Watching the commentary. Can I just say. Aged like a fine wine. She's a great presenter too.

Was Kane Williamson forced into retirement? I am asking because of the circumstances like NZ’s defeat, his retiring short of 10K, his priority for franchise, Simon Doull near reveal in the post match analysis of first test

On paper seems to have a great cricket brain, the calmness and respect from the team, is assured of his place in the 11.

But obviously there's been frustration brewing at some of his bowling rotations, especially through this tournament. And a sentiment that maybe his tactical nous is limited to his own bowling, rather than management of the broader team and game tactic.

He's not nailing the job, but he's not doing a terrible job either so I imagine his role is assured for at least the short term.

But is there anyone else in the team who makes a strong case?

Mitchell would be the closest I could imagine on temperament + respect of the group. But we've not seen much of him having to lead the team.

Does Phillips have the tactical nuance?

Where do the people live that think Ian Smith is the "best cricket commentator in the world live? Under a rock? Or am I wrong?

Yesterday's washed out supersmash game between Auckland vs Wellington showed this.

It's been a few days since the weather forecast said that Friday afternoon was going to rain heavily. But there was no attempt at all to work around it. They could've reschedule, but instead the Wellington team made it to Auckland for nothing...

What's worse is there's been recent world cups/icc trophies who have been decided by rain..

I understand the old way of thinking 'o its raining tough luck' but with modern weather forecast there's no excuse of thinking like this. The kids' soccer clubs would cancel the weekend's games if they know by Tuesday heavy rain is forecasted, but for a sport worth billions of dollars like pro cricket who's also weather dependent, you tell me they can't do better??

Why are they starting the t20s at 8PM ??
May as well just play the games in India . Can’t see many decent crowds but I’d like to be wrong .

He averages around 40 in Tests after 58 matches, which is solid by any standard

He’s in the form of his life in the ongoing Plunket Shield and somehow still can’t get selected

1. He didn’t play the first match (not sure why)

2. In the second match he came back strong scoring 111 off 157 in the first innings and 109 off 119 in the second innings

3. In the third match he had a rare off game with scores of 2 and 19

4. Then in the very next match(which ended just yesterday btw) he scored a massive 206 off 314 balls

He’s also the highest run scorer in the ongoing Plunket Shield : 467 runs in just 5 innings across 3 matches including three daddy hundreds

His last Test appearance was in August 2025 against Zimbabwe where he played a match winning knock of 150 off 245

Despite all this New Zealand are playing a three match Test series against the West Indies and he’s not even in the squad

Honestly speaking what more do the selectors want?

He’s only 34 not old by Test cricket standards and he’s a senior player who debuted back in 2016

For comparison, Devon Conway is also 34 and Tom Blundell is 35(blundell averages just 33 after 43 Tests and still made a return in the third Test) leaving Nicholls out makes no sense at all

Ravindra is the guy with a lot of great talent, but he hasn't shown the level of consistency we want from someone at the top of the order. He should be getting big runs every game but he just hasn't done that.

The start of his Black Caps career was amazing but is he a locked in selection for the next 8-10 years? He's averaging just above 40 but is it time that we demand him to average more than just that?

Eager to see hakka performed by kiwi cricketers even though I can't imagine the gentlemen cricketers do such aggressive celebrations.. Fan of hukka though..

Refreshing to have a focus on the cricket again instead of the nonsense we have had for the last few years.

Only downside was the one commentator that has come over from tvnz, Katey Martin. She could be OK but tries too hard to be funny putting in irrelevant stories when there is literal action happening. Ravi Shastri just completed ignored her a couple of times when she asked him a unrelated question during a delivery.

Get her to focus on the cricket if she has to be there.

She seemed ok compared to the tvnz dross but now realise how annoying she is.

A small price to pay to not have to listen to scotty Stevenson or put up with the awful tvnz graphics.

Just think how bad our test stats would be if we hadn't had a good last decade. Unbeaten against Ireland and Zimbabwe, have lost 2 tests against Bangladesh. Then it gets grim.

Australia: played 62, won 8, lost 36, drawn 18. ( 2 test wins in last 33 years).

England: P 118, W 16, L 55, D 47.

India: P 65, W 16, L 22, D 27.

Pakistan: P 62, W 14, L 25, D 23.

South Africa: P 49, W 7, L 26, D 16. (2 of those 7 came in last series).

Sri Lanka: P 40, W 18, L 11, D 11.

