Blacks Caps Claim First Win of 2015
The Black Caps won their second test match against the Sri Lankan side yesterday, completing a 2-0 series sweep at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. The winning start to the years continues what was the…
It May Just Be the Black Caps Time in the Spotlight
“It was heartening” to see Test cricket return to Christchurch in December, the Guardian’s Mike Selvey writes. “It was fitting, too, that the Black Caps should mark it with a resounding win over Sri…
Black Caps Best Year Ever
Having just won the first test against Sri Lanka, New Zealand’s Black Caps have made 2014 their best Test year ever. The Black Caps beat Sri Lanka by an impressive 8 wickets with a day…
Brendon McCullum Makes Australia’s Cricketers Look Average
In the Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka in Christchurch, Black Caps skipper Brendon McCullum, 33, was just five runs short of demolishing what could possibly have been the fastest ever double century in…
New Zealand Cricket Fan Wins Fame with One-Handed Catch
Andrew McColloch is $5000 richer and slightly famous after his incredible one-handed catch at a Twenty20 cricket match went viral. Michael Bracewell hit a six in the match between Otago Volts and Wellington Firebirds, and spectator…
Cricketer Jeetan Patel Completes Immense Season in UK
New Zealand cricketer Jeetan Patel, 34, who has been confirmed as the most valuable player of 2014 by the UK’s Professional Cricketers’ Association, has completed an “immense season” as spinner for Warwickshire. “Patel has produced…
Jesse Ryder Star Player for Essex
New Zealand cricketer Jesse Ryder has delivered an outstanding performance for Essex which leaves them on the verge of promotion to the top division of the County Championship. Ryder took career-best figures of 5-24 on…
Day-Night Test Likely Next Year
Negotiations are moving closer to make the first ever day-night test cricket match between Australia and New Zealand official. Adelaide and Hobart are battling for the honour of staging the first ever Test cricket day-night…
New Zealand Win Their Second Ever Test in the West Indies
New Zealand has beaten the West Indies by 186 runs for only the second time in the Caribbean, thanks to some incredible bowling figures by Mark Craig. The hosts were bowled out for 216 after…
Key: World Cup Will Be Unaffected by Cricket Scandal
Prime Minister John Key has said the current match-fixing scandal will not disrupt next year’s Cricket World Cup, jointly hosted by New Zealand and Australia. The International Cricket Council (ICC) anti-corruption investigation includes…
Black Caps on the Rise
What a summer. Three test victories, two test series wins and a 4-0 drubbing of the No. 1 ranked one-day side in the world. New Zealand has risen one place to seventh in the…
Epic Innings Earns International Acclaim
Black Caps captain Brendan McCullum’s magisterial triple century – the first ever achieved by a New Zealander – has been hailed by Indian media as one of the greatest innings in cricket history. As…
Cricket’s Hottest Property Nearly a Millionaire
Black Cap Corey Anderson is only 23-years old and nearly a millionaire. Indian Premier League side Mumbai Indians paid $866,000 for the young all-rounder, who set the cricketing world alight with the fastest one-day…
A Test Win for the Ages
Test cricket’s status as the most important and exciting form of the game was given a resounding endorsement with New Zealand’s win over India at Eden Park, Auckland. Sports journalists thumbed the thesaurus in…
Top Match and Black Caps Pip India
Parochialism in news always meets its apogee in sports reporting. So, in the wake of the Black Caps’ victory in the opening one-dayer at McLean Park in Napier, New Zealand media crowed (Black Caps…
Leaving on Length Critical for India’s NZ tour
Indian cricket sides have historically struggled on tours to New Zealand and one of the reasons is to do with the bounce of the ball and movement off the wicket. In India, where the…
Debbie Hockley Inducted into Cricket Hall of Fame
Debbie Hockley has become the first New Zealand women’s cricketer to be inducted into the International Cricket Council (ICC) Hall of Fame, and alongside Sir Richard Hadlee, the only other New Zealander to…
Batsman Returns to NW England for Club Cricket
New Zealand international Jamie How, 32, talks about his return to Kendal Cricket Club in Cumbria and his record-equalling domestic year with Westmorland Gazette sports reporter Ross McLean. Currently plying his trade on native soil…
