A 17-man New Zealand Development squad will begin its tour of the South Island and Central North Island on Thursday, with an opening one-day game against Wellington A at Kelburn Park.
The squad, a mix of the country’s most promising Under-19 players and other emerging (but non-contracted) players will play five matches on this leg of the internal tour, and was selected mainly from northern-based players – in the interests of maximising playing opportunities.
NZC’s High Performance Talent and Pathways lead, Paul Wiseman, oversaw selection of the squad, which will be coached by Central Districts’ Aldin Smith, supported by Azhar Abbas (bowling) and Dean Brownlie (batting).
A different squad will be selected for a northern leg of the tour, once the National Under 19 tournament (Jan 15-21) has been completed.
NZ Development Squad: Matt Boyle (C), Jacob Cumming (O), Curtis Heaphy (CD), Ollie White (ND), Jacob Parker (ND), Finn Raxworthy (CD), Ben Pomare (ND), Muhammed Abbas (A), Payton Spencer (ND), Tim Pringle (ND), Henry McIntyre (W), David Hancock (W), Yahya Zeb (A), Jesse Tashkoff (W), Angus Sidey (C), Zak Foulkes (C), Mitch Hay (C).
Schedule
v Wellington A, Jan 6, Kelburn Park, Wellington
v Wellington A, Jan 7, Basin Reserve, Wellington
v CD A, Jan 10,11,12: Nelson Park, Napier
v Canterbury A, Jan 24: Lincoln
v Otago, Jan 25, Lincoln
The New Zealand national cricket team, known as the Black Caps, made their Test debut in 1930 against England in Christchurch, becoming the fifth nation to play Test cricket. After waiting 26 years for their first Test win against the West Indies in 1956, they also played their first ODI in 1972–73 against Pakistan. New Zealand are the inaugural World Test Championship champions (2021) and have won the ICC Champions Trophy (2000). They have reached the Cricket World Cup final twice and the T20 World Cup final once.
