New Zealand's Blackcaps move into ODI mode to start their tour of the West Indies where they will add to their 21 players used across six ODIs this year. That number blows out to 30 since the start of 2025 and when adding a few of your favourite young cricketers, that is enough for three different teams. It gets more impressive considering that the Blackcaps have a 20-6 record in ODIs since the start of 2025 while using 30 different players.

Aotearoa's depth has been showcased in all three formats this year. In the ODI bubble, Blackcaps cruised to a series win in India with their best batter Daryl Mitchell shining and the best kiwi bowlers were Kristian Clarke (leading wicket-taker) and Jayden Lennox (most economical).

Lennox maintained this mahi through the tour of Bangladesh where Blackcaps lost the ODI series while using more of their depth. Lennox has the most ODI wickets for Aotearoa this year and Clarke is right behind him. Along with Dean Foxcroft and Nick Kelly who each had two 50+ scores in Bangladesh, none of these players were top of mind during the recent Test series win when Blackcaps depth was being celebrated.

Jacob Duffy wasn't involved in that Test series win either and he was New Zealand's best all format bowler prior to taking a break. Here’s how Duffy’s bowling averages rank for Blackcaps...

Test: 25w @ 16.28avg/2.3rpo

Lowest average for 20+ wickets

ODI: 35w @ 24.25avg/5.9rpo

Sixth lowest average for 20+ wickets

Fifth lowest average for 30+ wickets

T20I: 62w @ 20.25avg/8rpo

Fourth lowest average for 20+ wickets

Second lowest average for 50+ wickets

Matt Fisher is another who is part of the seam bowling depth chart and he's already taken wickets on Test debut for Blackcaps. Ben Lister replaced Ben Sears in the squad and he's quietly stacked up 17 games for Aotearoa, although he is part of a group of Blackcaps to track closely as they will be in danger of being overtaken if they can't make the most of their opportunities.

This is evident in the batting unit where Will Young, Tom Latham and Henry Nicholls are all averaging in their early 20s since the start of 2025. Young has a 50+ score this year and Nicholls has two, yet all three are averaging 30 or below this year. Compare that to Kelly and Foxcroft, who have been more efficient in this phase of ODI cricket, then there are emerging batters who will be hungry to pounce on any weakness shown by those above them.

Mitch Hay will probably start this tour outside the 1st 11 but he has potential to overtake Latham in the wicket-keeping department. Hay played in the ODI tour of India and didn't score many runs, but like his T20I mahi he does score quickly with an ODI strike-rate of 119 since the start of 2025 and 105 this year.

That's part of sneaky ODI record of 31avg/104sr, while Hay also scored 61 runs on Test debut and has a First-Class batting average of 45. Latham is in his third consecutive year averaging below 30 and he has strike-rates below 85 in each of these three years. With Mitchell Santner as captain, Latham's selection depends on his run-scoring and while it may seem drastic, this is one of the funkiest battles in the Blackcaps ODI squad.

Mitchell's doing legendary things and he isn't just the best ODI batter right now, he is Aotearoa's best ODI batter ever. Mitchell has the highest ODI average for Blackcaps with 100+ runs (58.47avg) and he is the only kiwi who averages over 50 with 1,000+ runs ... make that 500+ runs. Mitchell's strike-rate of 95.72 is also highly ranked and he has the combination of 69.5avg since the start of 2025, with 176avg this year.

Mark Chapman should be viewed favourably as well. He has a century and three other 50+ scores in his last six innings, as part of his 33.9avg/108sr record in ODIs for New Zealand. Chapman's average of 73.6 is the highest for all Blackcaps since the start of 2025 and he is one of nine batters over 100sr in this period.

Clarke and Nathan Smith offer all-round skills, which along with the presence of spinny all-rounders in Foxcroft, Santner and Michael Bracewell, gives Blackcaps fabulous balance to build their team for each game. Santner and Bracewell are both averaging 25+ with strike-rates over 100 since the start of 2025. Santner is second for wickets with a tidy average of 26.8 for Blackcaps in this period and Bracewell has been solid as well with 35.1avg.