Celebrating New Zealand's Test Series Win Against That Other (Kinda Shambolic) Team
New Zealand had another Test series win overseas and have quietly had a fabulous first half of 2026 with an ODI series win in India followed by making the final of the T20 World Cup. Aotearoa's cricketing depth has been challenged at each of those checkpoints as Kristian Clarke and Jayden Lennox played key roles in the ODI pocket, Cole McConchie settled into a groove during the T20WC and a variety of players chipping in for Test wins this year.
The tour of Bangladesh a few months ago didn't offer the same results but that's because Blackcaps rolled out a second, probably more like a third tier squad for those ODI and T20I series. Aotearoa's depth fought valiantly in Bangladesh and there were a few funky development wrinkles there as Dean Foxcroft was a consistent presence in Bangladesh before scoring 98 runs on Test debut vs Ireland.
Nick Kelly was a leader for Blackcaps in Bangladesh and then he slid over to that other country where he put up scores of 78, 19 and 121 in County Championship for Leicestershire. Kelly was a sneaky presence at the end of the Blackcaps Euro tour as almost half of the Test 1st 11 was unavailable and this seemed to signal that Kelly was the next up Test batter behind Will Young.
There is a hyper focus on the longest format but the Blackaps yarn mid-way through 2026 features solid mahi in all three formats. They always make ODI World Cup semi-finals and made the Champions Trophy final to start 2025 before winning nine consecutive ODIs against Pakistan, geezers and West Indies.
Blackcaps are 20-6 in ODIs since the start of 2025. They also have a winning record in T20Is with 21 wins and 17 losses in this period, which included a return to finals cricket after the previous generation of legends fumbled the 2024 tournament. Aotearoa had that 3-0 Test series sweep in India among many positive series results and the absence of Kane Williamson has no negative impact on Blackcaps in the longest format.
Blackcaps won all three Tests in India without Williamson. Prior to that Test series they lost two Tests in Sri Lanka with Williamson playing and this means that Blackcaps lost their last three Tests overseas with Williamson in the team, including the loss in the first Test at the 'home of cricket' where they couldn't sort out a proper pitch. Williamson dipped away from international cricket and then Blackcaps settled back into their winning flow.
No one should be surprised by Blackcaps depth. They had winning records using 20+ players in all three formats last year and that's been amplified by the ODI/T20I series this year. Six months into 2026, 21 kiwis have played ODIs this year and 30 blokes have played T20Is. The Test tour of Europe featured 17 players and the seeds for this were planted during the series win vs West Indies last summer.
17 players were used in those three Tests. Kyle Jamieson and Will O'Rourke were out of action, Mitchell Santner didn't play and injuries ravaged the group during the series. Matt Henry and Nathan Smith only played one Test each, Blair Tickner joined them in bowling a few overs before being injured. This led to a seam attack of Jacob Duffy, Zak Foulkes and Michael Rae for the third Test and as is usually the case these days, they got the job done.
Rae took wickets in his debut series and he's currently ranked ninth in the group of 10 seamers who have played Test cricket for Aotearoa over the last year. This is aligned with how Clarke, Lennox, Foxcroft and Mitch Hay (61 runs on Test debut) have taken opportunities when stepping up to this level.
Hay was putting a wee bit of pressure on Tom Blundell's wicket-keeper position. That was based on Blundell's lack of runs though and apparently selecting the best wicket-keeper in your country is still important. Other cricket nations ignore their best wicket-keeper and then ponder the impact of that, so let's stay sensible in all future wicket-keeping yarns because Blundell is clearly the best glovester in New Zealand.
Blackcaps used 16 players in their most recent Test series win. Five different players hit a century in three Tests and two others had 50+ scores, leaving Williamson as the other player who batted in the top-five and didn't have a 50+ score.
Other nations believe that cricket has to be played one way and batters have to operate in a specific manner, all the time. Blackcaps batters adapted to the situation that was in front of them, absorbing pressure when there was good bowling and pouncing on loose deliveries from an inconsistent bowling unit. Nine Blackcaps scored 50+ runs in this Test series and they sit at every notch of the strike-rate chart from the mid-40s to the more frisky 90sr.
As special as the battling bowlers were in a distant land, they merely repeated the dose of their gritty mahi vs West Indies. Duffy wasn't part of the Euro tour and yet his 154.3 overs in this World Test Championship cycle is still the most for Blackcaps and he also has the lowest bowling average for all New Zealand Test players with 20+ wickets, so don't forget about the Duffman.
Four different bowlers took 10+ wickets in the latest series win. All averaged below 26 and along with Zak Foulkes who took 6w @ 14.5avg, they all slot into the list of Aotearoa most efficient Test bowlers ever. It also felt like Blackcaps had the best spinners in this series but Glenn Phillips didn't bowl while battling injury and Mitchell Santner played his first Test since the tour of Zimbabwe, so he wasn't quite at his best but still showcased his craft.
Santner flashed his slinky fielding as well to give Aotearoa their third run-out of the series. The opposition had no run-outs and aside from the dropsies early in this series, the Blackcaps' fielding improved throughout the series. They took enough catches to win the series, made three times as many run-outs as the opposition and regularly saved runs with their team-first approach of sacrificing their bodies to dive around on hard outfields.
Coach Rob Walter continues his impressive start as the matua for Blackcaps and while other nations have resets and reviews, New Zealand has had a seamless transition from the Gary Stead era to Walter taking over. With coach Walter in charge, Blackcaps have three Test series wins to go with their impressive ODI stuff and another finals appearance at the last T20 World Cup.
Both coaches have overseen a period of Blackcaps cricket in which the retirements or in the case of Trent Boult, falling into the abyss of T20 jobs, have had no impact on the Blackcaps team. Folks used to wonder what Aotearoa cricket would like after that generation of legends departed and here we are, celebrating another impressive achievement in which New Zealand's cricketing skill and depth was there for the world to see.
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Peace and love.