Kane Returns To ODI Squad For First Home Series Since 2022; White Ferns Brace for Virtual Quarter-Final Against India

Williamson will play his first home ODIs in 1,071 days.

Kane Williamson has returned to the Black Caps ODI squad to face England, in what will be his first ODIs in New Zealand in 1,071 days, since the two (one-and-a-half, really; the third was a no result) he played against India in the 1-0 series win in November 2022. Since then, he has skipped or been injured for Sri Lanka’s ODI visits in 2022/23 and earlier this year, as well as Bangladesh’s visit in 2023/24. Kane last played ODI cricket full stop earlier this year in the Champions Trophy final.

All up, since the 2019 World Cup, Kane has played just four home ODIs, while he has played just seven home T20is since 2022. Accordingly, this will be a rare opportunity for home fans to see Kane in white ball cricket, these days. To be fair, as long as he keeps playing Tests, he’s more than earned the right to skip the odd bilateral white ball series. Who could blame him not wanting to stand around while England batter 236 in October?

Still, I think it’s fair to lament that Kane has played just 75 of his 173 ODIs at home (43%), scoring only four of his 15 ODI hundreds in New Zealand: against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 2015 and Pakistan and England in 2018. Compared to the 52 he averages away or at neutral venues in ODI cricket with 11 hundreds, home fans haven’t quite seen the best of Kane in ODI cricket; albeit still a very, very good version. It’s never too late to put that right, though.

Overall, there is a clear trend in Kane’s ODI career: between 2012 and 2019 he plays 11 or more ODIs every year, peaking in World Cup years, while, since 2020, he has played 2, 0 (in 2021), 7, 7, and 8* ODIs per year.

Get out and catch these games against England and the West Indies series that immediately follows, as who knows how many more chances you might get to see Kane batting in ODIs at home…

Sorry, I don’t know what came over me just then. What the hell do you mean he isn’t still the 19-year-old prodigy with two decades in the team ahead of him?

I simply refuse to believe that he isn’t still a 28-year-old superstar in his prime.

Sorry, but am I actually expected to buy that Kane is mortal? Let alone that he…god forbid…ages, might be fallible, and will inevitably retire one tragic day…

Nope. Fuck that. Sticking my head back in the sand, thank you very much. He’ll play longer than Dhoni and Anderson combined.

Elsewhere, compared to the current T20 squad facing England, the other changes see Tim Robinson, Bevon Jacobs, Jimmy Neesham, and Tim Seifert making way for Kane Williamson, Nathan Smith, Will Young, and Tom Latham:

The Black Caps should be more confident in this format, currently ranked 2nd by the ICC compared to England’s 8th.

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England Do White Ferns A Favour To Keep Semi-Final Destiny In Their Own Hands

In more serious news, England did the White Ferns a massive favour the other night by beating India by four runs at the Women’s World Cup; India’s third straight heart-breaking loss, having also lost narrowly to Australia and South Africa. The win secured England’s semi final berth, joining Australia and South Africa, who had already qualified.

With Sri Lanka also narrowly beating Bangladesh last night, it means four teams (NZ, India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan) are still mathematically in contention for the last semi-final berth, though only India and New Zealand hold their fates in their own hands.

As such, despite having won just one game so far, with two losses and two no results, the White Ferns still control their semi-final destiny. They can reach a maximum of eight points, as can India, while Sri Lanka and Pakistan can only reach a maximum of six.

If the White Ferns beat India and England in their next two games, they will qualify. However, the India game is the most crucial, looming as a virtual quarter-final (though there’s a bit more to it than that). Even beating India and then getting a no result against England would be enough, taking the White Ferns out of reach on seven points. Should they lose to India, their World Cup is over.

If New Zealand beat India but then lose to England, there are a variety of possible permutations:

• For New Zealand to then definitely qualify, Bangladesh would have to beat India. Otherwise, India would advance by virtue of winning more games despite being tied on points. Bangladesh women have beaten India once in eight attempts.

• There is a somewhat likely scenario in which all three of New Zealand, India, and Sri Lanka finish tied on six points That would require NZ beating India and losing to England, India losing to NZ and beating Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka beating Pakistan in their final game. India would still advance by having more wins.

• Alternatively, Pakistan could still technically reach six points by beating Sri Lanka and South Africa, but they would also need NRR miracles and other results to go their way.

• India is the only team with a positive NRR currently, and also has one more win than the other teams, so the tiebreakers all favour them.

