New Zealand Cricket News
‘I’ve given it my all in every match,’ says Black Caps legend
He captained World Test Championship winners in 2021
The former New Zealand captain Kane Williamson will play no further part in the Test series against England after retiring from all international cricket with immediate effect.
Williamson brings an end to a 16-year career marked by numerous accolades and by captaining his side to the title in the inaugural World Test Championship in 2021.
Continue reading...England captain considering his long-term future
ECB continuing investigation into nightclub incident
Ben Stokes is highly unlikely to be included in England’s squad for the second Test against New Zealand after the 35-year-old asked for space and time to consider his long-term future amid the fallout from a nightclub incident in the early hours of Monday morning.
The England and Wales Cricket Board is determined to bring the latest furore surrounding the culture of the men’s Test team under control before the start of the Women’s World Cup on Friday, with a temporary end to Stokes’s time as captain expected to be confirmed when the squad is announced within the next 48 hours.
Continue reading...Coach impressed by response in win against New Zealand
McCullum admits pitch ‘incredibly challenging’ for batters
Brendon McCullum has praised his players’ refusal to be haunted by their nightmare winter after England won their first Test since the Ashes, against New Zealand at Lord’s on Sunday. The head coach admitted that “the temperature has been a bit hot” around his side since their failure in Australia, but he hailed their bravery and refusal to “carry any baggage”.
McCullum insisted his team had kept the Bazball spirit burning, despite the low scores and strike rates seen on an “incredibly challenging” surface. “I’ve been really impressed,” McCullum said.
Continue reading...Head coach ‘confident our best cricket is in front of us’
Issues with alcohol among tourists due to ‘distractions’
Brendon McCullum has promised to use “a firm grip” to eradicate issues with alcohol and attitude among the England squad, admitting that “there were some mistakes made” by his players during last winter’s tours of New Zealand and Australia.
In his first interview since returning to England for the start of the international summer, with the first Test against New Zealand starting at Lord’s next Thursday, McCullum conceded that his team had proved unable to handle the pressure of an away Ashes series.
Continue reading...Uncapped trio in squad for first New Zealand Test
Crawley dropped; Ahmed and Bashir selected as spinners
On a day when England named three uncapped players in their Test squad, brought Ollie Robinson out of cold storage and officially confirmed a new selector had joined the set-up, perhaps the most significant news was the identity of their fielding coach.
Sarah Taylor, the former England wicketkeeper, will be in charge of the fielding drills during the three-Test series against New Zealand that begins at Lord’s on 4 June – the first female coach to work in the men’s senior setup.
Continue reading...South Africa v New Zealand T20 series highlights schedule that is increasingly hard to keep up with
Clinical guidance suggests recovery from emotional trauma can take weeks or months. In some cases, the lingering pain can last for years. Elite cricketers, though, are expected to compress that timeline into days.
Take Mitchell Santner. The New Zealand captain oversaw his team’s crushing 96-run loss by India in the T20 World Cup final on 8 March. It was the Black Caps’ fourth defeat in an ICC final since 2019 and, having swatted aside South Africa in the semi-final, would have stung. Well, Santner had to do his contemplating on the flight back home as seven days later he was suited and booted for a T20 international against the Proteas at Mount Maunganui.
Continue reading...Black Caps opener Allen blasts 100 not out from 33 balls
South Africa won every match they could afford to lose in this tournament and then lost the first one that they had to win.
They were completely marmalised by New Zealand, who won the first semi-final by nine wickets. Finn Allen ripped through South Africa’s feared fast bowling attack, and hit an unbeaten hundred off just 33 balls. It was the fastest century in the history of the competition, and, as Allen said himself, the innings of his life. Only two batters have ever hit a faster ton in international T20 cricket.
Continue reading...Finn Allen’s riotous 33-ball century propelled New Zealand to a stunning victory in Kolkata
Two in two balls! Ryan Rickelton slashes his first ball – a bit of a long hop in truth – straight to backward point and walks off shaking his head.
The offspinner Cole McConchie takes the new ball for only the second time in the competition – and the plan pays off in spade. De Kock skipped down to hit a majestic four but pulled the next ball high in the air and was easily taken at mid-on by Lockie Ferguson. That’s the fourth time in this World Cup that De Kock has been out to an offspinner.
