The New Zealand cricket team, nicknamed the Black Caps, are the national cricket team representing New Zealand. They played their first Test in 1930 against England in Christchurch, New Zealand, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. It took the team until 1955–56 to win a Test, against the West Indies at Eden Park in Auckland.[1] They played their first ODI in the 1972–73 season against Pakistan in Christchurch.
The current Test, One-day and Twenty20 captain is Brendon McCullum. McCullum replaced Ross Taylor who replaced Daniel Vettori after Vettori stepped down following the 2011 World Cup. Vettori had replaced New Zealand's most successful captain, Stephen Fleming, who led New Zealand to 28 Test victories, more than twice as many as any other New Zealand captain. The national team is organised by New Zealand Cricket.
The New Zealand cricket team became known as the Black Caps in January 1998, after its sponsor at the time, Clear Communications, held a competition to choose a name for the team.[2] Official New Zealand Cricket sources typeset the nickname as BLACKCAPS. This is one of many national team nicknames related to the All Blacks.
As of January 2015, New Zealand have played 399 Test matches, winning 80, losing 160 and drawing 159
History
The Beginnings of Cricket in New Zealand[edit]
See also: History of cricket in New Zealand to 1890
The reverend Henry Williams provided history with the first report of a game of cricket in New Zealand when he wrote in his diary in December 1832 about boys in and around Paihia on Horotutu Beach playing cricket. In 1835, Charles Darwin and the HMS Beagle called into the Bay of Islands on its epic circumnavigation of the Earth and Darwin witnessed a game of cricket played by freed Māori slaves and the son of a missionary at Waimate North. Darwin in The Voyage of the Beagle wrote:[4]
several young men redeemed by the missionaires from slavery were employed on the farm. In the evening I saw a party of them at cricket.
The first recorded game of cricket in New Zealand took place in Wellington in December 1842. The Wellington Spectator reports a game on 28 December 1842 played by a "Red" team and a "Blue" team from the Wellington Club. The first fully recorded match was reported by the Examiner in Nelson between the Surveyors and Nelson in March 1844.
The first team to tour New Zealand was Parr's all England XI in 1863–64. Between 1864 and 1914, 22 foreign teams toured New Zealand. England sent 6 teams, Australia 15 and one from Fiji.
First National Team
See also: History of cricket in New Zealand from 1890-91 to 1918
On 15–17 February 1894 the first team representing New Zealand played New South Wales at Lancaster Park in Christchurch. New South Wales won by 160 runs. New South Wales returned again in 1895–96 and New Zealand won the solitary game by 142 runs, its first victory. The New Zealand Cricket Council was formed towards the end of 1894.
New Zealand played its first two internationals (not Tests) in 1904–05 against a star-studded Australia team containing such players as Victor Trumper, Warwick Armstrong and Clem Hill. Rain saved New Zealand from a thrashing in the first match but not the second which New Zealand lost by an innings and 358 runs – currently the second largest defeat in New Zealand first-class history.
Inter-war Period
See also: History of cricket in New Zealand from 1918-19 to 1945
In 1927 NZ toured England. They played 26 first class matches, mostly against county sides. They managed to beat Worcestershire, Glamorgan, Somerset, and Derbyshire. On the strength of the performances on this tour New Zealand was granted Test status.
In 1929/30 the M.C.C toured NZ and played 4 Tests all of 3 days in duration. New Zealand lost its first Test match but drew the next 3. In the second Test Stewie Dempster and Jackie Mills put on 276 for the first wicket. This is still the highest partnership for New Zealand against England. New Zealand first played South Africa in 1931–32 in a three match series but were unable to secure Test matches against any teams other than England before World War II ended all Test cricket for 7 years.
New Zealand's first Test after the war was against Australia in 1945/46. This game was not considered a "Test" at the time but it was granted Test status retrospectively by the International Cricket Council in March 1948. The New Zealand players who appeared in this match probably did not appreciate this move by the ICC as New Zealand were dismissed for 42 and 54. The New Zealand Cricket Council's unwillingness to pay Australian players a decent allowance to tour New Zealand ensured that this was the only Test Australia played against New Zealand between 1929 and 1972.
