New Zealand national cricket team

History

Beginnings of cricket in New Zealand

The reverend Henry Williams provided history with the first report of a game of cricket in New Zealand, when he wrote in his diary in December 1832 about boys in and around Paihia on Horotutu Beach playing cricket. In 1835, Charles Darwin and HMS Beagle called into the Bay of Islands on its epic circumnavigation of the Earth and Darwin witnessed a game of cricket played by freed Māori slaves and the son of a missionary at Waimate North. Darwin in The Voyage of the Beagle wrote:

several young men redeemed by the missionaries from slavery were employed on the farm. In the evening I saw a party of them at cricket.

The first recorded game of cricket in New Zealand took place in Wellington in December 1842. The Wellington Spectator reports a game on 28 December 1842 played by a "Red" team and a "Blue" team from the Wellington Club. The first fully recorded match was reported by the Examiner in Nelson between the Surveyors and Nelson in March 1844.

The first team to tour New Zealand was Parr's all England XI in 1863–64. Between 1864 and 1914, 22 foreign teams toured New Zealand. England sent 6 teams, Australia 15 and one from Fiji.

First national team

On 15–17 February 1894 the first team representing New Zealand played New South Wales at Lancaster Park in Christchurch. New South Wales won by 160 runs. New South Wales returned again in 1895–96 and New Zealand won the solitary game by 142 runs, its first victory. The New Zealand Cricket Council was formed towards the end of 1894.

New Zealand played its first two internationals (not Tests) in 1904–05 against a star-studded Australia team containing such players as Victor Trumper, Warwick Armstrong and Clem Hill. Rain saved New Zealand from a thrashing in the first match, but not the second, which New Zealand lost by an innings and 358 runs – currently the second-largest defeat in New Zealand first-class history.

Inter-war period

In 1927 they toured England for the first time. They played 26 first-class matches, mostly against county teams. They won seven matches, including those against Worcestershire, Glamorgan, Somerset and Derbyshire. On the strength of the performances of this tour New Zealand was granted Test status.

In 1929/30 the English team toured the country and played 4 Tests all of 3 days in duration. New Zealand lost its first Test match but drew the next 3. In the second Test Stewie Dempster and Jackie Mills put on 276 for the first wicket. This is still the highest partnership for New Zealand against England. New Zealand first played South Africa in 1931–32 in a three match series but were unable to secure Test matches against any teams other than England before World War II ended all Test cricket for 7 years. A Test tour by Australia, planned for February and March 1940, was cancelled after the outbreak of the war.

After World War II

New Zealand's first Test after the war was against Australia in 1945/46. This game was not considered a "Test" at the time but it was granted Test status retrospectively by the International Cricket Council in March 1948. The New Zealand players who appeared in this match probably did not appreciate this move by the ICC as New Zealand were dismissed for 42 and 54. The New Zealand Cricket Council's unwillingness to pay Australian players a decent allowance to tour New Zealand ensured that this was the only Test Australia played against New Zealand between 1929 and 1972.

In 1949 New Zealand sent one of its best-ever teams to England. It contained Bert Sutcliffe, Martin Donnelly, John R. Reid and Jack Cowie. However, 3-day Test matches ensured that all 4 Tests were drawn. Many have regarded the 1949 tour of England among New Zealand's best ever touring performances. All four tests were high-scoring despite being draws and Martin Donnelly's 206 at Lord's hailed as one of the finest innings ever seen there. Despite being winless, New Zealand did not lose a test either. Prior to this, only the legendary 1948 Australian team, led by the great Don Bradman, had achieved this.

New Zealand played its first matches against the West Indies in 1951–52, and Pakistan and India in 1955/56.

In 1954/55 New Zealand recorded the lowest ever innings total, 26 against England. The following season New Zealand achieved its first Test victory. The first 3 Tests of a 4 Test series were won easily by the West Indies but New Zealand won the fourth to notch up its first Test victory. It had taken them 45 matches and 26 years to attain.

In the next 20 years, New Zealand won only seven more Tests. For most of this period New Zealand lacked a class bowler to lead their attack although they had two excellent batsmen in Bert Sutcliffe and Glenn Turner and a great all-rounder in John R. Reid.

Reid captained New Zealand on a tour to South Africa in 1961–62 where the five-test series was drawn 2–2. The victories in the third and fifth tests were the first overseas victories New Zealand achieved. Reid scored 1,915 runs in the tour, setting a record for the most runs scored by a touring batsman of South Africa as a result.

1970 to 2000

In 1973 Richard Hadlee debuted and the rate at which New Zealand won Tests picked up dramatically. Hadlee was one of the best pace bowlers of his generation, playing 86 Tests for New Zealand before he retired in 1990. Of the 86 Tests that Hadlee played in New Zealand won 22 and lost 28. In 1977/78 New Zealand won its first Test against England, at the 48th attempt. Hadlee took 10 wickets in the match.

