The New Zealand A cricket team continued their undefeated streak to eight First-Cass games with a win and a draw in South Africa, with four wins and two draws in their last six games overseas. NZ-A had the same win and draw recipe in the FC series as they did in Bangladesh and the one-day games followed the regular flow as well with two losses then a win in South Africa.

The New Zealand A cricket team is undefeated in their last 8 First Class games - 4 wins, 2 draws overseas

vs Aus in NZ: won by 3 wickets
vs Aus in NZ: drawn
In Aus: won by 225 runs
In Aus: won by 68 runs
In Ban: won by 70 runs
In Ban: drawn
In SA: won by 185 runs
In SA: drawn
— The Niche Cache (@thenichecache) September 18, 2025

Dale Phillips was the only NZ-A batter to hit a century in the LA series and he was the only top-order batter who scored 100+ runs in that format. Zak Foulkes and Simon Keene were the other batters who passed 100 runs across the three LA games. Foulkes hit two 50+ scores in his two innings and they showcased his batting craft, while Keene had one 50+ score and 114 runs @ 128sr batting down the order.

Muhammad Abbas was the only other batter who registered a 50+ knock in the LA series. Joe Carter had a knock of 47 and Curtis Heaphy sparked up his streak of 30+ scores or not-outs with scores of 35 and 30* in the LA series.

Jayden Lennox and Matthew Fisher took 4 wickets each. Lennox (4.2rpo) was far more economical than Fisher though (8.9rpo) and he was the only NZ-A bowler who conceded less than 6rpo in the one-day phase. Adithya Ashok was the next best for NZ-A wicket and finished as the second most economical bowler with 3w @ 6rpo.

In the FC series, Rhys Mariu had two centuries and was joined by Phillips and Heaphy as the other NZ-A batters to go large. Mariu started with a hefty 249 runs in the first game and finished the tour with 135 runs, boosting his FC batting average to 62.7 after 33 innings at 23-years-old.

The double hundy was Mariu's first 50+ score for NZ-A this year but it's not his first time passing 200 runs in an innings as he rolled out a knock of 240 runs in the Plunket Shield last summer.

Heaphy scored 190 runs in the first innings of the second game and continues to simmer as a high quality batter. Stretching back to Bangladesh, the 22-year-old finished that tour with a knock of 71 and then he scored 50* for Central Districts in the Global Super League before putting up scores of 35, 30*, 32, 36, 190 and 13* in his next six innings.

Averaging 30+ in all three formats, Heaphy is now averaging 40+ in FC (42.3avg) and LA (50.5avg) batting. Mariu doesn't have the same LA and T20 mahi as Heaphy, but he has already shown his class for Aotearoa with 58 runs in his second ODI with a strike-rate of 95. This is notable because Mariu scores quickly when he is in a groove and Heaphy scores slower, yet Heaphy is the better T20 batter right now after his contributions in CD's Super Smash championship and then his GSL knock.

Here are is how their careers stack up so far...

First-Class

Rhys Mariu: 62.76avg/65.9sr
Curtis Heaphy: 42.37avg/36.6sr

List-A

Rhys Mariu: 28.7avg/84sr
Curtis Heaphy: 50.52avg/67.7sr

T20

Rhys Mariu: 7.5avg/107sr
Curtis Heaphy: 30.9avg/112.7sr

Phillips hit a century in both formats during the tour of South Africa and his class was evident in how he adapted to what was required. He scored 147 runs @ 135sr in the LA series and followed it up with 103 runs @ 66sr in the FC series. This offers an example of Phillips' attacking ability and also his craft, with a funky note being the his century in the FC series had a strike-rate well below Mariu's double hundy (96sr).

Mitch Hay had two 50+ scores in the FC series and he joined his Canterbury comrade Mariu as the only NZ-A batters who passed 50 runs twice in the FC series. In seven FC innings for NZ-A this year, Hay had three 50+ scores and the 25-year-old currently has a FC batting average of 48.1.

Hay dropped out of the Blackcaps T20 top-tier ahead of the Australia series but the combination of almost averaging 50 in FC batting and starting his ODI career with 41.5avg/104sr reinforces the idea that Hay is the next up wicket-keeper/batter for Aotearoa. Add in Muhammad Abbas and Bevon Jacobs for a Blackcaps batting pipeline that is full of emerging lads ready to put pressure on those ranked above them.

23-year-old Jacobs battled through three consecutive ducks and six scores below 10 in seven innings to hit 51 runs in the last innings of the tour for NZ-A. This ensured that Jacobs kept his FC batting average over 50 (52.7avg) and it was a similar yarn for 21-year-old Abbas who had five scores below 20 in six innings for NZ-A before finishing the tour of South Africa with scores of 66, 40 and 47.

Joe Carter also deserves a special mention after his 57 runs in the first innings of the FC series gave him three 50+ scores in four FC games this year for NZ-A. Add in two FC centuries during the 2022 NZ-A tour of India and Carter has been a hearty leader for NZ-A.

Keene scored 67 runs @ 167sr in his two FC innings in South Africa, so it's cool that he was over 120sr in both formats.

23-year-old Ashok was the best bowler for NZ-A with 10w @ 32.9avg/5rpo and he took 3+ wickets in four of his six innings bowled. The tour finished with Ashok taking 3w, 4w and 3w during the FC series which followed 10 wickets in four innings during the tour of Bangladesh.

Fisher followed up his Test debut (a wicket in both innings) with 7w in the first FC game vs South Africa. Fisher bagged 6w in the first innings and has quietly gathered a FC bowling average of 22.2 at 25-years-old, while his LA bowling average of 26.6 is also impressive.

Lennox took 4w in both formats of the South Africa tour and including his 3w in the last GSL game for CD, the lefty has 2+ wickets in five of his last six innings bowled. Lennox took wickets in five of his seven FC innings for NZ-A this year and after his best season of Plunket Shield bowling, he has stayed in the wickets on tour with NZ-A.

Most innings batted

First-Cass

Curtis Heaphy, Joe Carter, Mitch Hay: 4
Rhys Mariu, Josh Clarkson, Zak Foulkes: 3

List-A

Muhammad Abbas: 3
Everyone else except for Ben Lister, Jayden Lennox and Matt Fisher batted twice.

Most overs bowled

First-Class

Adithya Ashok: 65.1
Jayden Lennox: 59.5
Zak Foulkes: 50

List-A

Adithya Ashok: 27.2
Jayden Lennox: 20
Ben Lister: 16

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