Kane Williamson's career has many more years left to run but the New Zealand captain reached the first of many milestones predicted of him since his breakthrough as a teenager with a routine shot in the first Test against England on Friday.
Statistics emerging from the Indian Premier League (IPL) reveals that for the New Zealand cricketers, the tournament has been the most lucrative.
Trent Boult and Colin de Grandhomme made themselves unavailable for selection due to the prospect of further time in bio-secure bubbles and Managed Isolation.
Dale Steyn grabbed five wickets to lead South Africa to a convincing 204 run-victory over New Zealand in the second test at Centurion on Tuesday that sealed a 1-0 win in the series. Set an unlikely target of 400 to win the match, New Zealand were bowled out for 195 with a day to spare as South Africa kept in tact their record of never losing a series against the Kiwis.
New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has succeeded in signing its six Indian Premier League-contracted players, avoiding a possible rift caused by a scheduling clash with Australia's tour of the country next March.
The hosts ended the day on 144-4 and Henry Nicholls (26) and BJ Watling (six) will resume in Mt. Maunganui on Saturday to try and eat into their 209-run deficit after England were dismissed for 353 after lunch on Friday.
Neesham, a batting all-rounder, rocked the Afghanistan innings by his incisive bowling and in the process returned with his career-best figures of 5/31 from his 10 overs. His earlier best was 4/42.
India might be in woeful form right now but New Zealand captain Ross Taylor says the recent poor run would make Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men all the more dangerous when the two sides clash in a do-or-die encounter of the ODI cricket tri-series in Dambulla on Wednesday.
Former captain Martin Crowe has taken over as New Zealand's batting consultant, giving up his job as a cricket commentator to avoid conflict of interest.
The tri-series match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka was called off without a ball being bowled due to persistent rain in Dambulla, on Thursday. The match will have a fresh start on Friday, which has been kept as a reserve day.
New Zealand skipper Ross Taylor on Wednesday said the no-ball controversy would not affect Sri Lanka in Thursday's clash as much as the fatigue factor after playing two successive games.
New Zealand all-rounder Jacob Oram has developed a tight hamstring and will be a doubtful starter for Friday's ODI tri-series match against Sri Lanka, Black Caps skipper Ross Taylor said in Dambulla.
Ross Taylor captained New Zealand a second time in the opening match of the tri-series against India at Dambulla. And the Black Caps thrashed their more fancied opponents by a whopping 200 runs.
Australia cruised to a 19-run victory in a rain-affected Twenty20 tri-series final with New Zealand to claim the world number one ranking in the shortest form of the game for the first time.
The see-saw match could have gone either way but Andrew Symonds' back-to-back strike tilted the IPL final in Deccan Chargers' favour, believe rival captains Adam Gilchrist and Anil Kumble. Chasing a modest 144, the Royal Challengers Bangalore seemed cruising for victory when Symonds intervened in the 15th over, claiming the crucial wickets of Ross Taylor and Virat Kohli off successive deliveries.
Ross Taylor made a valiant 46 as Royal Challengers Bangalore edged past Chennai Super Kings by two wickets in their Indian Premier League match at Kingsmead, Durban on Thursday.
Among top players from different countries playing in the IPL second season, it turns out that English players cost the most, but contributed the least.
New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor will have a unique dilemma at this year's Champions League Twenty20 with the New Zealand batsman having qualified for as many as three teams for the September 10-26 event.
New Zealand will enter the World Cup feeling optimistic of finally winning it after four and half decades of trying.
The focus will be on K L Rahul and Vijay Shankar, contenders for the number four slot, in the World Cup warm up match against New Zealand, in London, on Saturday.
Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor calmly guided New Zealand to an eight-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the first Test at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Monday.
The play stopped for a brief moment at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui, when a streaker came running to the pitch.
Live update of the Champions Trophy match between South Africa and New Zealand.
Images from the Indian Premier League match between Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers Bangalore, in Nagpur, on Monday.
New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor's century failed to provide any momentum for the home team, as Australia took a two run lead with ten wickets in hand when bad light stopped play on Day two of the second Test at Hamilton's Seddon Park.
New Zealand struggled to 159 for five on the second day of the second and final Test on Thursday, trailing Sri Lanka by 257 runs after Thilan Samaraweera's century had put the hosts in command.
Kane Williamson's sentiment was also echoed by one of his senior teammates Ross Taylor, who was also critical of the points system.
Ross Taylor had a winning start to his career as a captain as New Zealand eked out a two-wicket win over trans-Tasman tivals Australia in a closely contested opening one-day international at Napier on Wednesday.
Ross Taylor's blistering 78 off 52 balls gave New Zealand a five-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the second One-day International and an unassaible 2-0 lead in the three-match series, in Dunedin, on Monday.
Latham, De Grandhomme lead NZ to series sweep of India
Ross Taylor struck his third one-day century on Tuesday to set New Zealand up for a series-winning 79-run victory in the third limited overs international against Bangladesh.
A valiant 81 not out from man-of-the-match Ross Taylor helped Royal Challengers Bangalore get past Kolkata Knight Riders' formidable total with six wickets remaining in their Indian Premier League match at SuperSport Park, Centurion on Tuesday.
New Zealand pacer Tim Southee said their World Test Championship triumph will take at least a couple of weeks to sink in.
India's stand-in captain Virender Sehwag believes New Zealand owe their comeback on Day 1 of the second Test to his butter-fingered teammates. 'The bowlers did well. If we had taken catches, we could have probably taken seven or eight wickets today,' Sehwag said after the day's play on Thursday.
New Zealand vice-captain Tom Latham says losing the first day to rain will not change their approach to team selection.
New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori won the toss and elected to field against India in the first Twenty20 international at the AMI Stadium in Christchurch on Wednesday. Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh returned to the Indian team, replacing all-rounder Ravinder Jadeja, who featured in India's last Twenty20 match against Sri Lanka.
He himself has been inspired by Sachin Tendulkar and now New Zealand top order batsman Ross Taylor wants to be a role model for the youngsters of the Rugby-possessed Samoan tribe.
Tom Latham led New Zealand's solid response with an unbeaten 111 against Sri Lanka's first-innings total of 244 on the third day of the second and final Test in Colombo.
New Zealand won the toss and chose to bat in the Twenty20 World Cup first semi-final in Cape Town, South Africa on Saturday.
Australia's misery continued, with New Zealand beating them by two wickets in Perth on Sunday in a low-scoring first ODI in the five-match ODI series. Chasing a victory target of 182, New Zealand huffed and puffed before Ross Taylor (64) propped them. Needing five runs off the last over, the Kiwis levelled the score with the fifth ball before captain Daniel Vettori hit a boundary off the last delivery from Nathan Bracken for a memorable win.
