New Zealand

Toss: New Zealand chose to bat vs England Kane Williamson called correctly and opted to bat on the first Test surface of the English summer, with New Zealand boosted by the inclusion of Trent Boult after his late dash from the IPL. They also selected the spinner, Ajaz Patel, ahead of Neil Wagner and Matt

Kane Williamson, New Zealand’s captain, insists that his troublesome left elbow will withstand the rigours of Test cricket as he prepares to lead his side for the first time in six months in the first Test against England at Lord’s on Thursday. Williamson has missed New Zealand’s last five Tests due to a tendon injury

Ben Stokes, England’s new Test captain, insists the first LV= Insurance Test against New Zealand at Lord’s is a “blank canvas” for his team, rather than the start of the much-vaunted “red-ball reset”, and hopes that his partnership with head coach, Brendon McCullum, will allow the players to feel they are “ten feet tall” when

Tim Southee is preparing to make his fifth appearance at Lord’s, a ground where his name is already etched on the visiting dressing room honours board twice. When he first played in St John’s Wood, in only his second Test back in 2008, Brendon McCullum led the way for New Zealand by thrashing 97 off

The MCC have defended setting “premium” ticket prices for England’s first Test under new leadership against New Zealand at Lord’s this week, with a significant number of tickets still available across the first four days. The Test takes place on a bank-holiday weekend for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, meaning Thursday and Friday are both national

New Zealand have named Henry Nicholls and Trent Boult in their 15-man squad for the first Test against England at Lord’s, although both have been described as “unlikely” starters. Nicholls has been recovering from a calf injury sustained in training before leaving New Zealand, and has not had any game time in the build-up to

Australia’s home international season will begin in late August and the men’s team faces one of their busiest summers as the catch-up of Covid-impacted series continues in the final months of the current future tours programme. The men’s side will face Zimbabwe (ODIs), New Zealand (ODIs), West Indies (T20Is and Tests), England (T20Is and ODIs)

County Select XI 247 (James 52, Patel 3-32) and 264 for 3 (Compton 119, Gubbins 67*) beat New Zealanders 362 for 9 (Henry 65, Mitchell 58, Fletcher 50*, Patterson-White 3-60) and 148 (Porter 5-31, Gibbon 3-36) by seven wickets New Zealand were beaten by seven wickets in their final warm-up game ahead of Thursday’s first

County Select XI 247 and 112 for 1 (Compton 56*) need a further 152 to beat New Zealanders 362 for 9 dec (Henry 65, Mitchell 58, Fletcher 50*) and 148 (Porter 5-31) After four playing days of largely serene progress in their build-up towards the first Test, New Zealand were blindsided by the County Select

New Zealanders 362 for 9 dec (Henry 65, Mitchell 58, Fletcher 50*) and 0 for 0 lead County Select XI 247 (James 52, Patel 3-32) by 115 runs New Zealand’s bowlers enjoyed a successful workout on the second day of their four-day warm-up against a County Select XI at Chelmsford, dismissing their opponents for 247

New Zealanders 298 for 8 (Henry 65*, Mitchell 58, Young 46, Patterson-White 3-60) vs County Select XI Day by day, innings by innings, and now player by player, New Zealand’s World Champion Test team is slowly beginning to assemble in good time for next week’s series opener against England at Lord’s. You wouldn’t necessarily believe

New Zealand 342 for 3 declared and 44 for 0 (Latham 20*, Young 20*) lead Sussex 247 (Orr 59, Haines 41, Duffy 2-17, de Grandhomme 2-26, Henry 2-36, Patel 2-84) by 135 runs New Zealand’s bowlers had their day in the sun at Hove to keep their side in front heading into the final day

New Zealand legspinner Ish Sodhi will be representing Canterbury in the upcoming 2022-2023 domestic season after ten seasons with Northern Districts. Residing in Christchurch with his family for the past five years, Canterbury Cricket in a statement said that he has “decided to fully entrench himself in the tapestry of the city by pulling on

New Zealand 342 for 3 (Latham 65, Young 55, Bracewell 51, Blundell 51) vs Sussex After the frustrations of a washed-out first day, Hove was back to its tranquil self for the start of New Zealand’s touring commitments proper. Spectators basked, seagulls swooped and runs were picked off in leisurely fashion by the visiting batters.

