New Zealand won their ODI series vs West Indies with Jayden Lennox continuing his excellent year and coach Rob Walter winning in all three formats for his first year in charge as Blackcaps coach. Coach Walter has worked with a wide range of kiwi cricketers in this period as Aotearoa's depth in every role continues to grow. This makes the winning mahi even more impressive and we shouldn't worry about blokes who aren't playing when there are plenty of players contributing to Blackcaps.

Rob Walter as Blackcaps coach

Test: 7-1 | 24 players
ODI: 12-5 | 28 players
T20I: 17-15 | 34 players

Lennox was the leading wicket-taker for Aotearoa in the Caribbean as part of a trio of spinners who played crucial roles in the series win. The rise of Lennox still seems like one of the most underrated stories in cricket and as a mature player who built his way up to this level, he is as good an example of the Blackcaps development system as any youngster.

Jayden Lennox in ODIs

Series vs West Indies: 14w @ 13.6avg/4.3rpo
2026: 22w @ 17.8avg/4.2rpo

New Zealand ODI bowlers averaging below 20 with 20+ wickets

Jayden Lennox: 22w @ 17.86avg
Dayle Hadlee: 20w @ 18.2avg

Most ODI wickets this year

Nahid Rana: 27w @ 16.07avg
Jayden Lennox: 22w @ 17.86avg
Taskin Ahmed: 20w @ 23.7avg

Lennox isn't just snapping up wickets, he has been relied on to do most of the bowling this year. Lennox is one of five bowlers in the world who has bowled 90+ overs this year and he's the only Blackcap who has bowled more than 61 overs. He played all five games vs West Indies and is the only kiwi who has bowled in more than eight games this year. Lennox's 10 ODIs so far in 2026 is just behind Will Young and Henry Nicholls who have played all 11.

Nicholls is the most notable struggler in ODI cricket right now. Here's how he compares to Young...

Scores vs West Indies

Will Young: 49, 28, 23, 20, 56 (176 runs @ 35.2avg/80sr)
Henry Nicholls: 27, 17, 24, 0, 10 (78 runs @ 15.6avg/56sr)

2026 ODIs

Will Young: 356 runs @ 32.3avg/79sr
Henry Nicholls: 235 runs @ 21.3avg/67sr

Nicholls was the only top-five batter who didn't pass 50 runs vs West Indies, let alone putting up a 30+ score. Tom Latham had two game winning not-outs, Daryl Mitchell scored 121 runs in three innings before getting injured and Mark Chapman's aggressive style paid off for a knock of 80 runs. Even Nick Kelly had a score of 64 runs when plugging the Mitchell hole in the batting line up.

Kelly is similar to Lennox as another example of the Blackcaps development pipeline. He has three 50+ scores in five ODI innings this year and that's more than Young or Nicholls, while the only other batter with at least three 50+ scores is Mitchell. Kelly has struggled in his T20I opportunities but he has done well in ODIs and had scores of 78, 19 and 121 for Leicestershire in County Championship before joining the Blackcaps Test squad.

Kelly could now be putting pressure on Nicholls in this format, along with the cluster of younger batters who need to pile up runs to get game time. All of which allows Aotearoa to work their way through the international cricket schedule without major dips in performance and with such depth available to Blackcaps, it's far more interesting to cover these selection battles than worrying about those who are busy elsewhere.

Santner's in the best all-format zone of his career with bat and ball. He's also done well as skipper for this Blackcaps team and Bracewell was also solid, making the most of his opportunity in a role where New Zealand is building depth. Santner and Lennox are the best spinners for Blackcaps in shorter formats (Santner's commanded the Test duties too), then there is the Bracewell tier that also has Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra and Dean Foxcroft.

Cole McConchie played a surprising role as Blackcaps made the T20 World Cup final earlier this year but he hasn't been required in ODIs. Foxcroft was used far less as a bowler vs West Indies and only played two games, indicating that he is ranked behind Bracewell in this format. Bracewell's not in the Test mixer anymore and that's not an issue with Foxcroft making his debut vs Ireland.

Blackcaps won this ODI series with three spinners taking 5+ wickets and averaging below 30. Add in Ish Sodhi and Adithya Ashok for nine spinners used by Blackcaps this year, which is plenty for a nation like Aotearoa. Such depth and variety in the specialist spinner role, as well as the all-rounders, has enabled Blackcaps to compete at a high level in conditions that used to hinder them.

Seam bowling depth for Aoteraoa is more obvious. The four seamers who bowled vs West Indies offer a different glimpse of the depth with Jacob Duffy leading the seam unit along with Nathan Smith, Matt Fisher and Kristian Clarke. Duffy and Fisher took 3+ wickets each and averaged 30-odd, while Smith's slightly underwhelming ODI mahi continued.

Smith bowled 23.3 overs in four games and Duffy bowled 29 overs in five games vs West Indies. Fisher (21.5ov) almost bowled as many overs as Smith despite only playing three games and it's notable that one of the fastest bowlers in Aotearoa has now played all three formats for Blackcaps.

Smith's 2w @ 66.5avg vs West Indies is part of his 6w @ 45.6avg in ODIs this year. He has been excellent in Test cricket under coach Walter and isn't in the top-tier for T20Is, so Smith is in a curious spot as someone who has all the tools to be effective in ODIs but hasn't done so consistently.

Interestingly, Smith's ODI mahi this year is similar to Zak Foulkes (4w @ 48.2avg). Foulkes has been better in all formats that Smith for Blackcaps and they are in an exciting battle for the leading seam all-rounder spot. Clarke has these skills as well and his development will be interesting to track because he doesn't have the same bowling funk as Smith or Foulkes who can move the ball both ways.

Latham operated as the wicket-keeper in all five games vs West Indies. Mitchell Hay was part of the squad and he's also played three ODIs this year, while Ben Lister was the other player in the squad to didn't get a game. Latham's experience and craft in the middle order was crucial for Blackcaps in winning a couple run-chases, after a wee bit of pressure was building over the past year in this format.

Hay will benefit from being on tour with Blackcaps and working with the staff in the Caribbean. This is why it's important for coach Walter to bring so many different players under the Blackcaps umbrella as there will be clear communication about where each player sits in the hectic depth chart and aspects of their game they need to improve, then working with players to make those improvements.