New Zealand have 54 male players dotted around Asia this month, a statistic head coach Rob Walter describes as “a massive positive”.
At one end of the subcontinent the senior ODI squad are preparing for six limited-overs matches in Bangladesh. A few hundred miles south, a New Zealand A group are midway through first-class and one-day fixtures in Sri Lanka. Add the 18 New Zealanders split between the IPL and PSL and, as Walter notes, “it’s just under half of our contracted players” operating in Asian conditions.
Key facts first
• 54 New Zealanders involved in professional cricket across four Asian countries
• 6 ODIs and T20Is scheduled in Bangladesh
• A-team series in Sri Lanka running concurrently
• 18 players earning franchise experience in IPL/PSL
Why the scatter-gun approach? Walter does not want every tour staffed by the same faces. “If we sent our entire team to Sri Lanka and then bring them here, we have missed out on an opportunity to give 12 other players opportunity to develop their skills in Sri Lanka,” he says. Exposure beats congestion, in other words.
Seven members of the current Bangladesh party – Adithya Ashok, Ben Lister, Dean Foxcroft, Jayden Lennox, Josh Clarkson, Muhammad Abbas and Nick Kelly – spent May last year with New Zealand A on these very pitches. Will Young and Henry Nicholls have also toured with the senior side before, so the group is hardly green. “Any of that experience coming to Bangladesh is handy and it puts you in good stead moving forward,” Walter points out.
The bigger picture
International calendars grow ever tighter and players are frequently “pulled in different directions”, to borrow Walter’s phrase. New Zealand’s response is to widen the pool rather than lean on a core of 15. “We are giving a large number of players international experience at different levels, trying to make sure that we strengthen our whole system and not just a small group of players,” the coach explains.
Bangladesh, unbeaten at home against Pakistan earlier this season, present a stern examination. Walter welcomes that. “Obviously, it’s always a plus for us to expose, if you wanted to call them our next-in-line cricketers, to quality opposition,” he says. The hosts’ slow, turning surfaces remain unfamiliar territory for many New Zealanders; gaining that knowledge now could prove more useful than any pre-series camp before a future World Cup.
Room for growth
A squad split four ways carries risk. Injuries or loss of form can thin options quickly, while working with new combinations every week might hamper cohesion. Yet the coaching staff believe the upside outweighs the downside. Consistent game time, especially in taxing climates, builds resilience no net session can replicate.
For now, New Zealand will accept the odd logistical headache if it means 54 cricketers sharpening their craft under floodlights in Dhaka, heat in Colombo, or the roar of an IPL crowd. The payoff, they hope, will come when whoever pulls on the silver fern already owns a bank of Asian nous.