Corey Anderson scores fastest century in ODI cricket history
23-year-old New Zealand batsman, Corey Anderson, has hit the fastest century in the history of one-day international cricket from just 36 balls. Playing on New Year’s Day against the West Indies in Queenstown, Anderson…
Cometh the Hour…
Nathan McCullum’s job when he got on strike in the final over against Sri Lanka was dauntingly simple: smite 17 runs from the final four balls delivered by Rangana Herath. That’s a boundary a…
Hailing the Ultimate Sporting Geek
“Daniel Vettori’s New Zealand return is great news for all of us – one last chance to hail the ultimate sporting geek,” according to Telegraph columnist Jonathan Liew. “For one thing, he is one…
NZ Women’s Cricket Player Issues ‘Wakeup’ Call
Susie Bates, New Zealand women’s cricket captain, was named Player of the Tournament at the 2013 women’s Cricket World Cup. Bates scored 407 runs in the competition, and was named captain of the tournament’s…
Century and a Win
Black Cap Kane Williamson, 22, finished unbeaten on 145 from 136 balls before New Zealand fielded their way to a 27-run victory over South Africa in Kimberley. New Zealand secured their first series victory…
Fresh Look for Blackcaps
Mike Hesson has been appointed head coach of the Blackcaps until the end of the 2015 World Cup. Hesson replaces John Wright. Hesson coached New Zealand A sides from 2008-11 and was head coach…
Yarns From the Crease
Former New Zealand cricket captain Jeremy Coney, who now works as a commentator for Sky TV and Test Match Special, shared stories from his career at Ledbury Cricket Club’s 175th Anniversary celebration dinner in…
Cricket Council President Named
New Zealander Alan Isaac has been appointed the eighth president of the International Cricket Council (ICC) succeeding India’s Sharad Pawar. Isaac, the former chairman of New Zealand Cricket, has spent the past two years…
Netting A Place In Black Caps
It was a “rare distinction” for Tharun Nethula, a 28-year-old leg-spinner originally from Hyderabad, India, to be picked to represent New Zealand for the one-day series against Zimbabwe. From St. John’s Coaching Foundation in…
Caps Bowl Mammoth Victory
The Black Caps bowled out Zimbabwe for 51 and 143 at Napier’s McLean Park to win the one-off Test by an innings and 301 runs — New Zealand’s biggest-ever victory margin. Pacers Chris Martin…
Spinning For Sixes
Dunedin-born Black Cap right-arm spinner, and “more than handy batsman,” Nathan McCullum, 31, has signed with the Sydney Sixers for the remainder of the Big Bash League as a replacement for West Indian import…
Magical Early Christmas
The Black Caps celebrated “an early Christmas” with front-page media praise for a seven-run cricket victory in the second Test over Australia in Hobart. Captain Ross Taylor’s remark that the historic win “was for…
Dual-International In Charge
Allrounder Suzie Bates, 24, has been appointed captain of the White Ferns succeeding Aimee Watkins, who retired in July. “I knew there was a chance of leading this team but there are obviously other…
Slamming Sixes Galore
Masterton-born batsman Jesse Ryder, 27, smashed a world record 16 sixes against Australia A in Brisbane on 27 November. Ryder blasted 175 off 137 deliveries primarily against Australia A’s spinners and part-time bowlers at…
Comeback On Track
“Here he was, in his 50th year, a successful television boss and New Zealand sporting icon embarking on a comeback he hopes will see him end up playing the first-class game again,” The Telegraph’s…
Wright Has the Edge
Cantabrian and Black Caps coach John Wright “is the coach best placed to lift the Australian team” and has “an affable manner that conceals toughness and a fund of cricketing sense”, according to The…
Aiming for Competitive Edge
“In what is probably a bit of mid-life crisis I have come up with a solution — trying to get fit and up to speed to play a competitive game of cricket again,” former…
Cricket Star Scales Everest
Former New Zealand wicketkeeper Aucklander Adam Parore has reached the top of Mt Everest. Parore, who represented New Zealand in cricket for more than a decade, climbed the world’s highest mountain to…
Southee Signs with Essex
Northern Districts bowler Tim Southee has signed with Essex for this year’s Twenty2 campaign, which begins in June. Whangarei-born Southee has played 19 Twenty2 internationals for his country, taking 22 wickets with best figures…
