2026 New Zealand A Tour Of Sri Lanka: One-Day Squad
The New Zealand 'A' cricket squad is back to tour Sri Lanka with the one-dayers starting on Sunday followed by two four-dayers. Last year NZ-A had tours to Bangladesh and South Africa which saw them continue their impressive longform mahi and there are previews/debriefs for both tours linked here...
Here is a snapshot of the best NZ-A players from the two one-day series last year....
Bangladesh
Dale Phillips: 113 runs @ 37.6avg/105sr
Dean Foxcroft: 108 runs @ 108avg/1001sr | 3w @ 19.3avg/4.8rpo
Adithya Ashok: 4w @ 22.2avg/4.9rpo
Kristian Clarke: 39 runs @ 39avg/105sr | 4w @ 25.2avg/6.7rpo
South Africa
Dale Phillips: 153 runs @ 76.5avg/133sr
Zak Foulkes: 126 runs @ 63avg/71sr
Simon Keene: 114 runs @ 57avg/128sr | 1w @ 44avg/7.3rpo
Jayden Lennox: 4w @ 21avg/4.2rpo
Matt Fisher: 4w @ 33.5avg/8.9rpo
There is crossover between Blackcaps squads to tour Bangladesh and the NZ-A squads touring Sri Lanka, which is logical considering that both tours are in Asia and share similar conditions. A group of players from last year's one-day series have progressed through NZ-A to feature in the current Blackcaps squads: Bevon Jacobs, Nick Kelly, Dean Foxcroft, Josh Clarkson, Zak Foulkes, Jayden Lennox, Matt Fisher.
Here is the NZ-A one-day squad broken down by roles...
Bat: Curtis Heaphy, Dale Phillips, Rhys Mariu, Tim Robinson, Matt Boyle
Wk: Mitch Hay, Max Chu
AR: Muhammad Abbas, Simon Keene, Kristian Clarke
Spin: Adithya Ashok, Tim Pringle, Rohit Gulati
Seam: Ben Sears, Ben Lister
Robinson is the only batter who did not play NZ-A one-dayers last year. Heaphy, Phillips and Mariu rolled through both tours and Boyle got a taste of this level in Bangladesh. Robinson has already played for Blackcaps along with Mariu in this batting bracket and he will have a chance to build on a strong Ford Trophy campaign while also progressing his T20I development with Blackcaps.
Hay is not in the Blackcaps ODI/T20I squads which reflects where he is at in his development. Hay's best format is longform batting (46.7avg) and he showed this on Test debut with a knock of 61, while not quite being as dominant in the shorter formats. Hay slotted into an experienced Blackcaps Test batting unit and that's his best format, while Blackcaps have opted for the experience of Dane Cleaver in their ODI/T20I squads and that makes sense given the emerging style of those squads.
Cleaver and Tom Blundell have had strong seasons in domestic cricket. While folks want to rush players forwards in the Blackcaps pipeline, there are no age barriers and the Cleaver/Blundell combo scored plenty of runs across the domestic formats to warrant Blackcaps selection.
Hay is joined in this tier by Max Chu who has served up career best mahi across the formats for Otago this season. These two will be competing for future Blackcaps wicket-keeping duties over the next five years and this will be an important checkpoint in their development, especially as they will have to adapt their batting and keeping to Sri Lankan conditions.
Most Blackcaps squads feature at least two seaming all-rounders and that flows down to NZ-A. Clarke was the leading wicket-taker for Blackcaps in their ODI series win vs India this season and he hit his first FC/LA centuries this season for Northern Districts. Abbas battled injuries early in the summer and then returned to bowling with his lefty seam, with both Clarke and Abbas also selected for the ODI squad to play Bangladesh.
Keene was one of Auckland's best players this season with lots of runs and wickets. This followed his NZ-A mahi in South Africa last year where he was one of three batters who scored 100+ runs in that series and Keene's 128sr was second only to Phillips' 133sr. All three of these all-rounders have two centuries across the formats to go with being important seamers for their domestic teams.
Ben Sears and Ben Lister round out the seam bowling unit. Sears will dip off to the Bangladesh where he is named in both Blackcaps squads and Lister continues to simmer as a lefty seamer who is viewed favourably by Blackcaps selectors. Lister was part of both NZ-A tours last year and has already played 15 games for Aotearoa, but seems to have battled injuries that have limited his involvement with Auckland across the formats.
Lister has a unique style of lefty seam in which he moves the ball away from right-handed batters and into lefties. This has produced a T20I record of 28.7avg/8.5rpo, a T20 record of 26avg/8rpo and a FC record of 26.3avg/2.7rpo. How Lister performs in Sri Lanka will be a funky wrinkle to track because the lefty depth is flush after Ray Toole finished as the leading wicket-taker in Plunket Shield and Thomas O'Connor flashed his talent late in the season.
