Aotearoa cricket. Older players who keep improving were joined by younger Blackcaps and the best youngsters of the domestic circuit. Lister's return adds a lefty seamer into the equation and three spinners (Lennox, Ashok, Foxcroft) led NZ-A through most of these games.

NZ-A took excellent catches and represented kiwi cricket well in conditions that are the opposite of Aotearoa. All of which was present in the one-day series loss and they extended the undefeated run of longform games. Any win overseas for a development team is an achievement to celebrated and as a reflection of the status of cricket in Aotearoa, the NZ-A team has made a habit of winning games overseas.

Unofficial ODI Series Stats

Batting

Dean Foxcroft: 108 runs @ 108avg/100.9sr, 1 x 50
Dale Phillips: 113 runs @ 37.6avg/104.6sr
Rhys Mariu: 75 runs @ 37.5avg/89.2sr
Joe Carter: 46 runs @ 23avg/76.6sr
Mitch Hay: 42 runs @ 21avg/68.8sr
Josh Clarkson: 41 runs @ 20.5avg/73.2sr
Kristian Clarke: 39 runs @ 39avg/105.4sr
Zak Foulkes: 39 runs @ 39avg/63.9sr
Nick Kelly: 33 runs @ 11avg/55.9sr
Muhammad Abbas: 19 runs @ 9.5avg/59.3sr
Curtis Heaphy: 15 runs @ 7.5avg/35.7sr
Adithya Ashok: 13 runs @ 13avg/144.4sr
Jayden Lennox: 10 runs @ 5avg/43.4sr
Ben Lister: 4 runs @ 40sr
Matt Boyle: 1 run @ 0.5avg/11.1sr

Bowling

Dean Foxcroft: 12ov, 3w @ 19.3avg/4.8rpo
Adithya Ashok: 18ov, 4w @ 22.2avg/4.9rpo
Kristian Clarke: 15ov, 4w @ 25.2avg/6.7rpo
Ben Lister: 14ov, 2w @ 44.5avg/6.3rpo
Zak Foulkes: 19ov, 2w @ 54avg/5.6rpo
Jayden Lennox: 28ov, 2w @ 58avg/4.1rpo
Dale Phillips: 3ov @ 7.6rpo
Muhammad Abbas: 7ov @ 7rpo
Josh Clarkson: 9ov @ 8.4rpo

Unofficial Test Series Stats

Batting

Nick Kelly: 245 runs @ 81.6avg/59sr, 2 x 100

Joe Carter: 137 runs @ 45.6avg/51sr, 2 x 50
Mitch Hay: 102 runs @ 34avg/53sr, 1 x 50
Dean Foxcroft: 95 runs @ 31.6avg/66sr
Matt Boyle: 74 runs @ 24.6avg/54sr, 1 x 50
Curtis Heaphy: 71 runs @ 71avg/35sr, 1 x 50
Rhys Mariu: 33 runs @ 11avg/51sr
Kristian Clarke: 29 runs @ 14.5avg/50sr
Jayden Lennox: 23 runs @ 23avg/27sr
Josh Clarkson: 21 runs @ 10.5avg/51sr
Zak Foulkes: 14 runs @ 14avg/61sr
Adithya Ashok: 7 runs @ 3.5avg/26sr
Muhammad Abbas: 7 runs @ 3.5avg/29sr
Dale Phillips: 1 ball
Ben Lister: 5 balls

Bowling

Jayden Lennox: 78.4ov, 7w @ 27.7avg/2.4rpo
Adithya Ashok: 27ov, 6w @ 18.1avg/4rpo
Josh Clarkson: 24ov, 5w @ 13.6avg/2.8rpo
Ben Lister: 17ov, 4w @ 15avg/3.5rpo
Kristian Clarke: 27ov, 4w @ 32avg/4.7rpo
Zak Foulkes: 29ov, 3w @ 35.3avg/3.6rpo
Matt Boyle: 7ov, 1w @ 21avg/3rpo
Muhammad Abbas: 8ov, 1w @ 42avg/5.2rpo
Dean Foxcroft: 25ov, 1w @ 124avg/4.9rpo
Dale Phillips: 6ov @ 4.5rpo

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