Online Reporter
AUCKLAND. – New Zealand could create their own test history in Zimbabwe next month.
The recent rise of Nick Kelly has increased the prospect that the Black Caps could play four left-handed batters at the top of the order in their next test match – for the first time in the country’s 95-year cricket history.
Kelly was the star performer in New Zealand A’s recent ‘test’ series in Bangladesh, but wasn’t among the 20 players awarded a Black Caps contract for the 2025/26 season.
His efforts in Bangladesh however – which included two hundreds – should have elevated him as a genuine contender to replace the unavailable Kane Williamson in the New Zealand XI for the first of two Tests in Zimbabwe starting late next month. A ‘top four’ of captain Tom Latham, opening partner Devon Conway, Kelly and Rachin Ravindra is certainly a selection contention for when the Black Caps face Zimbabwe in Bulawayo on July 30.
If Kelly got the nod instead, it would be the first time in 479 Tests that New Zealand would have fielded four left-handers in the top four in an innings.
NZ has had four left-handers appear in the top four of the batting order in three Tests – but not in the same innings, leading cricket statistician Francis Payne found. In those three Tests, a left-handed player was either promoted up the order in a run-chase, or used as a nightwatcher.
NZ played a number of tests in the 1980s with a top three of Bruce Edgar, John Wright and John Reid, while recent seasons have seen left-handers Latham, Conway and Henry Nicholls fill three of the top-four places.
Zimbabwe were recently beaten by England by an innings and 45 runs in Nottingham. While NZ Test caps are not handed out lightly, the two games in Zimbabwe could be an opportunity for a debutant or two ahead of the next World Test Championship campaign, with seamer Jacob Duffy pushing hard for a red-ball place. – New Zealand Post