Slaying the Cricket Giants
The Black Caps head into the semifinals of the World Cup after beating South Africa by 49 runs at Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka. Man-of-the-match Jacob Oram took two brilliant catches and captured…
Couldn’t Ask For More
New Zealand has clinched their second win at the Cricket World Cup beating Zimbabwe by 1-wickets at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmadabad. Opener Brendan Taylor top-scored with 44 for Zimbabwe but when he…
Easy Opening Match
The Black Caps have begun their World Cup campaign with a resounding win over Kenya, who had “no answer to some outstanding New Zealand bowling, which was full and accurate.” Paceman Hamish Bennett took…
The Wright Impact
The Black Caps are a team to watch at this month’s Cricket World Cup. Despite back-to-back ODI series defeats, players Scott Styris and Brendon McCullum agree the team is in the process of a…
World Cup Hopes
“One could make the argument that Black Caps have punched above their weight at the World Cup just as easily as you could say they are chokers,” Stuart Hess writes for South Africa’s Independent…
1981 Every February
Thirty years on New Zealand batsman Brian McKechnie remembers the infamous underarm bowl delivered by Australian Trevor Chappell at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It’s an image permanently ingrained in the minds of almost every…
Retiring From the Pitch
Former New Zealand opening batsman Dunedin-born Matthew Bell has announced his retirement from all forms of the game, after struggling with injuries over the past two seasons. “It’s a decision that’s been coming for…
Relief for Black Caps
The New Zealand Black Caps ended their 11-game losing run in one-day internationals thrashing Pakistan in Wellington to take a 1-0 lead in the six-match series. Seamer Tim Southee took a career best 5-33…
Dealing in Cricket
New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and the USA Cricket Association (USACA) have announced an historic deal that is designed to grow the game exponentially in one of the ICC’s target markets. The partnership establishes a…
Wright takes up reigns
Former Black Caps test captain and coach of India from 2 to 25, John Wright is the new coach of the New Zealand cricket team, taking over from Mark Greatbach beginning with the Boxing…
Not Just a Number
Black Caps cricket captain Daniel Vettori, 31, became the second player after Stephen Fleming to play 1 Tests for New Zealand when he took the field in the first Test against India in Ahmedabad…
Spirited Win for NZ
The Black Caps have been awarded the Spirit of Cricket Award at the recent LG ICC Awards celebration in Bengaluru, India. In total, this is the third time New Zealand has won this award…
Player of the Year
Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori, 31, has won New Zealand Cricket’s top award: Player of the Year. Vettori also won the Walter Hadlee trophy for being the best ODI bowler. “Daniel is and has…
Hero at the crease
“It’s remarkable that a biography had not been written on one of New Zealand’s most distinctive sports figures before now,” writes The New Zealand Herald’s David Leggat after the launch of Richard Boock’s The…
Search for Sutcliffe
Attempts to find and relocate the ashes of cricketing great Bert Sutcliffe have failed because no-one recorded where they had been buried nine years ago. Sutcliffe’s ashes were buried at the Carisbrook ground in…
Snowy Did it All
“So remarkable was the sporting life of Eric Tindill, who has died in Wellington at 99 years and 226 days, that being the longest lived of all the 2600 men who have played test…
Our pick for ICC
Chairman of New Zealand Cricket Alan Isaac, 58, has trumped former Australian Prime Minister John Howard as the region’s nominee to take the ICC’s vice-presidency, which after a two-year term leads to the top…
Death Bowler Signed Up
Middlemore-born fast bowler Ian Butler, 28, has signed with Gloucestershire as their second overseas player for the Friends Provident T2. Butler, who previously played for the county in 23, has played in eight Test…
Recall the puppeteer
Now retired from Test cricket, The Hindu reflects on Christchurch-born bowler Shane Bond’s career describing him as “a once in a generation” who “not since Richard Hadlee” has a New Zealand bowler “tormented the…
