New Zealand bounced back to win the second Test against England and with the third Test starting on Thursday evening Aotearoa time, we have five hot pockets to ponder.

Matt Henry and his seam usos

Matt Henry took 11 wickets in the second Test with baggies in both innings. This is part of an almighty glow up for Henry in recent years as he stepped up to leading the Blackcaps bowling unit...

Before 2024: 72w @ 37.34av/3.1rpo
2024 onwards: 80w @ 15.87avg/3rpo

Henry currently has the second lowest bowling average for Blackcaps with 100+ Test wickets behind Sir Richard Hadlee. He has the fourth lowest bowling average for Blackcaps with 50+ wickets and this is where we weave in the other seamers who have played the first two Tests against England.

Kyle Jamieson has the lowest bowling average for kiwis with 50+ wickets and he has 16th lowest average for all Test bowlers in the history of planet Earth with 50+ wickets. Jamieson sits behind Jacob Duffy (25w @ 16.28avg) as the only Blackcaps averaging below 21 with 20+ wickets. The list of Aotearoa bowlers who have 20+ wickets with averages below 27 also includes Will O'Rourke, Nathan Smith and Blair Tickner.

New Zealand Test bowlers averaging below 27 with 20+ wickets

Jacob Duffy: 25w @ 16.28avg
Kyle Jamieson: 90w @ 20.23avg
Jack Cowie: 45w @ 21.53avg
Shane Bond: 87w @ 22.09avg
Sir Richard Hadlee: 431w @ 22.29avg
Will O’Rourke: 46w @ 24.65avg
Nathan Smith: 28w @ 25.14avg
Matt Henry: 152w @ 26.04avg
Blair Tickner: 22w @ 26.5avg
Bruce Taylor: 111w @ 26.6avg

That list is crazy for the current players who feature on it as well as the recent legends who are not there. Henry is already comfy as a Blackcaps bowling legend but Jamieson's excellence is often overlooked, while O'Rourke and Smith have had fabulous starts to their Test careers.

Support The Niche Cache and shop Manuka honey

G-Philly funk

One of the more surprising things in kiwi Test cricket right now is how Glenn Phillips hasn't bowled this year. Rachin Ravindra's bowled 4 overs without a wicket and Dean Foxcroft bowled 1 over against Ireland which forms the only spin overs bowled by Blackcaps this year. Phillips (31avg) has a much lower Test bowling average than Ravindra (47.9avg), as well as Joe Root (48.6avg) and around the same zone as Jacob Bethell (29.6avg).

None of whom are certified frontline spinners and yet Phillips and Bethell have been more efficient than Shoaib Bashir (39avg) who is likely to play the third Test. Aotearoa has probably bowled Ravindra more for match ups and they haven't required Phillips because of the legendary seam attack, but Phillips can play a role if required.

Phillips is the best Blackcaps Test batter right as number seven. There is a bigger yarn about Phillips and Ravindra being the best kiwi batters overall but we'll let that simmer away in our podcasts and newsletters. Four batters have scored centuries for Blackcaps this year and five batters have scored 100+ runs with Phillips being the only player in both zones who has a strike-rate over 70.

Phillips is well above that mark as well on 76.6sr and this reflects his role batting lower down the order, which seems perfect for him and the team right now. Phillips has the craft and oomph to adapt to scenarios in the lower order which is evident in his ODI record of 42avg/103sr as well as his awesome First-Class mahi of 40.4avg/67sr.

In this World Test Championship cycle, Phillips is one of four Blackcaps who have scored 200+ runs with averages of 45 or higher. He is however the leading run-scorer for Blackcaps in this series vs England and only kiwi with 150+ runs so far. Phillips is better overseas (43.9avg/73sr) than he is in New Zealand (24.7avg/71sr) and he averages 42.5 in five Tests vs England

The Blackcaps lower order is solid as well which gives Phillips more space to score runs as number seven. Smith and Jamieson both have 50+ runs so far in England, while also having Test batting averages of 20. Not many Test teams have their number eights and nines averaging 20 in Test batting, so this is specific team combo is a luxury for Blackcaps and a boost for Phillips as he works through the latter stages of an innings.

The Henry Nicholls benchmark

Henry Nicholls has usually been the batter under the most pressure for Blackcaps since his Test debut back in 2016. He was the next up batter in the Test squad behind the settled top-five having lost his spot with the rise of Daryl Mitchell and then Ravindra. Nicholls sits in a rare zone of kiwi Test batters with 10+ centuries though as one of eight players to reach that mark and while dealing with small margins, Nicholls has the fourth highest Test average of those eight Blackcaps with 10+ centuries.

A century in the second Test gives Nicholls more faith as a member of the top-five batting line up. This bumps Will Young into the next up position and while there are six emerging batters of note (Curtis Heaphy, Rhys Mariu, Bevon Jacobs, Muhammad Abbas, Matthew Boyle, Tim Robinson) hunting a Test debut, Nick Kelly is more likely to get that opportunity thanks to his awesome FC record and good form in County Championship.

Most importantly, Nicholls took his opportunity and he now has three centuries in his last 10 innings. One of which was 150* vs Zimbabwe and while that may not be the strongest knock to push for more game time, Nicholls then dominated domestic cricket last season and now has a good knock vs England.

That's the benchmark to earn Blackcaps batting opportunities. Whether it's Young and Kelly, or the younger batters in Aotearoa, they all need to be scoring runs to push for selection. No emerging batter dominated domestic cricket like Nicholls last season and when not in the Test squad, that is part of the benchmark that needs to be ticked off to earn selection.

Nicholls is also in a group of Blackcaps who have taken opportunities recently. Mitch Hay and Dean Foxcroft both had 50+ scores on Test debut, while all bowlers have snapped up wickets early in their careers as well. This is a key aspect of depth building and also reflects positively on the environment under coach Rob Walter.

Out of form openers

Tom Latham and Devon Conway are averaging 8.5 and 15.5 respectively so far against England. They didn't score runs against Ireland either so Latham's on 6.8avg this year and Conway is on 13.2avg, which is the worst year of Test batting for both openers. Their WTC mahi is boosted by lots of runs vs West Indies late last year and since that series win, they have combined for two 20+ scores in 10 innings...

Tom Latham: 0, 3, 0, 27, 4
Devon Conway: 4, 1, 41, 9, 11

The dip in form will have to escalate even further for their opening spots to be in danger and Latham's aided by his status as captain. Both have gathered lots of faith and Blackcaps give players plenty of space to work through their struggles, so don't expect any changes here. It would be nice to see the Blackcaps openers set the tone by seeing off the new ball and putting more work into England's bowling attack.

Mitchell Santner is ready

Spin will probably play a bigger role in the third Test at Trent Bridge. Along with managing the workload of the seamers who have played both Tests so far, this could mean that Mitchell Santner is squeezed into the 1st 11 ahead of Blair Tickner or Zak Foulkes. Santner's last Test was against Zimbabwe so folks may not have his glow up front of mind but Santner has had a similar flip to Henry in recent years...

Before 2023: 45.6avg/2.7rpo
2023 onwards: 19.7avg/2.9rpo

Averaging 25.8 with the bat in Tests and 30.3 in FC, Santner fits versatile skillset mould that Blackcaps are building. He could be injected into the team ahead of Smith or Jamieson while offering similar all-round ability. If Santner replaces Henry or O'Rourke, then he adds even more batting to the line up and he should be the best spinner in the game.

Support our cricket coverage by joining us on Patreon or donate through Buy Me A Coffee. A little goes a long way to fund our mahi. Smash an ad.

Peace and love.