Many would want O'Connor in NZ-A squads but Toole is more deserving of that salute considering how effective he has been over a long period of time for Central Districts. O'Connor has also played nine games of domestic cricket and he hasn't played a full season yet, while all NZ-A players have had multiple seasons as 1st 11 players across the formats.
Again, there is no need to rush players when there is depth we have never seen before. To lay this out, here is a squad of younger players who aren't in Blackcaps/NZ-A squads and cases can be made for most of them to be in the NZ-A mix (let alone guys like Toole who are a bit older)...
1st 11
Jacob Cumming, Jesse Tashkoff, Thorn Parkes, Luke Georgeson, Xavier Bell, Lachlan Stackpole, Ben Pomare (wk), Snehith Reddy, Thomas O’Connor, Toby Findlay, Zak Gibson
Squad: Tom Jones, Jamal Todd, Jock McKenzie, Cameron Paul, Oscar Jackson, Ben Lockrose
Such depth puts pressure on blokes to perform and Lister is under pressure as a lefty who will need to fight of challenges from Toole and O'Connor. Similar depth is found in the spin department where Ashok, Pringle and Gulati are selected with Ashok also in the Blackcaps ODI squad.
Lennox is in both Blackcaps squads while Ish Sodhi is in the T20I squad, leaving a space for Ashok to fill for the ODIs. Ponder how Blackcaps have another leggy brewing behind Sodhi and Lennox sits behind Mitchell Santner, plus Blackcaps have a bunch of all-rounder spin options that was recently mapped out with Cole McConchie replacing Michael Bracewell in the T20WC squad and the Rachin Ravindra/Glenn Phillips combo have also shown their bowling value across the formats.
It stretches deeper though with Pringle and Gulati, both of whom are lefty finger spinners. Pringle's selection for NZ-A signals his shift from Netherlands to Aotearoa and he has already played 22 T20Is with 25.1avg/6.4rpo, before settling as Northern Districts' best spinner in all three formats this summer.
Northern Districts didn't need Gulati and Pringle in the same squad, so Gulati moved to Auckland prior to the season just gone and showed his class with excellent mahi across the formats. Six bowlers took 27+ wickets in Plunket Shield with Pringle and Gulati being the only spinners in this group, while no other spinner took 19+ wickets.
Pringle helped Northern Districts win the Super Smash and took 10+ wickets in each format, while Gulati also took 8w @ 18.5avg/2.9rpo in Ford Trophy to go with his excellent Plunket Shield campaign. Along with Ashok, all three spinners scored a few runs on the domestic circuit this season and combined the longform scoring grind with T20 hitting.
Here are the Ford Trophy stats from this season with List-A career mahi for all players in the NZ-A one-day squad...
Curtis Heaphy
Ford Trophy: 363 runs @ 60.5avg/68sr
LA: 53.1avg/68sr
Dale Phillips
Ford Trophy: 170 runs @ 18.8avg/86sr
LA: 30avg/87sr
Rhys Mariu
Ford Trophy: 255 runs @ 42.5avg/81sr
LA: 32.1avg/83sr
Tim Robinson
Ford Trophy: 373 runs @ 41.4avg/91sr
LA: 28avg/87sr
Matt Boyle
Ford Trophy: 289 runs @ 41.2avg/122sr
LA: 26.4avg/89sr
Muhamamd Abbas
Ford Trophy: 1w @ 128avg/6.4rpo
LA: 30avg/81sr | 59.2avg/6.8rpo
Mitch Hay
Ford Trophy: 60 runs @ 12avg/76sr
LA: 22.9avg/82sr
Max Chu
Ford Trophy: 252 runs @ 36avg/68sr
LA: 26.4avg/82sr
Kristian Clarke
Ford Trophy: 178 runs @ 89avg/90sr | 3w @ 61.6avg/6.4rpo
LA: 22.6avg/85sr | 27.9avg/5.8rpo
Simon Keene
Ford Trophy: 89 runs @ 22.2avg/102sr | 13w @ 20.5avg/5.4rpo
LA: 29.1avg/98sr | 23.2avg/5.3rpo
Ben Sears
LA: 31.5avg/5.6rpo
Ben Lister
Ford Trophy: 6w @ 42.8/4.8rpo
LA: 34.7avg/5.4rpo
Adithya Ashok
Ford Trophy: 103 runs @ 20.6avg/103sr | 15w @ 25.6avg/5.4rpo
LA: 17.2avg/81sr | 33avg/5.4rpo
Tim Pringle
Ford Trophy: 13w @ 19.9vgg/3.7rpo
LA: 15.4avg/80sr | 36.4avg/4.6rpo
Rohit Gulati
Ford Trophy: 8w @ 18.5avg/2.9rpo
LA: 50avg/114sr | 22.2avg/3.3rpo
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