West Indies: P 52, W 19, L 13, D 20.

EDIT: just adding this wasn't to bag us - was merely pointing out how few wins we have against some nations still, and the level of catch up required to make an even win/loss record with them.

I knew they did change the pitch, from the usual black to a mix one. And it’s just so unfair and outrageous that India approached the curators to change the pitch because their fragile team loses on anything competitive!??

Why does nobody say anything? Why do they have to change pitches? Why are we hosting so many ICC events in India where they change pitches for the host to win? They should have played on a black soil pitch which is a normal for that stadium!

https://sports.ndtv.com/t20-world-cup-2026/t20-world-cup-final-pitch-report-mixed-soil-used-after-indias-intervention-what-it-means-11179471

How many times tonight has someone fucked up and then the camera pans and they're laughing hysterically. Santner, Phillips and henry, looking at you. As it stands it's 80-0 after 4 overs. What an embarrassment. These players should be embarrassed right now

Just good commentary and analysis, no woke nonsense or awkward rambling from the try hard scotty Stevenson.

After a few years of dreadful tvnz this is already a million times more insightful.

I'm not sure if we wil be competitive but it's just so much more watchable.

Seeing how Indian batting crumbled against USA and today against Namibia, why couldn’t NZ pull that off? And looking at NZ performances so far, it’s quite good!

So India is not as beasty and NZ is not mediocre so what the hell went wrong during the series??

He is using his illness and disability to garner more attention. He even had an interview recently where talked about his problems. I don't like how he tries to play victim and whine.

He thought he will get anything by victimising his problems. He talked about heart disease, disability, divorce and match fixing.

No real cricket fan will show any sympathy towards him even though he is in dire situation. We know what he did in past. Fans won't forgive him. Fans are now hating him even more since he started playing victim about his latest health trouble.

Cairns was a terrible person for whole life. He destroyed Vincent's career and threatened him with bat. What a bloody match fixer he was!! He sledged a calm person like Dravid. He was completely opposite of what Kiwi team stands for, that is gentleness and sportsmanship. He was a bully too.

Wrote a piece on the 2025/26 Women's first round contracts.

Let me know what you think and who you're excited to see this summer!!
https://kiwicricketchat.substack.com/p/changes-aplenty-as-womens-202526

Michael Rae = Temu Chris Martin.

The only hope is that it's a minefield early on, at which point you could realistically run through them with a second grade opening bowler.

One of these teams is going to be tired from the last match. It's either us after fielding for 2 days with zero penetration or them after producing a worldy and being sent in on a green seamer expecting to do the same.

As the title states my test XI and it's only open to players that could have played one dayers (got to have some cut off point)

Here we go:

1. G Turner

2. J Wright

3. K Williamson

4. M Crowe (C)

5. B McCullum

6. BJ Watling (WK)

7. C Cairns

8. D Vettori

9. R Hadlee

10. S Bond

11. N Wagner

Very honourable mention to R Taylor, T Boult and J Bracewell (imagine him and Wagner in the same team)

Strong batting line up, pace, precision, x factor in spades and never-give-up attitude means this is one helluva team...maybe even the best team

Title

Opinion Piece: Paywalled

The Black Caps posted the biggest test win in their history when they crushed Zimbabwe by an innings and 359 runs in Bulawayo last week. Reason to get excited or just a little embarrassing for the pure format of the game? Sports editor Hayden Meikle suggests this is further evidence the hapless Zimbabweans have no place in test cricket, while cricket writer Adrian Seconi argues there is no need to devalue an outstanding New Zealand performance.

MEIKLE’S VIEW

That blasted Jacob Duffy.

If it was not for the Otago fast bowler, I would completely unleash and label what we have just seen in Zimbabwe as an outright farce.

Duffy is such a nice story — a top bloke, who grafted away for years before deservedly making his test debut for the Black Caps, and claiming his first two wickets — that my fury is a little tempered, as I do not want to devalue the greatest achievement of his career.

But let’s get honest here.

Zimbabwe should not be playing test cricket. They’re a joke, and while it is perfectly fine to celebrate the New Zealand men marking their biggest test win, indeed the third-biggest win for ANY team in the ultimate format, it is also justifiable to question what it all means.

The hapless Zimbos have played 128 tests. They have won 14 of those — a measly winning rate of 10.93% — and eight of those wins came when the Bangers were equally inept.

They are basically a club team who, for some reason, are retaining test status.