Nicholls, the left-handed middle-order player, has been a key part of New Zealand’s Test side having made eight centuries in 46 matches with an average of 40.38. He, however, would have been unavailable to play the tour game in any case, having picked up a grade one calf strain while running drills during a pre-touring

File it under Things That Make Cricket Look Daft. The first day of New Zealand’s tour match in Hove was abandoned shortly after a 2pm inspection over concerns about player safety, even as the ground was bathed in warm sunshine – leaving Sussex’s chief executive to suggest the game had “shot itself in the foot”

New Zealand’s pull-out citing security reasons last September was viewed as a major setback for Pakistan in their bid to ensure international cricket returns home. It was followed by England pulling out of a short tour the following month, though that decision generated significant blowback, both in Pakistan and beyond. Pakistan has since undone much

New Zealand coach Gary Stead is confident that Kane Williamson will be able to bounce back from his IPL struggles in the Test series against England next month, but the first match of the series may come too soon for Trent Boult. Williamson left the IPL early to return home for the birth of his

Rob Key, England’s new managing director of men’s cricket who was involved in the selection process, said the squad represented “the start of a new era” but there was more continuity than change, with eight of the side that lost by ten wickets in Grenada in England’s most recent Test selected and the three absentees

In what is a largely stable group of players, there was a vacancy created by the retirement of Ross Taylor while Bracewell, who was recently included in the Test squad to tour England after making his international debut against Netherlands in March, effectively replaces Neesham. Neesham, who has not featured in Test cricket since 2017,

New Zealand have suffered an injury scare shortly before their departure to England with batter Henry Nicholls picking up a calf problem during training. Nicholls, the left-handed middle-order player, has undergone a scan on his right calf after picking up the injury doing running drills in Mount Maunganui ahead of flying out at the weekend

Former England allrounder Luke Wright will be part of New Zealand’s coaching staff during their upcoming limited-overs tours of Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands. Wright is part of an expanded coaching group which means no one will be involved in New Zealand’s full schedule of tours which begins with the Test series against England and runs

New Zealand coach Gary Stead is confident that Kane Williamson will be able to withstand the rigours of Test cricket when he returns from a long-standing elbow problem against England next month. “Absolutely, yep,” Stead said when asked if Williamson would be ready for the start of the series. “He’s going really well. Been talking

Allrounder Michael Bracewell has been included in a New Zealand Test squad for the first time as part of the initial 20-player group for the series against England next month. There are also spots for the uncapped Cam Fletcher, Blair Tickner and Jacob Duffy in the enlarged squad which will cover for likely IPL absentees

Luke Georgeson, the former New Zealand Under-19 player who signed a two-year central contract with Cricket Ireland (CI) earlier this month, has now withdrawn from the full-time agreement and will no longer be in contention for an Ireland call-up. In a statement on Friday, CI said that the contract had been terminated “by mutual consent”.

Roach was due to spend the opening two months of the season with Surrey but injured his hamstring during their innings win against Hampshire, the second game of his second stint with the club. Alec Stewart, Surrey’s director of cricket, spent much of last week’s win against Somerset making phone calls to try and sort

Luke Georgeson, the batting allrounder who played for New Zealand at the Under-19 World Cup four years ago, has signed a central contract with Cricket Ireland. Georgeson, who turns 23 later this week, had a contract with Wellington in New Zealand’s recent domestic season but has taken the “big decision” to commit his future to

New Zealand quick Hamish Bennett has announced his retirement from all cricket, bringing the curtains down on a 17-year long career. The 35-year old, who has represented the New Zealand U-19 side, the senior men’s team and domestic teams Wellington and Canterbury, has said that the 2021-22 season will be his last. “When I started

New Zealand head coach Gary Stead has said that although the team missed the services of Kane Williamson for the home season, the move to rest him was the right one and that the team was at peace with the decision. Williamson was ruled out of the Mumbai Test due to an elbow injury during

New Zealand 333 for 8 (Young 120, Guptill 106, Floyd 2-41) beat Netherlands 218 all out (Myburgh 64, Henry 4-36, D Bracewell 2-23) by 115 runs New Zealand gave the departing Ross Taylor a perfect send-off by comprehensively beating the Netherlands to seal a 3-0 sweep of the ODI series. Fittingly, it was him who