Continue reading...Harmonious Kiwi teamwork across various sports should fill us with frustrated envy – if only to annoy some Aussies
Do we talk about England and Australia’s sporting rivalry too much? In the past couple of weeks, we haven’t had much choice. The rugby league Kangaroos have been hopping about between London, Liverpool and Leeds, while the Wallabies grazed on the Twickenham turf. In F1, Bristol-born Lando Norris has been getting booed on track during his relentless comeback against his Melburnian McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri. And that personal battle has reached its climax just in time for the much-hyped men’s Ashes – with England kicking off their tour in Perth to already hysterical headlines.
This weekend brings a pause in hostilities. One Ashes series has ended, another is yet to begin. A gap in the calendar before back-to-back grands prix leaves Lando quietly teetering at the top of the drivers’ table. And into that small air pocket – if the Pom-bashing and Aussie-baiting has left a breath of oxygen – come the Kiwis. On Saturday afternoon, just after three o’clock, New Zealand’s rugby union team will run out against England in west London. And by the time we know the result, the Silver Ferns will be taking to the netball court on the other side of the city, in the first of a three-match series against the Roses.
Continue reading...England ran riot with the bat in Christchurch, smashing 236 for four to set up an impressive 65-run victory
2nd over: England 24-1 (Salt 20, Bethell 0) Duffy dug that wicket ball in short, which meant it hit high on the bat as Buttler came charging at him. Nicely bowled if he meant it.
This Hagley Oval pitch looks better for batting than on Saturday. Salt climbs into a wide ball from Jacob Duffy, blasting it square on the off side for four, then top-edges a pull over the keeper’s head for another boundary.
Continue reading...One of the game’s modern greats still wants to play Tests and is looking forward to the ‘nice buzz’ of an English summer
The world’s third-best Test batsman has made a quiet arrival in London for the beginning of a four-month stint in county cricket. Middlesex made headlines recently by saying they were keen to sign Virat Kohli. Maybe next year. This one, they’ve got his friend and contemporary Kane Williamson who, with his gear stuffed into a Karachi Kings kit bag, was picked up from the airport by his new captain, Steve Eskinazi, on Wednesday morning then went straight to training on the Nursery Ground before the game against Sussex in the Blast on Thursday night.
Williamson should do plenty for Middlesex’s middle order, but maybe not quite so much for the viewing figures their live stream brings in on the subcontinent. Still, it feels like a coup for county cricket. It has been made possible by the support of MCC, who are paying a part of the 34-year-old’s fee so that he can double up playing for London Spirit in the Hundred.
Continue reading...New Zealand will take on India in the final of the Champions Trophy after centuries from Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson enabled them to outmuscle South Africa in their Lahore semi-final.
The Black Caps piled on the pressure with a tournament-record score of 362 for six, Ravindra with 108 and Williamson adding 102, and their bowlers finished the job in clinical fashion to seal a comfortable 50-run win.
Continue reading...India beat New Zealand by 44 runs in a low-scoring contest at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday to top Group A in the Champions Trophy.
Electing to field, New Zealand restricted India to 249 for nine with Matt Henry, who took five for 42, leading a fine team bowling display backed up by their characteristic sharp catching.
Continue reading...Artist behind prize for winner of New Zealand v England series explains emotional process of fusing cricketers’ bats
In the moments before the first Test started in Christchurch last week the television cameras alighted on the new Crowe-Thorpe Trophy, the prize that awaits the winners of the ongoing series between New Zealand and England. On TNT Sports Alastair Cook grew effusive. “It’s not often that boards get things absolutely spot on but that is a brilliant trophy,” he said, “and whoever came up with the idea, it’s fantastic.”
That will be the Maori artist David Ngawati. ““I did different concepts and drawings for New Zealand cricket,” he says. “I guess it’s a co-creation really. People tell me the story and then I create concepts from that, then they decide what they want to go with.”
Continue reading...Harry Brook stood head and shoulders above the crowd with a magnificent century in Wellington, allowing England to take charge on day one of the second Test against New Zealand.
Having ridden his luck somewhat on the way to 171 in last week’s victory in Christchurch, Brook was imperious at Basin Reserve, smashing 123 on a day when 15 wickets fell as ball dominated bat. England were reeling at 43 for four after being sent in and would have been sunk had Brook not taken charge of a precarious situation. He steered a counterattacking stand of 174 alongside the rejuvenated Ollie Pope (66), with the fifth-wicket pair guiding the tourists towards 280 all out.
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