New Zealand

There were no surprises in the 13 New Zealand named for their two-Test series against Sri Lanka that begins on March 9. All 13 players who featured in their recent 1-1 draw with England were named, with the omissions from that squad being the uncapped seamer Jacob Duffy, legspinner Ish Sodhi, and the injured Kyle

Ben Stokes, England’s captain, insisted that his team’s pride at playing a part in one of the most gripping Test matches of all time outweighed their disappointment at the final result, after their run of six Test wins in a row came to an end with an incredible one-run loss against New Zealand in Wellington.

Neil Wagner, New Zealand’s final-day hero at Wellington, was hailed by Brendon McCullum – his former captain and current England coach – as “one of the toughest I’ve come across”, after his bruising four-wicket haul secured a thrilling one-run win in the second Test. Wagner’s final figures of 4 for 62 in 15.2 overs included

Upon passing 28 early in the morning on day four, Williamson overtook Ross Taylor‘s tally of 7,683 runs in his 161st innings. He went on to register his 29th Test century, allowing the Blackcaps to turn the tables on England in their follow-on innings. The 32-year-old’s 132 held together a response of 483, giving Ben

Ben Stokes has confirmed he will cut short his IPL commitments to ensure he is primed and ready for the 2023 Test summer. Stokes was picked up by Chennai Super Kings for £1.6m in December’s auction for the upcoming season, and spoke during England’s recent series with Pakistan of his desire to commit to the

“If you looked into that third innings, I think we had them six down for 230-240 – I’m not sure of the exact numbers – but if we had taken a couple of quick wickets, the game could have been a lot different,” Mitchell said after arriving in Wellington for the second Test. “So, for

Kyle Jamieson is set to be out for at least “three to four months” after undergoing back surgery this week. Jamieson was originally on a comeback from a stress fracture of the back, sustained in England last June, and was primed for a return to action in New Zealand’s first Test against the same opponents

New Zealand 162 for 3 (A Kerr 66, Bates 56) beat Sri Lanka 60 (A Kerr 2-7, Tahuhu 2-12) by 102 runs New Zealand thumped Sri Lanka so severely in each team’s last match of the group stage, in Paarl, that they nullified the terrific start Sri Lanka had to the tournament, and gave themselves

England 325 for 9 dec (Brook 89, Duckett 84, Wagner 4-82) and 374 (Root 57, Brook 54, Foakes 51, Tickner 3-55) beat New Zealand 306 (Blundell 138, Conway 77, Robinson 4-54) and 126 (Mitchell 57*, Anderson 4-18, Broad 4-49) by 267 runs James Anderson provided the fourth-day mop-up after Stuart Broad‘s third-evening blitz, as England

In his last tournament, Astle took 11 wickets in as many games in the Super Smash at an excellent economy rate of 6.70. With Matt Henry on the sidelines and Henry Shipley and Ish Sodhi away with the New Zealand side in India, Astle led Canterbury’s attack, but they ended up losing their third successive

England were 325 for 9 after only 58.2 overs when Stokes called time on their innings, a move that his team-mates explained owed to the challenge of facing a new pink ball under lights in a day-night Test. “I haven’t played many pink-ball games, but by the looks of it, it’s the hardest time to

The Ford Trophy final between Central Stags and the winner of Saturday’s elimination final has been postponed from Sunday because of the devastation caused in the Hawke’s Bay area by Cyclone Gabrielle. A lot of the Stags players are based in Hawke’s Bay and Central Districts chief executive Lance Hamilton said Sunday’s final, which was

Big picture: Tim Southee, Ben Stokes, and friendly fire As the New Zealand government declared only the third state of emergency in the country’s history because of Cyclone Gabrielle, the sun shone between intermittent bouts of rain in Mount Maunganui. The site of the first Test between New Zealand and England sits slap-bang in the

Kyle Jamieson has been ruled out of the series against England, and faces another extended period on the sidelines after a recurrence of his back stress fracture, while Matt Henry will also miss the first Test. Jamieson, 28, had been in line to play at least one of the upcoming Tests having not feature in

South Africa 132 for 6 (Tryon 40) beat New Zealand 67 (Mlaba 3-10) by 65 runs A fired-up South Africa reignited their home World Cup campaign with a 65-run win over New Zealand in front of a boisterous Boland Park crowd. After their shock defeat to Sri Lanka in the tournament opener and with six

