New Zealand

Tim Southee has stepped down as New Zealand’s Test captain following the series defeat in Sri Lanka, and will be replaced by Tom Latham, saying he believes it is in the best interests of the side. Southee led the team in 14 Tests with a record of six wins, sixes losses and two draws since

New Zealand may have lost both Tests – the second particularly badly, by an innings and 154 runs – but a closer look at how the games panned out probably shows a picture not as dire as first imagined. In the first Test, they ran Sri Lanka closer than most, falling short in the chase

There are rough days and then there are rough days, and then there is whatever it was that New Zealand endured on day two in Galle. The only thing that seemed to go right for them was the weather because if not for the persistent overcast conditions, it really would have been a day of

Toss Sri Lanka chose to bat vs New Zealand Sri Lanka won the toss again in Galle and unsurprisingly chose to bat again, which means New Zealand will bat last once again on what is expected to be another turner. Dhananjaya de Silva said the pitch looked “firmer than the last one with less grass”

Big picture – Teams hope to keep WTC final chances alive New Zealand lost their first ever Test in Galle by an innings and 16 runs, their next by 202 runs, the one after that by 10 wickets, the next by six wickets, and the match that ended on Monday by 63 runs. They might

Defending champions Auckland Aces will face 2021-22 and 2022-23 winners Northern Districts in the opening fixture of the men’s Super Smash 2024-25 which begins on Boxing Day at Seddon Park in Hamilton. Earlier in the day, Northern Brave will take on Auckland Hearts at the same venue to kickstart the women’s Super Smash. The defending

New Zealand tend not to do especially well in Galle. Of their five Test defeats from as many games at the ground, one has been by an innings, another by ten wickets, and one more by 202 runs. Their latest Test at the venue, which ended in a 63-run defeat to Sri Lanka on Monday,

Ajaz Patel has 70 Test wickets at 28.50, but he has only featured in 17 of the 45 Tests New Zealand have played since his debut. This is down to New Zealand’s seam-focused strategy at home. If they need a spinner at all on pitches that tend to start out with plenty of grass on

If you’re a batter, your first Test at one of the most trying venues on the planet tends not to go well for you. Rachin Ravindra, though, is proving across formats, that he’s not your run-of-the-mill batter out of New Zealand. His fourth-innings vanguard, which by the end of day four has brought him 91

“I thought there was a run. Daryll trusted my call. It was a pretty good throw. At the end of the day, run-outs in Test cricket are not exactly ideal. I take full accountability for it, and hopefully on another day I make a different decision.” Glenn Phillips isn’t the kind to mince words, especially

For the first time in six years, New Zealand’s domestic season will begin with the Ford Trophy, the men’s 50-over competition, instead of the Plunket Shield. NZC announced the domestic fixtures for 2024-25 on Friday, with the season set to begin on October 20 with three rounds of matches in the Ford Trophy. Defending champions

Lunch New Zealand 5 for 0 (Conway 4*, Latham 1*) trail Sri Lanka 305 (Kamindu 114, Kusal 50, O’Rourke 5-55) by 300 runs New Zealand needed little time to get the remaining three Sri Lanka wickets on the second morning in Galle, as the hosts were bowled out for 305, adding just three runs to

In his first outing as a red-ball bowler in Asia, Will O’Rourke was a menace. In his first spell, when the pitch was at its bounciest, he was rapid – sometimes breaching 140kph, and generated uncomfortable bounce from his six-foot-four-inch frame. His first Test wicket in the continent came from a bouncer, with experienced opener

New Zealand might not have played a Test since March but they will have little time to get up to speed ahead of a packed Test schedule to close out the year. September’s two-Test series against Sri Lanka will be followed by a three-Test tour of India in October and November, before they head back

Big picture: Shades of 2019 in 2024 A lot has happened since New Zealand last toured Sri Lanka. Back then, in 2019, the world was yet to be introduced to Covid-19, while the Lankans were only just recovering from Rangana Herath‘s retirement. Fast forward to the present, the pandemic is firmly in the rearview while

New Zealand head coach Gary Stead has said that being denied the opportunity to get some game-time after a six-month gap in Test cricket is the “most disappointing part” after their one-off Test against Afghanistan was called off without a ball bowled. New Zealand had this match to familiarise themselves with the subcontinent conditions, with

The first ever Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand ended on a sad but predictable note as the game was called off without a ball being bowled. It was only the eighth such instance in the Test history and the first since 1998. There was an air of inevitability around the call after there was

Unrelenting rain has had the final say in Greater Noida yet again as play was called off before the scheduled start time for the second consecutive day. It leaves the first ever Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand on the brink of a washout, without a single ball bowled. “There has been more than 1200

Rain and the state of the outfield at Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground rendered the third day of the one-off Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand a non-starter. Play was abandoned as early as 9.15 am. With no play possible on either of the first two days, and the toss yet to happen, the chances

Several slushy pockets in the Greater Noida Sports Complex ground along with drainage that has been overwhelmed by heavy rainfall have prevented the one-off Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand from taking off. For the second straight day, there was no play possible, not even a toss, and there is growing fear that the entire

The second day of the only Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand suffered the same miserable fate as the first due to rain in Greater Noida, albeit not during hours of play, and the quality of the outfield. The toss was scheduled half an hour earlier at 9am, to make up for day one being

New Zealand will be boosted by the return of fast bowler Rosemary Mair for the women’s T20 World Cup 2024, after she suffered a back injury during their home series against England in March. Meanwhile, their captain Sophie Devine and Suzie Bates are set to play their ninth T20 World Cup when the competition begins

There has been significant rain over the past few days and the challenge, according to chief curator Amit Sharma, was to keep the outfield fit for play if the wet weather continued. However, on Monday, there was not a single cover on the ground all day and the super-soppers were at work, but wet patches

Big picture: Back at it after a break When New Zealand last played Afghanistan, during the T20 World Cup in June, they suffered a defeat so catastrophic it precipitated a rare group-stage exit from an ICC tournament. That match was in Providence, Guyana, on the other side of the planet from where the teams are

New Zealand are about to embark on a period where they will play six Tests in two months. That’s rare, on two counts. First, it’s almost a whole year’s work for them – like in 2020 and 2021, when they went on to become the inaugural World Test Champions. And second, all of those matches

Imagine being a frontline spinner from a country that is known to produce world-class fast bowlers. Imagine then touring a tough place like India and grabbing a historic ten-wicket haul in only your 11th Test. Now imagine still not becoming a frontline spinner for your team and getting to feature in only five of the

Rangana Herath and Vikram Rathour have linked up with the New Zealand Test squad, who are set to play six Tests in Asia over the next two months. Herath will be the spin-bowling coach for New Zealand’s next three Tests – one against Afghanistan and two in Sri Lanka – while Rathour will only be

Sarah Tsukigawa, the former New Zealand allrounder, has been appointed their new national selector for women’s cricket. She played 42 ODIs and 19 T20Is over a five-year international career which began in 2006 and ended in 2011. Tsukigawa will be working with the New Zealand’s head coach Ben Sawyer. Her role will include selecting players

St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, who had been depleted by injuries in the opening week of CPL 2024, have now been bolstered by the signing of New Zealand big-hitting allrounder Josh Clarkson. The 27-year-old is arguably the hardest hitter of a cricket ball in New Zealand and can also bowl at brisk pace. On Tuesday,

The club vs country issue is beginning to hurt New Zealand, with high-profile names opting out of central contracts. As they get ready for a burst of nine Test matches in the next few months, Test captain Tim Southee acknowledged the issue, but put it down to “the changing landscape of international cricket”. He recently