New Zealand handled their business against Ireland in another flex of Aotearoa's cricketing depth and are now boosted by the return of Mitchell Santner for the Test series vs England. The Ireland Test fits snug into the recent wave of Tests with clinical mahi from a wide range of kiwi cricketers delivering two wins vs Zimbabwe, a draw then two wins vs West Indies then the win vs Ireland.

Blackcaps should have the 5-0-1 record in this period as Zimbabwe, West Indies and Ireland are weaker Test teams than New Zealand. The winning expectations are balanced by having 23 players used in this period including six debutants and along with others like Ben Sears and Blair Tickner, all these players called up to represent Aotearoa in Test cricket have either done something on debut or in the case of Tickner, put themselves back in the Test mixer.

Jacob Duffy, Zak Foulkes and Matt Fisher made Test debuts in Zimbabwe. All three took wickets with Duffy becoming Aotearoa's second best all-format bowler behind Matt Henry since then and Foulkes settling into a Test groove where he's played five of the six Tests. Fisher took wickets on debut and then missed some of the summer due to injury, with injuries in the series vs West Indies leading to Tickner's opportunity and a Test debut for Michael Rae.

Mitchell Hay scored 61 runs on Test debut vs West Indies and this was matched by Dean Foxcroft's 98 runs on Test debut vs Ireland. Foxcroft has been the notable Blackcaps riser this year with three 50+ scores in his last six innings for Blackcaps after a strong tour of Bangladesh. This is another reminder to fans why headlines about contracts don't matter because Foxcroft is playing for Blackcaps without a contract at that level and he has been selected ahead of others with those contract. There is no connection between Blackcaps contracts and game time.

Foxcroft was named in the squad to tour England but Mitchell Santner has recovered from his injury and bumps Foxcroft out of the series vs England. Foxcroft is behind Santner and Glenn Phillips in the spinny all-rounder role pocket so this is a logical move which highlights how Blackcaps have ample depth in specific roles. Foxcroft only bowled one over vs Ireland as the lead spinner while the seamers showed their class.

Foxcroft would only have played against England if Phillips was busy with T20 jobs and instead of the anxiety whipped up elsewhere about player availability, these instances only boost Blackcaps depth. Blackcaps will usually opt for a spinny all-rounder unless conditions dictate more spin stuff and even then, they can roll with Santner/Phillips in the same team to sustain a long batting line up.

Now we move from pondering how Phillips was going to hold a 1st 11 spot with Foxcroft behind him, to visions of Santner and Phillips in the same team vs England. Santner's recent mahi in Test cricket is deserving of these selection bumps and one of the few blokes in the world who can rival Santner's freaky all-round ability, is Phillips. Santner's vibe switch in Test cricket…

Bowling

Before 2023: 45.6avg/2.7rpo
Since start of 2023: 19.7avg/2.9rpo

Batting

Before 2023: 24.7avg/42sr
Since start of 2023: 29avg/64sr

Blackcaps Test spinners since the start of 2025

Ajaz Patel: 73ov, 6w@ 22.6avg/1.8rpo
Mitchell Santner: 34.1ov, 4w @ 19.2avg/2.2rpo
Glenn Phillips: 20ov, 2w @ 30.5avg/3rpo
Michael Bracewell: 74ov, 1w @ 195avg/2.6rpo
Rachin Ravindra: 24.3ov, 1w @ 69avg/2.8rpo

There isn't much space in the batting unit as the top-six are locked in with Henry Nicholls offering depth in the squad as a pure batter. Blackcaps also have seaming all-rounders Nathan Smith and Zak Foulkes in the squad to play England, while Henry, Will O'Rourke, Kyle Jamieson and Tickner are the specialist seamers.

Smith has the edge over Foulkes right now. It would be super funky to have them in the same team vs England as was the case vs Ireland, especially if Santner and Phillips are in the same team. Smith's 6w @ 2.8rpo and 2w @ 2.5rpo vs Ireland takes him to 10w @ 13.8avg/2.6rpo in Tests since the start of 2025, which is more efficient than Foulkes' 15w @ 30avg/2.9rpo.

Smith is also averaging 31 with the bat in this period and Foulkes is on 19.5avg. Both are highly capable as seaming all-rounders and Foulkes is likely to play at some stage vs England, but Smith's recent form and his experience with Dukes balls will probably see him start the series as a 1st 11 player.

Tickner was also effective vs Ireland with 1w @ 5rpo and 5w @ 4.3rpo. He has taken wickets in eight of his nine Test innings but Tickner's excellent return to the ODI mixer is matched by his recent Test mahi. Here is Tickner's Test resurgence...

First three Tests: 12w @ 36.2avg/4.1rpo
Last two: 10w @ 14.8avg/3.5rpo

Talking through the Blackcaps win vs Ireland for the Patreon whanauhttps://t.co/JlrC8rSn5I
— The Niche Cache (@thenichecache) May 29, 2026

Tickner is still ranked behind Smith, Henry, O'Rourke and Jamieson. He is well equipped to bully batters with short bowling and with O'Rourke cooking as the glove-smasher early in his Test career, these two are the most likely candidates to bowl bouncers when it's needed. This could help Tickner's case for selection and Blackcaps have plenty of seam bowling options to roll through the series v England.

Rachin Ravindra (121 runs) and Tom Blundell (186 runs) were the other batters to score Blackcaps runs vs Ireland along with Foxcroft. Ravindra is the best Blackcaps Test batter right now with the same number of centuries (3) as Devon Conway and Tom Latham since the start of 2025 but Ravindra is the only Blackcaps batter with 100+ runs and 70+ strike-rate in this period.

Ravindra has scored 590 runs @ 118avg/87sr with scores of 2, 165*, 3, 176, 5, 72*, 46* and 121. He has hit 13 sixes in this period and the next best Blackcaps are Conway, Latham, Blundell and Daryl Mitchell who have hit three each. Ravindra is hunting his third consecutive year with two Test centuries and his average of 47.2 for Tests in Aotearoa improves to 53.5 overseas.

Highest Blackcaps Test averages for 1,000+ runs

Kane Williamson: 54.58
Rachin Ravindra: 49.9
John Reid: 46.28
Martin Crowe: 45.36
Mark Richardson: 44.77

Blundell was out of form in Test cricket but was a dominant force in domestic cricket after the Tests vs West Indies. This is best laid out in Blundell's recent scores across all formats; 45, 51, 41, 49*, 21, 28, 6, 98*, 96, 35, 25, 62 and 186*. Blundell averaged 40+ in all three domestic competitions last season and any form slump that features two centuries in his last eight innings isn't as bad as it seems.

Blackcaps will roll out Latham, Conway, Williamson, Ravindra, Mitchell and Blundell vs England. Williamson (44.2avg) and Mitchell (29.2avg) are the only lads without a Test century since the start of 2025. One is Aotearoa's best Test batter ever and the other averages 59.7 vs England, as well as 90.6 in England.

Will Young didn't play vs Ireland. Neither did Nicholls but he is part of the squad vs England and he has a century in each of his last eight years of Test batting. He is also one of eight batters who have hit 10+ Test centuries for Aotearoa which along with his dominant domestic mahi, makes Nicholls a steady back up player moving into England.

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Peace and love.