New Zealand's Blackcaps have snuck over to India to play three ODIs and while their is a distinct development flavour to the ODI group, it's also a fair reflection of the best one-day cricketers available. Blackcaps were a dominant force in ODI cricket last year with a 17-3 record while using 24 different players and that included a strong Champions Trophy campaign where they made the final.

That means that the smallest Test playing nation in the world has made the final in three of the last four one-day tournaments, as well as cracking the semi-final stage in six consecutive major one-day tournaments. As one of the cricket cartel nations, India thinks they run international cricket and the last two one-day tournaments have seen Aotearoa lose to India in the 2023 World Cup semi-final which India hosted and then the Champions Trophy final when India enjoyed a cosy advantage due to political niggle.

The combination of playing India in their backyard and embracing a fresh wave of Blackcaps for the ODI series means that expectations for winning mahi should dip away from Aotearoa's ODI excellence. This will however be an enticing series for new players to showcase their talent and as we have seen with the recent Test series, all Blackcaps need to perform because the depth is at an all time high.

Daryl Mitchell and Rachin Ravindra led Blackcaps for runs last year in ODIs, while Matt Henry and Mitchell Santner were the leading wicket-takers. Mitchell is the only player in this group who will tour India and even Jacob Duffy who was third for ODI wickets last year with an excellent average of 21.4 is kicking back somewhere in the deep south of Aotearoa.

This flows even deeper as 10 bowlers took 9+ wickets in ODIs last year and only three are in this squad; Michael Bracewell, Kyle Jamieson and Zak Foulkes. Bracewell's one of two spinny all-rounders with Glenn Phillips, while Adithya Ashok and Jayden Lennox are the other spinners selected. Jamieson and Foulkes lead the seam department that also features Michael Rae, Josh Clarkson and Kristian Clarke.

Ashok, Lennox, Clarkson and Clarke all played for NZ-A this year for overseas tours of Bangladesh and South Africa. Ashok and Lennox were part of both tours while Clarkson and Clarke played in Bangladesh. Rae showed the quality of depth in kiwi cricket by doing his job in the Test team and he can build on that with his first overseas tour.

All these bowlers were solid in Ford Trophy and the only bloke who wasn't at their best was Clarke, who scored a century and was called up to the ODI squad vs England. Clarke is obviously in the Blackcaps mixer so his selection makes sense, both spinners have been in the pipeline and Clarkson was the best bowler in Ford Trophy so he deserves his spot as well.

Adithya Ahsok: 74 runs @ 37avg/140sr | 8w @ 22.7avg/5.2rpo
Kristian Clarke: 178 runs @ 89avg/90sr | 3w @ 61.6avg/6.4rpo
Josh Clarkson: 156 runs @ 31.2avg/107sr | 16w @ 11.3avg/3.8rpo
Jayden Lennox: 8w @ 28.3avg/5rpo
Michael Rae: 8w @ 31.6avg/5.2rpo

Nick Kelly was also part of both NZ-A tours as a leader and he is the funkiest selection in the batting department. Rhys Mariu and Muhammad Abbas both had 50+ scores in their first ODI series early last year vs Pakistan while Kelly didn't score runs in that series. They younger lads would have been in the mix but Abbas is returning from injury and perhaps the best thing for Mariu right now is to fight for a 1st 11 role with Canterbury in Super Smash.

Kelly wasn't in great form during Ford Trophy (72 runs @ 14.4avg/100sr) but he had two centuries in three innings of the longform NZ-A series in Bangladesh. There are others like Bevon Jacobs and Curtis Heaphy who could have been selected but Kelly got the nod as a mature lefty, which only strengthens the competitive depth because Kelly needs runs to keep his spot as an older gate-keeper in the batting pipeline.

Don't stress about the selection of mature cricketers because there are no age limits and there is always a mix of players in these squads. The NZ-A squad featured lots of younger lads as well as older players like Kelly, Lennox and Joe Carter. In this Blackcaps ODI squad there are emerging players like Ashok, Clarke and Hay. All of which is part of a fundamental aspect of cricket in New Zealand as players at all levels are improving to earn higher honours.

Henry Nicholls is thoroughly deserving of his opportunity having been the best batter in domestic cricket so far this season. Nicholls scored 306 runs @ 76.5avg/95sr in the Ford Trophy and the selection of two mature lefties in Nicholls and Kelly smells like a plan for Blackcaps heading into this series.

Here's how the regular Blackcaps performed in ODI cricket last year...

Daryl Mitchell: 761 runs @ 54.35avg/86sr
Devon Conway: 369 runs @ 46.12avg/83sr
Michael Bracewell: 368 runs @ 30.66avg/99sr | 17w @ 31.88avg/4.5rpo
Glenn Phillips: 353 runs @ 70.6avg/115sr | 3w @ 67.33avg/6.5rpo
Will Young: 320 runs @ 18.8avg/79sr
Mitchell Hay: 107 runs @ 53.5avg/121sr
Henry Nicholls: 64 runs @ 21.33avg/66sr
Nick Kelly: 49 runs @ 16.33avg/80sr
Zak Foulkes: 38 runs @ 84sr | 9w @ 16avg/4.5rpo
Kyle Jamieson: 10 runs @ 200sr | 10w @ 30avg/5.4rpo

Here's a Blackcaps ODI team made up of players not selected who played ODIs last year (exlcuding Kane Williamson who takes the piss)...

Rachin Ravindra, Rhys Mariu, Mark Chapman, Tom Latham (wk), Muhammad Abbas, Mitchell Santner, Nathan Smith, Matt Henry, Blair Tickner, Jacob Duffy, Will O'Rourke

Squad (played ODIs in recent years): Tim Robinson, Dean Foxcroft, Ben Sears, Ben Lister

Here's an emerging team of players not selected above...

Curtis Heaphy, Dale Phillips, Gareth Severin, Bevon Jacobs, Max Chu (wk), Luke Georgeson, Jock McKenzie, Simon Keene, Tim Pringle, Matt Fisher, Rohit Gulati

Squad: Jamal Todd, Jesse Tashkoff, Ben Pomare (wk), Fraser Sheat, Cameron Paul

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Peace and love.