The New Zealand A cricket team is about to start their second overseas tour of 2025 with three List-A games followed by two First-Class games in South Africa. A few months ago NZ-A toured Bangladesh where they stretched out their undefeated streak in FC cricket to six games and all the Bangladesh antics were covered in depth. Check in with relevant Blackcaps stuff as well…

Breaking Down The NZ-A Cricket Squad For The 2025 Tour Of Bangladesh

2025 New Zealand A Tour Of Bangladesh Debrief

New Zealand T20 Tri-Series In Zimbabwe Debrief

Five Funky Things About The State Of New Zealand Test Cricket

For the tour of South Africa there are three changes with Bevon Jacobs, Matt Fisher and Simon Keene replacing Matt Boyle, Dean Foxcroft and Kristian Clarke. Northern Districts all-rounder Clarke was the only player mentioned as being unavailable due to injury after being the best seamer in the LA games played in Bangladesh.

Foxcroft was the most efficient bowler in the one-day section of the Bangladesh tour and was the only batter who averaged over 30 in both formats. Boyle struggled in the LA series and had a 50+ knock in the FC games, so him and Foxcroft have decent cases for selection in the current squad but Jacobs and Fisher are now Blackcaps and worthy of their selections.

Jacobs is a better batter in all formats right now than Boyle. Keene has a similar skillset to Clarke and while his Auckland comrade Jock McKenzie has higher upside, plus the presence of many talented all-rounders such as Central District's Will Clark and Otago's Luke Georgeson, we don't know who else is battling injuries or is unavailable due to other commitments.

Keene’s all-round ability has led to a bunch of different roles for Auckland. After starting his career with 7 wickets on Plunket Shield debut, the 23-year-old has stayed steady with the ball and grown into a more prominent role with the bat in all formats. Last summer he opened the batting in Super Smash and he has a T20 strike-rate of 171 after his eight games, while averaging over 20 with the bat and below 35 with the ball in all three formats.

Fisher's selection alongside seamers Zak Foulkes, Ben Lister, Josh Clarkson and Muhammad Abbas is probably due to more seam friendly conditions compared to Bangladesh. Foxcroft batted down the order in Bangladesh and played as a spinning all-rounder for the Asian conditions, now the NZ-A squad has two spinners in Adithya Ashok and Jayden Lennox wit Dale Phillips offering an extra spin option.

Foxcroft did play in the Global Super League for CD in the Caribbean so that's another overses experience that will serve his development well. Same goes for Clark and Curtis Heaphy who flexed his development as a T20 batter after a decent tour of Bangladesh. Heaphy is one of the youngest players to be selected in both NZ-A squads and while he offers wicket-keeping cover behind Mitch Hay, Heaphy is on track to join Rhys Mariu and Dale Phillips as the emerging batters competing to boost Blackcaps top-order depth in the coming years.

Heapy is 22-years-old with a FC batting average of 37.4 and a LA batting average of 49.6. His T20 strike-rate of 113 is balanced by impressive mahi in various roles during CD's Super Smash championship, a knock of 50* @ 132sr in the GSL and a T20 batting average of 30.9 that his higher than many of his peers.

As well as his sneaky role in the Super Smash championship, Heaphy was the leading Ford Trophy run-scorer last summer with 502 runs @ 71.7avg and followed that up with a knock of 71 during the FC series in Bangladesh. Heaphy has 50+ scores at opposite ends of the format spectrum and both were in overseas conditions.

One player in a funky spot is lefty seamer Ben Lister who will return to Africa after being part of the Test squad in Zimbabwe. Blackcaps used Matt Henry, Will O'Rourke, Nathan Smith, Jacob Duffy, Matt Fisher and Zak Foulkes as seamers in those two Tests so they are all ranked ahead of Lister in the longform mixer.

Ben Sears and Kyle Jamieson are also ahead of Lister in this highly competitive battle for Blackcaps selection. When peeking through the T20 lens there are Lockie Ferguson and Adam Milne among a high quality crew of Blackcaps seamers who all average below 25 in T20I bowling since the start of 2024; Duffy (14.2avg), Henry (17.6), Ferguson (9.2), Foulkes (24.4), Milne (21.5), Sears (24.8).

Lister is the only lefty though and along with two NZ-A tours this year, either side of his time with the Blackcaps Test squad and coach Rob Walter, Lister has played in the T20 Blast and Major League Cricket. The Blackcaps T20 seam unit is tricky for Lister to break into, especially as it's awesome without a bowler like O'Rourke, but Lister has already played 12 T20Is for Aotearoa (28.7avg) and is clearly in the wider Blackcaps bowling group.

Blackcaps and New Zealand Cricket development plans are clearly evident in NZ-A squads this year. Joe Carter and Nick Kelly were captains in Bangladesh and keep their roles for the tour of South Africa, providing valuable leadership for the squad and building their experience in such roles.

Despite all the headlines about the NZ-A squad revolving around the young players, it's important to note that mature cricketers have roles to play in the Aotearoa cricket ecosystem as well. Along with every regional team having experienced players leading the way, Kelly made his Blackcaps debut last summer and Duffy has become a fabulous T20I bowler and made his Test debut at 30-years-old.

Matt Henry and Mitchell Santner have made significant improvements in recent years, while players like Michael Bracewell have played all their Blackcaps cricket after turning 30-years-old. Joining Carter and Kelly as mature cricketers with potential to develop further is CD spinner Jayden Lennox, who has quietly emerged as one of the best spinners on the domestic circuit in recent seasons.

Lister and Clarkson are nudging towards 30yrs as well. Blackcaps depth is the craziest it has ever been because of how talented the youngsters are and there are many more on the rise behind the current wave. Mature cricketers aren't overlooked though and the quality of the development pipeline in Aotearoa cricket is most evident in how youngsters and elders keep improving in alignment towards delivering the best Blackcaps team that New Zealand can produce.

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Peace and love.