India can guarantee their qualification by beating New Zealand and getting at least one point from the Bangladesh game. This still looms as by far the most likely scenario. The current ‘Outright Winner’ markets for this World Cup with the bookies make it crystal clear how likely they think it is India will qualify, giving them better odds to win the whole tournament than South Africa, who have already sealed their semi-final berth:

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Weather Watch

With so many recent washouts and so much cricket coming up, it’s worth keeping a general eye on the weather.

After getting a full game in at Hagley last night, I’m less confident about the third game in Auckland on Thursday:

New Zealand and India play their World Cup game on Thursday at the same venue that Sri Lanka and Bangladesh played at last night, with no rain predicted, but similarly oppressive heat forecast.

There is also seemingly a zero percent chance of rain throughout the second Test between Pakistan and South Africa in Rawalpindi:

Unfortunately, it is not all good news. There is some chance of light rain in Indore on Wednesday for Australia’s World Cup clash with England. It looks like we’ll still get a game in, but it may be somewhat disrupted early on:

The Colombo weather also continues to look ominous, with two further games scheduled there tonight, between Pakistan and South Africa, and on Friday, between Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Here’s Tuesday in Colombo:

And here’s Friday:

Unfortunately, it looks like there’s a pretty good chance Pakistan will have their last four matches all rained out in this tournament, after having already had their games against England and New Zealand abandoned. To put it mildly: that absolutely sucks, and all because we either can’t get it together to host tournaments all in the same place, or, at the very least, couldn’t be bothered to check the when rainy season is in Columbo:

Hmm, should we host a tournament in Columbo in October when it rains 18.6 days, or 60% of the time, on average? Who could have seen it coming?

For a glorified events management company, the ICC aren’t very good at managing events sometimes.

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Test Cricketers Born In Non-Test Playing Nations

Antum Naqvi being named in Zimbabwe’s squad for their one-off Test against Afghanistan in Harare (though ultimately missing out on the playing XI) inspired me to do a bit of digging. If you don’t know, Naqvi would have been the first Belgian-born Test cricketer.

Naqvi currently averages 67 in first-class cricket from 19 appearances and 61 in List A cricket from 22 appearances to more than earn this call-up. In January last year, he became the first-ever player to score a triple hundred for a Zimbabwean representative team at any level of cricket, scoring 300* (295) for the Mid West Rhinos, including 30 fours and 10 sixes. While I won’t exaggerate and pretend he was facing an outstanding attack, he was facing two bowlers in Maposa and Sean Williams who have taken international wickets.

Naqvi’s story is a fascinating one. Per Cricinfo, he was born in Brussels to parents of Indian and Pakistani heritage, before moving to Australia aged four, getting a commercial pilot’s license, if you don’t mind, and putting his aviation career on hold to pursue cricket. “He has recently qualified to represent Zimbabwe, according to a statement from Zimbabwe Cricket.”

Whenever he debuts, and it will surely come sooner than later with numbers like those, he will become the first Belgian-born Test cricketer.

If you have the time (and if you’re reading this far, you do), this Wikipedia list of Test players born in non-Test playing nations is a fascinating read.

Did you know Nat Sciver-Brunt was born in Japan because her mother is a British diplomat and has been the UK ambassador to Japan since 2021? Now you do.

Or that Meg Lanning was born in Singapore? Can we pause for a second to imagine the alternate universe where Japan and Singapore are two cricketing superpowers off the backs of those two batting behemoths?

Pop quiz: can you name the two Test cricketers born in Portugal (you should get at least one; a recent Aussie)? Or the one apiece born in Italy and Denmark (both English, one played a lot of Tests, the other, far more recent, just one)? Or the sole Malaysian-born Test cricketer (another recent Aussie)? Or the Indian born in Brazil (I’ll be impressed, because I had never heard of him)?

Answers in the comments.

No cheating! Or do, here’s the list, I’m not gonna know.

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Quick Hits: The Rest

• Afghanistan won the T20 series against Bangladesh 3-0, before Bangladesh flipped it and won the ODI series 3-0.

• Bangladesh currently lead West Indies 1-0 in their ODI series after a comfortable 74 run win in the first game.

• The PNG and UAE women played out a 2-2 draw in their ODI series.

• The Canadian women are currently touring the Ugandan and Tanzanian women in back-to-back five-match T20 series. The first fixture, against Uganda, took place yesterday in Kampala, the Ugandan capital. Uganda won comfortably after bowling Canada out for 67.

• Zimbabwe bowled Afghanistan out for 127 in their one-off Test thanks to a Brad Evans five-for and find themselves 130/2 in reply.

• The Global Cricket League is (allegedly) happening soon in Houston, with names like Guptill, Marsh, Nabi, and Harbhajan signed on. Read my investigation into what on earth is going on with this league here (it’s a weird one!):