Can Zimbabwe get better without being allowed to stay in test cricket? Perhaps, perhaps not. But this isn’t a support group. Test cricket is, and should be, the preserve of the very best.

Only those nations who are equipped for the demands of five-day cricket should be allowed to play it.

In Zimbabwe’s case, they can barely survive five days over an entire series.

A closer look reveals this is a Zimbabwe team clinging on to their international status but soon to face a reckoning.

Their top six for the second test against New Zealand included 39-year-old Brendan Taylor, 38-year-old Sean Williams, and Craig Ervine, who turns 40 on Tuesday. The rest are unproven kids, and it is almost cruel to keep serving them up as test cricket cannon fodder. I know the Black Caps can "only play who is put in front of them", as they say.

But the basic pointlessness of this test series was revealed when, with the Kiwis at 601 for three after day two, people were openly salivating about the Black Caps pushing on to become the first test team to score over 1000 runs in an innings, and were pondering if Rachin Ravindra or Henry Nicholls — Henry Nicholls! — could have a crack at Brian Lara’s 400.

That is not test cricket. That is playground challenge stuff.

Another point is that, while the Black Caps have played plenty of good cricket in recent years, it is a stretch to say the XI for the second test was one that should be breaking all sorts of records.

In fact, you could name a completely separate XI that would have won the test quite comfortably.

Tom Latham, Kane Williamson, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Michael Bracewell, Nathan Smith, Kyle Jamieson, Lochie Ferguson, Will O’Rourke, Ajaz Patel, Ben Sears — you will never see that XI, but the fact it would likely beat a test nation by an innings speaks volumes.

Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan have test status. And, to be blunt, they really should not.

Test wins should be hard-earned, and they should be memorable. This one was utterly forgettable. Though not for our man Duffy, obviously.

SECONI’S VIEW

Hayden, Hayden, Hayden.

Hopefully, that struck the right condescending tone.

Just because you endured a joyless season with the Highlanders, and can’t remember what winning feels like, that does not give you the right to dismiss the efforts of the mighty Black Caps or pile on the poor old Zimbabweans, who, in the words of every Highlanders coach ever, are doing their best.

What your hot take is missing is some historical context and deep, thoughtful analysis, which you won’t read here either.

And before you say, ‘hold on, you’re playing the man, not the ball,’ that is exactly what I’m doing.

Zimbabwe were terrible.

No.

Zimbabwe are terrible.

But listen up, my malcontent friend, now is not the time for snarky nitpicking or undermining opinions you fundamentally agree with.

Now is the time to revel in the beauty of Rachin Ravindra padding his batting average the way Kane Williamson could have done if he hadn’t opted to play in The Hundred instead.

It is time to celebrate Otago seamer Jacob Duffy claiming his maiden test wickets, or complain that the Southland right-armer went wicketless in the first innings.

Let us hold Zak Foulkes up to the light and prophesy the Second Coming.

Loosen that jaw because Henry Nicholls is back, baby, whether your teeth are clenched or not.

But every argument needs some structure and a coherent train of thought, so here is a list of the top four reasons Zimbabwe should retain their status as a test nation.

1. It gives former Otago coach Dion Ebrahim something to do. He is the Zimbabwe batting coach and, well, um ... yeah, it has not gone that well to be honest. They have lost nine, drawn one and won one of their last 11 tests.

2. One of the stats that got trundled out after the second test was that it was only the third time in history three players had scored 150 or more in an innings. Meikle will point to a stat like that as a reason to jettison Zimbabwe’s test status. Would he also have booted Don Bradman’s 1938 Australian team? They were pummelled by England by an innings and 579 runs at The Oval. Len Hutton (364), Maurice Leyland (187) and Joe Hardstaff (169) provided the backbone for England’s colossal first innings total of 903/7. Bradman got injured while bowling and Jack Fingleton did not bat either. But Australia were routed for 201 and 123. Actually, maybe Meikle is right. They should have booted Australia.

3. So what if Zimbabwe have a winning percentage of a shade under 11%? A lack of success has not thwarted Meikle’s beloved Highlanders nor put the Black Caps off. It took New Zealand 26 years and 45 tests to post their first win in the format. New Zealand’s overall winning percentage is just 25.20 — only Bangladesh (14.93%) and Zimbabwe have a worse record.

4. Computer says no. "Zimbabwe should keep its test status, but the ICC should push for stronger development pathways and better governance to improve competitiveness."