After winning the first ODI in Bangladesh, New Zealand couldn't seal an upset series win with two losses in the next two games. Now the tour moves into T20I mode starting on Monday with Katene Clarke, Bevon Jacobs, Tim Robinson, Matt Fisher, Ish Sodhi and Ben Sears stepping into the mix.

Losing isn't fun but this Blackcaps ODI group was full of emerging talent and Bangladesh were always likely to win the series on their home turf. The funky thing about this series was how some senior players struggled to step up and lead the team with runs, while the likes of Nick Kelly and Dean Foxcroft did the leading. Here are the series stats…

Batting

Dean Foxcroft: 149 runs @ 49.6avg/90sr
Nick Kelly: 149 runs @ 49.6avg/73sr
Henry Nicholls: 85 runs @ 28.3avg/71sr
Muhammad Abbas: 58 runs @ 19.3avg/58sr
Will Young: 51 runs @ 17avg/69sr
Nathan Smith: 41 runs @ 41avg/84sr
Tom Latham: 33 runs @ 11avg/52sr
Josh Clarkson: 20 runs @ 6.6avg/64sr
Blair Tickner: 19 runs @ 9.5avg/90sr
Will O'Rourke: 7 runs @ 3.5avg/44sr
Jayden Lennox: 3 runs @ 1.5avg/23sr
Ben Lister: 2 runs @ 28sr

Bowling

Jayden Lennox: 5w @ 23.6avg/4rpo
Will O'Rourke: 5w @ 24.8avg/5.3rpo
Blair Tickner: 4w @ 18.7avg/5rpo
Nathan Smith: 4w @ 35.2avg/5.5rpo
Ben Lister: 2w @ 31avg/6.2rpo
Dean Foxcroft: 2w @ 43avg/4.9rpo
Josh Clarkson: 9ov @ 6.3rpo
Muhammad Abbas: 5ov @ 3.2rpo

Kelly and Foxcroft both scored 149 runs with two 50+ scores in the series. Kelly was in the top order and after a slow start to his international career, back to back scores of 83 and 59 saw him snap up his opportunity. Kelly was excellent for NZ-A in their longform series vs Bangladesh A last year and while there is a long list of young batters on the rise, Kelly's runs will keep him in the Blackcaps mix moving forward.

Foxcroft was also dominant for NZ-A in their one-day series vs Bangladesh A last year and scored his runs much faster than Kelly, batting in the middle order. Foxcroft also flashed his all-round ability with a couple of wickets as an offie and he adds depth in this specific role behind players like Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Michael Bracewell and Cole McConchie.

Muhammad Abbas was the youngest Blackcaps who played in Bangladesh and while he didn't put up a big score, he looked comfortable at this level after a knock of 110* for NZ-A in Sri Lanka. At 22-years-old, Abbas already has a 50+ score and a few wickets as a lefty seamer in his six ODIs and his journey through Sri Lanka then Bangladesh will boost his development.

Henry Nicholls was the only other batter who had a 50+ score. This was part of a streak of four 50+ scores in a row for Nicholls and eight 40+ scores in a row, then he had knocks of 13 runs and 4 runs in the next two ODIs. It's niggly to chuck Nichols in the same group as Tom Latham and Will Young because he did score some runs, but these three are all averaging below 25 in ODIs since the start of 2025.

Latham led the Blackcaps as captain with 33 runs @ 11avg/52sr and Young contributed 51 runs @ 17avg/69sr. As the two best batters in this squad, Latham and Young could have bumped the Blackcaps towards a series win but instead they were underwhelming. Here's how these three have gone in ODIs since the start of 2025...

Will Young: 500 runs @ 21.7avg/79sr
Tom Latham: 398 runs @ 23.4avg/78sr
Henry Nicholls: 221 runs @ 24.5avg/71sr

None of that is good enough to demand selection in 1st 11 situations and the time is quickly approaching where that stuff won't be good enough to fight off the emerging batters. The beauty of this series is that is clarifies where various Blackcaps sit in the depth chart and their lack of runs came while others did score runs, as well as guys like Abbas, Curtis Heaphy, Tim Robinson and Matt Boyle scoring runs for NZ-A.

Latham was also wicket-keeper with Dane Cleaver not playing. That will probably change for the T20Is but it's also worth highlighting that the NZ-A team is currently playing with Mitch Hay and Max Chu in the same team as the best young wicket-keepers in Aotearoa. Hay's operating as the wicket-keeper and he already has 50+ scores in Test and ODI batting, while Chu's all-format production is good enough to see him selected as a batter.

Josh Clarkson couldn't make the most of his opportunity to play three ODIs in a row with 20 runs @ 6.6avg/64sr and 9ov @ 6.3rpo. Clarkson keeps his spot for the T20Is and he will need to do something on this tour to make a case for future selection as a seaming all-rounder. Kristian Clarke's injury in Sri Lanka bumped him out of the Bangladesh tour and so he couldn't challenge Clarkson after an impressive ODI series in India.

Will O'Rourke, Blair Tickner and Nathan Smith were all pretty good with the ball. Smith also had scores of 21*, 18* and 2 as he continues to grow into his all-rounder status for Blackcaps. O'Rourke finished tied with Jayden Lennox for the most Blackcaps wickets in this series and he did his job returning from injury, while Tickner took 4 wickets in the first game and didn't play the third with Ben Lister taking his place.

Lister took 2w @ 6.2rpo and has a better T20I record (28.7avg/8.5rpo) than ODIs (36.6avg/6.1rpo) so it will be interesting to see how he performs in the T20I series vs Bangladesh. Lister is one of the trickiest Blackcaps bowlers to assess and will have more competition as a lefty seamer moving forward, so wickets will be crucial for the Auckland seamer.

Lennox continues to impress after five ODIs for Aotearoa. He has wickets in each game and he is the only Blackcaps bowler operating below 4.5rpo in ODI since the start of 2025, as well as having the lowest bowling average for all kiwi spinners in this period. Lennox's best format is T20 bowling and he hasn't played T20Is yet so he should make his debut vs Bangladesh as well as being a 1st 11 player throughout the series.

Despite the second/third-tier vibe to the Blackcaps ODI team in Bangladesh, no one made their ODI debut. Along with Lennox, Fisher could make his T20I debut next week and this is his weakest format so he could have been useful during the ODI series. Fisher has already made his Test debut and along with the likes of Zak Foulkes, Sears, O'Rourke and Smith, these seamers have the potential to rise up to the Matt Henry/Jacob Duffy level.

Best T20I Blackcaps since the start of 2025 in current squad...

Tim Robinson: 504 runs @ 33.6avg/140sr
Ish Sodhi: 24w @ 21.7avg/9.3rpo
Ben Sears: 12w @ 21.7avg/8.1rpo

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