New Zealand are ageing fast, so who are the rising stars lining up to replace them?
Kyle Jamieson is the only established test player aged under 30, so who else is out there waiting in the wings? Andrew Voerman reports.
The Black Caps test side is getting old: 12 players were used in the two drawn tests against Pakistan in Karachi and the youngest of them was Ish Sodhi, who turned 30 at the end of October.
According to Cricinfo, the first test was just the second in the 145-year history of the game to feature an XI without a player younger than 30. The second test was therefore the third time and it got Sunday Star-Times’ cricket writers thinking – what would a Black Caps XI look like if you could only pick those in their 20s (or their teens)?
Here is the result, having looked at players who have scored at least 500 runs or taken at least 20 wickets since the start of the 2020-21 Plunket Shield season.
Already there
The perfect place to start is with the three cricketers who have already played test cricket who are still in their 20s – seamer Kyle Jamieson, 28, who has played 16 matches and is a regular when fit; all-rounder Rachin Ravindra, 23, who has played three; and batter Glenn Phillips, 26, who debuted before either of them, but is yet to add to his lone test.
While Ravindra’s three test caps to date have come as an allrounder, batting at No 7, he opens the batting for the Wellington Firebirds in the Plunket Shield and that is where he is hoping to become a Black Cap in the long term, so we’ll slot him in at then top of the order. Phillips can then be placed at 5 as a solid middleorder option, with Jamieson at 9, giving the Black Caps under-30 test team a longer tail than the actual team has had of late.
Had Jamieson been fit, the Black Caps likely wouldn’t have made history for age-related reasons in Pakistan, while Phillips is breathing down the necks of Henry Nicholls and Will Young for a place in the top six.
Closing in
Next we’ll turn to the three players in their 20s who have been included in Black Caps test squads in the last two years, but haven’t made their debuts: wicketkeeper-batter Cam Fletcher, 29, and seamers Jacob Duffy, 28, and Blair Tickner, 29.
In addition to wearing the gloves, Fletcher has the highest average of the 15 under-30 batters to have scored at least 500 Plunket Shield runs since the start of the 2020-21 season, scoring his 837 runs, including three centuries, at an average of 55.8. But while his efforts might warrant a place higher up, we’ll slot him at 7.
Tickner and Duffy can then line up at 10 and 11 respectively, having returned similar figures in the Plunket Shield of late. Tickner has taken 53 wickets, including three five-wicket hauls, since the start of the 2020-21 season, at an average of 27.4, Duffy has taken 57, including two five-fors, at an average of 29.35.
Batters
Auckland Aces captain Robbie O’Donnell, 28, is the first pick to fill one of the four top-six slots, having scored 1315 runs in the last three seasons at an average of 54.79, while making six centuries. He goes at 4, where he’s been batting this summer.
His younger brother Will O’Donnell, 25, has been the most successful opening batter in that time, scoring 838 runs at an average of 41.9, including three centuries, so he can slot in as Ravindra’s opening partner.
Wellington’s Troy Johnson, 25, gets the nod at 3, having scored 832 runs at 43.79 with two
centuries, while his team-mate Nick Kelly, 29, goes in at 6, having scored 1254 runs at 43.03, also including two centuries.
All-rounder
Ravindra and Phillips will provide this team with all the spin bowling they need – noting that Ravindra has been the most successful under-30 spinner in firstclass cricket over the past three summers, taking 25 wickets at an average of 38.44.
Phillips has taken 10 at an average of 21.6, mostly while playing third-fiddle to Louis Delport and Will Somerville with Auckland, prior to his move to Otago.
That means we’re looking for a fourth seamer who can also more than hold his own with the bat and slot in at 8 – and in newlyminted Black Cap Henry Shipley, we have a seamer whose average of 17.25 over the past three seasons is second only to Jamieson. In addition to taking 24 wickets, including a lone five-for, he has also scored 359 runs at an average of 39.89.
Honourable mentions – batters
Our top-six includes five of the six under-30 batters to have averaged more than 40 over the last three first-class seasons, with Auckland’s Mark Chapman, 28, the unlucky one to miss out.
Otago’s Dale Phillips, 24, and Northern Districts Henry Cooper, 29, deserve mention for scoring more than 1000 runs over the course of the past three seasons, while Otago’s Max Chu, 22, has shown promise as a wicketkeeper-batter, scoring 781 runs at 32.53.
Honourable mentions – bowlers
Central Districts seamer Brett Randell, 27, is the third bowler after Jamieson and Shipley to have averaged less than 20 with the ball over the past three seasons, taking 42 wickets at an average of 18.55.
Northern Districts Matt Fisher, 23, and Wellington’s Ben Sears, 24, are two players averaging under 25 who hold appeal due to their express pace. Fisher didn’t meet the 20-wicket criterium, but his NZ A call-up last year was a guide as to how highly he is rated. He has 12 wickets at 20.33 over the past three Plunket Shield seasons, while Sears has 32 at 24.97.
Wellington’s Nathan Smith, 24, also stands out for his potential as a batter, though it’s fair to say he hasn’t realised that in the last few seasons, taking 39 wickets at 21.87 but only scoring 239 runs at 21.72.
Left-armers are also a rare breed and a point of interest with Trent Boult no longer centrally contracted and Neil Wagner starting to show his age as he heads towards his 37th birthday in March. Central Districts Ray Toole, 25 (21 wickets at 26.57), Auckland’s Ben Lister, 26 (21 at 26.57) and Canterbury’s Ed Nuttall, 29 (37 at 28.57) are the three who met the selection criteria here.
Canterbury left-armer Theo van Woerkom, 29, is the only spinner other than Ravindra to have taken 20 wickets across the last three summers, claiming 21 scalps at 45.38.
Otago’s Dean Foxcroft, 24, wasn’t in New Zealand for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, as Covid-19 border restrictions kept him from returning from a visit home to South Africa. He earlier took 24 wickets at 19.08.
Other formats
There has been a greater sprinkling of younger players in the oneday and T20 international teams.
Jamieson, Phillips, and Ravindra have all played whiteball cricket for the Black Caps as well as tests, as have Duffy and Tickner from other under-30 XI and Chapman and Sears from the honourable mentions.
Batter Finn Allen and wicketkeeper Tim Seifert are the two others younger than 30 to have played internationals.