Cricket after World War II
See also: History of cricket in New Zealand from 1945-46 to 1970
In 1949 New Zealand sent one of its best ever sides to England. It contained Bert Sutcliffe, Martin Donnelly, John R. Reid and Jack Cowie. However, 3-day Test matches ensured that all 4 Tests were drawn. Many have regarded the 1949 tour of England among New Zealand's best ever touring performances. All four tests were high-scoring despite being draws and Martin Donnelly's 206 at Lord's hailed as one of the finest innings ever seen there.[5] Despite being winless, New Zealand did not lose a test either. Prior to this, only the legendary 1948 Australian team, led by the great Don Bradman, had achieved this.
New Zealand played its first matches against the West Indies in 1951–52, and Pakistan and India in 1955/56.
In 1954/55 New Zealand recorded the lowest ever innings total, 26 against England. The following season New Zealand achieved its first Test victory. The first 3 Tests of a 4 Test series were won easily by the West Indies but New Zealand won the fourth to notch up its first Test victory. It had taken them 45 matches and 26 years to attain
In the next 20 years New Zealand won only seven more Tests. For most of this period New Zealand lacked a class bowler to lead their attack although they had two excellent batsmen in Bert Sutcliffe and Glenn Turner and a great all-rounder in John R. Reid.
Reid captained New Zealand on a tour to South Africa in 1961–62 where the five test series was drawn 2–2. The victories in the third and fifth tests were the first overseas victories New Zealand achieved. Reid scored 1,915 runs in the tour, setting a record for the most runs scored by a touring batsman of South Africa as a result.[6]
New Zealand won their first test series in their three match 1969/70 tour of Pakistan 1–0
1970/71-2000
In 1973 Richard Hadlee debuted and the rate at which New Zealand won Tests picked up dramatically. Hadlee was one of the best pace bowlers of his generation and played 86 Tests for New Zealand before he retired in 1990. Of the 86 Tests that Hadlee played in New Zealand won 22 and lost 28. In 1977/78 New Zealand won its first Test against England, at the 48th attempt. Hadlee took 10 wickets in the match.
During the 1980s New Zealand also had the services of one of its best ever batsman, Martin Crowe and a number of good players such as John Wright, Bruce Edgar, John F. Reid, Andrew Jones, Geoff Howarth, Jeremy Coney, Ian Smith, John Bracewell, Lance Cairns, Stephen Boock, and Ewen Chatfield, who were capable of playing the occasional match winning performance and consistently making a valuable contribution to a Test match.
The best example of New Zealand's two star players (R. Hadlee and M. Crowe) putting in match winning performances and other players making good contributions is New Zealand versus Australia, 1985 at Brisbane. In Australia's first innings Hadlee took 9–52. In New Zealand's only turn at bat, M Crowe scored 188 and John F. Reid 108. Edgar, Wright, Coney, Jeff Crowe, V. Brown, and Hadlee scored between 17 and 54*. In Australia's second innings, Hadlee took 6–71 and Chatfield 3–75. New Zealand won by an innings and 41 runs.
One-day cricket also gave New Zealand a chance to compete more regularly than Test cricket with the better sides in world cricket. In one-day cricket a batsman does not need to score centuries to win games for his side and bowlers do not need to bowl the opposition out. One-day games can be won by one batsman getting a 50, a few others getting 30s, bowlers bowling economically and everyone fielding well. These were requirements New Zealand players could consistently meet and thus developed a good one-day record against all sides.
Perhaps New Zealand's most infamous one-day match was the "Under arm" match against Australia at the MCG in 1981. Requiring six runs to tie the match off the final ball, Australian captain Greg Chappell instructed his brother Trevor to "bowl" the ball underarm along the wicket to prevent New Zealand batsman Brian McKechnie from hitting a six. The Australian umpires ruled the move as legal even though to this day many believe it was one of the most unsporting decisions made in cricket.
When New Zealand next played in the tri-series in Australia in 1983, Lance Cairns became a cult hero for his one-day batting. In one match against Australia, he hit six sixes at the MCG, one of the world's largest grounds. Few fans remember that New Zealand lost this game by 149 runs. However, Lance's greatest contribution to New Zealand cricket was his son Chris Cairns.
Chris Cairns made his debut one year before Hadlee retired in 1990. Cairns, one of New Zealand's best allrounders, led the 1990s bowling attack with Danny Morrison. Stephen Fleming, New Zealand's most prolific scorer, led the batting and the team into the 21st century. Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan also scored plenty of runs for New Zealand, but both retired earlier than expected.
