Five Funky Things About The State Of New Zealand Test Cricket
New Zealand did what needed to be done in Zimbabwe for a tour that was the perfect mix of ruthless performances for the best players and a splendid development opportunity for younger players, as well as the new Blackcaps coach. This wasn't a Test tour for winners, losers and player ratings given the comprehensive victories and it's better to absorb some bigger themes heading into the next World Test Championship cycle.
Away wins in the Blackcaps pipeline
Blackcaps had two losses in Sri Lanka before smoking India 3-0 on their home turf. Add in two wins in Zimbabwe for five Test wins in a row overseas and while there are dips in winning mahi mixed in, the New Zealand A team has also been performing well in their away tours.
NZ-A has not lost a First-Class game in their last six outings and that started with a win and a draw vs Australia A in Aotearoa early in 2024. Later that year NZ-A had two wins in Australia and then they had a win and a draw in Bangladesh a few months ago.
That's three wins and a draw in their last four games overseas, which when combined with the Blackcaps stuff in foreign conditions, shakes out to eight wins and one draw for their last nine Test/FC games overseas. At the very least this is a positive sign for the Blackcaps development pipeline.
Matt Henry and Mitchell Santner improvements
Matt Henry has taken over as the lead seamer for Blackcaps in Test cricket and commanded more game time in the T20 team. While he has been a fantastic ODI bowler for most, if not all of his international career, Henry played less than three T20Is in each of his first four years with a total of six games over that period. That led to Henry dropping out of the T20 mix for Aotearoa and he didn't play T20Is for five years between 2018-22.
Since returning in 2023, Henry has played at least five years in three consecutive years and averaged less than 22 in each of those years. He is now a 1st 11 bowler for Blackcaps in T20Is and at the same time, Henry has emerged as the next world-class seamer from Aotearoa. He still has a way to go in terms of Test wickets but for general context about Henry's status as a Test seamer, his bowling average dropped just below that of Trent Boult after the series in Zimbabwe.
Same story of Mitchell Santner who got his opportunity to be Test captain in Zimbabwe thanks to Tom Latham's injury, but also because Santner has played his way back into the Test team. Santner played at least five Tests in 2015, 2016 and 2017 with bowling averages over 30 in each of those years. After not playing a Test in 2018, Santner had five appearances in 2019 with an average of 96.8.
That resulted in Santner dropping out of the 1st 11 rotation, but he still had one Test in 2020 and then 2021. Santner returned to the Test team in 2023 with 6w @ 19.3avg in his one Test and then he had five Tests last year before the tour of Zimbabwe. This is Santner's third year in a row in which he is averaging less than 20 and there has also been slight improvements in Santner's Test batting to match his drastic improvement as a bowler.
Kane Williamson has always been awesome but it's fun to note that he has also improved in recent years...
Matt Henry
Before 2020: 48.46avg/3.2rpo
Since start of 2020: 21.94avg/3rpo
Mitchell Santner
Before 2020: 44.71avg/2.7rpo (25.5avg/42sr)
Since start of 2020: 22avg/2.8rpo (26.4avg/62sr)
Kane Williamson
Before 2020: 51.44avg/51.5sr
Since start of 2020: 64.37avg/52.3sr
Hard batting unit to break into
Williamson and Latham didn't play in Zimbabwe, which gave space for Will Young, Devon Conway and Henry Nicholls in the batting unit. Williamson strolls straight back into the number three spot and Latham's the proper Test skipper so he is locked in as an opener, while Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell are still settled in the top-five.
Depending on your vibe, you will take Young or Conway out of the 1st 11 and then Nicholls sits behind them in the top-five depth chart. My personal preference is for Young to get more game time but the most likely scenario is that Conway stays as the 1st 11 opener and there should be no concerns about Blackcaps batting depth if a player of the quality of Young is the sixth batter in the top-five equation.
Top five: Tom Latham, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell
Ready to go depth: Will Young, Henry Nicholls
Youngsters on the rise: Bevon Jacobs, Tim Robinson, Rhys Mariu, Dale Phillips, Curtis Heaphy
For any emerging Blackcaps batter to break into the top-five mix, they need to be scoring more runs than the first gatekeeper in Nicholls and then the next security guard in Young. Let alone doing better than any of the lads in the 1st 11 right now and this means that everyone in this bracket needs to be scoring runs or else they will be under pressure from below in the depth chart, or they will be overtaken by others on the rise.
Seamers and all-rounders
Zak Foulkes was impressive on Test debut and this throws up two wrinkles as all the emerging Blackcaps Test seamers have taken wickets on debut, while Foulkes is also genuine all-rounder and Aotearoa is well stocked in this position.