“Baz brought that up, actually,” James Anderson said with a smirk. “He wasn’t happy with it. He was fuming. Apparently the whole team [New Zealand] were fuming at the time with Auckland.” Of the myriad numbers and quirks in a career entering its 22nd year, there is one that sticks out within Anderson’s 282 first-class

Australia 173 for 9 (Healy 55, Lanning 41, Kerr 3-23) beat New Zealand 76 (Gardner 5-12, Schutt 2-8) by 97 runs A total of five match-winners stepped up for Australia in their opening match of the T20 World Cup, as the defending champions began their pursuit of a sixth T20 title with a 97-run demolition

England XI 465 (Brook 97, Lawrence 85, Root 77, Foakes 57) vs New Zealand XI As England’s tour match at Seddon Park drifted to an inevitably tame conclusion, the prospect of further fine-tuning ahead of the series opener in Mount Maunganui was thrown into doubt with warnings of an incoming tropical cyclone. On Thursday the

It was a big-scoring series, with 271 the lowest team total, and 300 breached three times. Jos Buttler hit 131 in a total of 346 for 7 in the last ODI, which has pushed him up six spots to joint-20th among batters, while Dawid Malan, who scored 118 and shared a 232-run partnership with Buttler

New Zealand have included Kyle Jamieson and Will Young in the NZ XI squad to face England in a two-day pink-ball warm-up match at Seddon Park later this week. Jamieson has not played international cricket since suffering a back injury on the tour of England last year, and the fixture will provide an opportunity to

Kyle Jamieson has tried to treat his extended spell on the sidelines as “more of a blessing than a hindrance” and hopes to return to New Zealand’s Test side both mentally and physically fresher after missing the last seven months with a back injury. Jamieson hurt his back during the Trent Bridge Test in June,

Fast-bowling allrounder Kyle Jamieson makes a comeback to New Zealand’s squad for the two-Test series against England at home in February. It is the first time Jamieson has been selected since he injured his back on the tour of England in June last year. Jamieson returned to New Zealand’s domestic cricket circuit only in January

New Zealand chief selector Gavin Larsen is hopeful fast bowler Trent Boult will spearhead the country’s bowling attack at the ODI World Cup in India later this year. Last year, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) agreed to release Boult from his central contract as he wanted to make himself available for T20 leagues around the world.

Hardik Pandya believes that he has evolved so much as a T20 cricketer that he can absorb pressure and play any role for his team. About six years ago, he came to a press conference and said: “I could hit a six anytime I wanted to“. Hardik is now “okay” to step back, take the

India 234 for 4 (Gill 126*, Tripathi 44, Pandya 30) beat New Zealand 66 (Mitchell 35, Pandya 4-16, Malik 2-9, Mavi 2-12, Arshdeep 2-16) by 168 runs This is the year of Shubman Gill. We are just living in it. To add to this three ODI centuries in the first month of the year, he

Lockie Ferguson refused to admit it at his press conference on the eve of the T20I series decider in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, but he is the leader of this inexperienced New Zealand pace pack in India. In the absence of Trent Boult, who is at the ILT20 in the UAE, and Tim Southee, who is

Big picture: Santner and Hardik impress India and New Zealand have travelled the length and breadth of the country for six games in 14 days and we are finally at the end, with the T20I series tied at 1-1. It’s time for one last push, and then please remember to put those tray tables in

Lancashire have signed New Zealand pair Daryl Mitchell and Colin de Grandhomme on contracts that will cover the the Vitality T20 Blast and the start of the LV= Insurance County Championship. In a sign of the changing landscape for overseas players in the county game, Mitchell and de Grandhomme will join the squad alongside Dane

India 101 for 4 (Suryakumar 26*, Bracewell 1-13) beat New Zealand 99 for 8 (Santner 19*, Arshdeep 2-7 Chahal 1-4) by six wickets In a low-scoring thriller in Lucknow, New Zealand almost defended 99, but with three needed from two balls, Suryakumar Yadav swatted Blair Tickner over mid-off to help India level the series 1-1

New Zealand finally have a win on this tour. After being whitewashed in the ODI series, their new stand-in captain Mitchell Santner led from the front with the ball to give his side hope of taking home the T20I series. Things that were not working during the ODIs suddenly clicked: Finn Allen gave them a