Daniel Vettori made his debut as an 18-year-old in 1997, and when he took over from Fleming as captain in 2007 he was regarded as the best spinning allrounder in world cricket. On 26 August 2009, Daniel Vettori became the eighth player and second left-arm bowler (after Chaminda Vaas) in history to take 300 wickets and score 3000 test runs, joining the illustrious club. Vettori decided to take an indefinite break from international short form cricket in 2011 but will continued to represent New Zealand in Test cricket and returned for the 2015 Cricket World Cup.
Current squad
| Name | Age | Batting style | Bowling style | Domestic team | Forms | S/N | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Captain and Middle-order or Opening batsman | |||||||
| Brendon McCullum | 33 | Right-Handed | Right-arm medium | Otago | Test, ODI, Twenty20 | 42 | |
| Vice Captain and Top-order batsman or All-Rounder | |||||||
| Kane Williamson | 24 | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | Northern Districts | Test, ODI, Twenty20 | 22 | |
| Vice Captain and Top-order batsman | |||||||
| Ross Taylor | 30 | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | Central Districts | Test, ODI, Twenty20 | 3 | |
| Opening Batsmen | |||||||
| Martin Guptill | 28 | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | Auckland | Test, ODI, Twenty20 | 31 | |
| Hamish Rutherford | 25 | Left-handed | Otago | Test, ODI, Twenty20 | 72 | ||
| Middle-Order Batsmen | |||||||
| Dean Brownlie | 30 | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | Northern Districts | Test, Twenty20 | 59 | |
| Colin Munro | 27 | Left-handed | Right-arm medium | Auckland | Test, ODI, Twenty20 | 82 | |
| Wicket-keeper and Opening Batsman | |||||||
| Tom Latham | 22 | Left-handed | Right-arm medium | Canterbury | Test, ODI, Twenty20 | 48 | |
| Wicketkeepers | |||||||
| BJ Watling | 29 | Right-handed | Northern Districts | Test, ODI, Twenty20 | 47 | ||
| Luke Ronchi | 33 | Right-handed | Wellington | Test, ODI, Twenty20 | 54 | ||
| All-rounders | |||||||
| Corey Anderson | 24 | Left-handed | Left-arm medium-fast | Northern Districts | Test, ODI, Twenty20 | 78 | |
| Grant Elliott | 35 | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | Wellington | Test, ODI, Twenty20 | 88 | |
| Nathan McCullum | 34 | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | Otago | ODI, Twenty20 | 15 | |
| Anton Devcich | 29 | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | Northern Districts | ODI, Twenty20 | 84 | |
| Jimmy Neesham | 24 | Left-handed | Right-arm medium | Otago | Test, ODI, Twenty20 | 83 | |
| Daniel Vettori | 36 | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | Northern Districts | Test, ODI | 11 | |
| Pace Bowlers | |||||||
| Trent Boult | 25 | Right-handed | Left-arm fast-medium | Northern Districts | Test, ODI, Twenty20 | 18 | |
| Doug Bracewell | 24 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast–medium | Central Districts | ODI, Test | 34 | |
| Mitchell McClenaghan | 28 | Left-handed | Left-arm medium-fast | Auckland | Twenty20, ODI | 81 | |
| Kyle Mills | 35 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast–medium | Auckland | ODI, Twenty20 | 37 | |
| Tim Southee | 26 | Right-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | Northern Districts | Test, ODI, Twenty20 | 38 | |
| Neil Wagner | 28 | Left-handed | Left-arm medium-fast | Otago | Test | ||
| Hamish Bennett | 28 | Left-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | Canterbury | ODI | 52 | |
| Andrew Ellis | 32 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | Canterbury | ODI, Twenty20 | ||
| Matt Henry | 23 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | Canterbury | ODI | 21 | |
| Adam Milne | 22 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast | Central Districts | ODI, Twenty20 | 20 | |
| Spin Bowlers | |||||||
| Ish Sodhi | 22 | Right-handed | Leg break | Northern Districts | Test, Twenty20 | 61 | |
| Mark Craig | 27 | Left-handed | Right-arm Off break | Otago | Test | ||