Foulkes joined Will O'Rourke and Ben Sears in taking at least 5 wickets on their Test debut. Kyle Jamieson and Nathan Smith took at least 3 wickets on their debuts, followed by at least 4 wickets in their next innings of Test bowling. Jacob Duffy and Matt Fisher also took wickets on debut, finishing with 2 wickets each after their first Test.
Here are the wickets in their first few Test innings and each bowlers First-Class bowling average...
Kyle Jamieson: 4, 0, 5 (22.2avg)
Will O'Rourke: 4, 5, 2 (26.6avg)
Ben Sears: 1, 4 (27.8avg)
Nathan Smith: 3, 0, 4 (26.6avg)
Zak Foulkes: 4, 5 (24.5avg)
Jacob Duffy: 0, 2 (32.7avg)
Matt Fisher: 1, 1 (23.9avg)
Foulkes got his Test debut because Smith was injured and they are both highly skilled all-rounders. Even with Foulkes and Smith taken out of the mix, Canterbury and Wellington still have excellent young all-rounders on the rise to ensure that each domestic squad has a seaming all-rounder of strong potential.
Cameron Paul has only just started his domestic career at 20-years-old but he has already showcased his ability and like Foulkes, he comes from Darfield Cricket Club. Muhammad Abbas is an easy selection behind Smith at Wellington as he has already played for Blackcaps and he has the bonus of being a lefty seamer.
Here are the FC batting and bowling averages for Smith, Foulkes and the best seaming all-rounder in each region...
Seam allrounders
Nathan Smith: 26.2 | 26.6
Zak Foulkes: 19.4 | 24.5
Jock McKenzie: 33.3 | 45.6 (Auckland - 23yrs)
Kristian Clarke: 22.2 | 32.2 (ND - 24yrs)
Will Clark: 35.7 | 34 (CD -23yrs)
Muhammad Abbas: 34.4 | 31.3 (Wellington - 21yrs)
Cameron Paul: 17.2 | 21.5 (Canterbury - 20yrs)
Luke Georgeson: 22.6 | 32.7 (Otago - 26yrs)
Spinny stuff
Glenn Phillips and Ajaz Patel didn't play in Zimbabwe, with Phillips out injured and Patel part of the squad but not required to play. Along with Santner, these three provide Blackcaps with a spin department that can get busy in any conditions. Phillips has the ability to bat in the top-six and bowl plenty of overs, Santner's settled as an important 1st 11 player and Patel has done his job every time he is called upon.
Test spinners since start of 2020
Ajaz Patel: 14 Tests, 63w @ 28.2avg/3.5rpo
Mitchell Santner: 10 Tests, 39w @ 22avg/2.8rpo
Glenn Phillips: 15 Tests, 31w @ 31avg/3.6rpo
Michael Bracewell: 9 Tests, 24w @ 44avg/3.8rpo
Ish Sodhi: 4 Tests, 17w @ 29.8avg/3.5rpo
Rachin Ravindra: 17 Tests, 10w @ 44.6avg/3rpo
Add in Ravindra who can bowl overs if needed and the seaming all-rounders for exciting flexibility in how Blackcaps can build their 1st 11s and squads for upcoming series. Michael Bracewell and Ish Sodhi have dipped out of the top-tier spin mix for Blackcaps in Test cricket but they are on track to be key players in the T20 World Cup coming up.
Blackcaps have depth in this role as well as Adithya Ashok is the best young spinner in Aotearoa with his leggies being primed to add more funk to the spinny group. Jayden Lennox is a more mature spinner who could plug a hole if the depth is challenged and his accurate lefty tweakers are similar to Santner and Patel.
Dean Foxcroft is another to watch out for here as he has the best batting/spin combo of the wider Blackcaps mixer. He has already played for Blackcaps and Foxcroft played a slightly different role for NZ-A in their tour of Bangladesh, batting down the order and operating as an all-rounder, compared to his top-order batting in domestic cricket.
Adithya Ashok - 22yrs
FC: 32.6avg/3.5rpo
LA: 33.5avg/5.3rpo
T20: 23.4avg/7.5rpo
Jayden Lennox - 30yrs
FC: 34.6avg/2.9rpo
LA: 32.8avg/4.8rpo
T20: 17.9avg/7.1rpo
Dean Foxcroft - 27yrs
FC: 31.5avg/54sr | 28.1avg/3.1rpo
LA: 31.7avg/81sr | 37.6avg/5.3rpo
T20: 35.7avg/125sr | 28.2avg/8.3rpo
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