During the 1980s New Zealand also had the services of batsman Martin Crowe and a number of other players such as John Wright, Bruce Edgar, John F. Reid, Andrew Jones, Geoff Howarth, Jeremy Coney, Ian Smith, John Bracewell, Lance Cairns, Stephen Boock, and Ewen Chatfield, who were capable of playing the occasional match-winning performance and making a valuable contribution to a Test match.

The best example of New Zealand's two star players (R. Hadlee and M. Crowe) putting in match-winning performances and other players making good contributions is New Zealand versus Australia, 1985 at Brisbane. In Australia's first innings Hadlee took 9–52. In New Zealand's only innings, M Crowe scored 188 and John F. Reid 108. Edgar, Wright, Coney, Jeff Crowe, V. Brown, and Hadlee scored between 17 and 54*. In Australia's second innings, Hadlee took 6–71 and Chatfield 3–75. New Zealand won by an innings and 41 runs.

One-day cricket provided New Zealand with opportunities to play more frequently against other international teams than Test cricket allowed. In this format, a team can win without individual batsmen scoring centuries or bowlers taking all ten wickets. Victories can be achieved through a combination of partial batting contributions, economical bowling, and effective fielding. New Zealand players met these performance requirements, establishing a competitive record in one-day international cricket.

Perhaps New Zealand's most infamous one-day match was the "under arm" match against Australia at the MCG in 1981. Requiring six runs to tie the match off the final ball, Australian captain Greg Chappell instructed his brother Trevor to bowl the ball underarm along the wicket to prevent New Zealand batsman Brian McKechnie from hitting a six. The Australian umpires ruled the move as legal even though to this day many believe it was one of the most unsporting decisions made in cricket.

21st century

New Zealand started the new millennium by winning the 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy in Kenya to claim their first ICC tournament. This was a knockout tournament where teams were seeded according to their performance in Cricket World Cup 1999, the top five teams from that world cup gained direct entry to quarter-finals and while remaining six teams had to play the pre-quarter finals. New Zealand gained direct entry to quarter-finals where they faced Zimbabwe against whom they had recently lost an ODI series, after a nervy start they pulled things back and romped to a crushing 64-run victory to get through to the semis. In semis they faced Pakistan, a team who had managed to knock New Zealand out from last World Cup at this very stage. New Zealand beat Pakistan this time in a thrilling run-chase to enter the final. In the final, they faced India who had knocked out world champions Australia and defending champions South Africa. New Zealand won the toss and opted to bowl but the decision seemed to backfire as India romped to a 141 run opening partnership in 27 overs, New Zealand somehow managed to pull things back but the target was a daunting 265, and in reply they struggled for the most part of their innings but in the end, it was a 122-run partnership between Chris Cairns and Chris Harris that took them close the target before Cairns finished the game with two balls to spare as New Zealand won its first-ever ICC event.

Shane Bond played 18 Tests for NZ between 2001 and 2009 but missed far more through injury. When fit, he added a dimension to the NZ bowling attack that had been missing since Hadlee retired, taking 87 wickets at an average of 22.09.

Vettori stood down as Test captain in 2011 leading to star batsman Ross Taylor to take his place. Taylor led New Zealand for a year which included a thrilling win in a low scoring Test match against Australia in Hobart, their first win over Australia since 1993. In 2012/13 Brendon McCullum became captain and new players such as Kane Williamson, Corey Anderson, Doug Bracewell, Trent Boult and Jimmy Neesham emerged as world-class performers. McCullum captained New Zealand to series wins against the West Indies and India in 2013/14 and both Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 2014/15 increasing New Zealand's rankings in both Test and ODI formats. In the series against India McCullum scored 302 at Wellington to become New Zealand's first Test triple centurion.

In early 2015 New Zealand made the final of the Cricket World Cup, going through the tournament undefeated until the final, where they lost to Australia by seven wickets. In 2015 the New Zealand national cricket team played under the name of Aotearoa for their first match against Zimbabwe to celebrate Māori Language Week.

International grounds

Listed chronologically in order of first match. Neutral fixtures such as World Cup and World Cup Qualifier games are included.

Current squad

New Zealand Cricket released the list of their 2025–2026 national contracts on 3 June 2025.

This is a list of every active player who is contracted to New Zealand Cricket, has played for New Zealand since February 2025 or was named in the recent Test, ODI or T20I squads. Uncapped players are listed in italics.

Last updated: 5 February 2026

Forms – This refers to the forms they've played for New Zealand in the past year, not over their whole New Zealand career

No. – Shirt number

C – Contracted to New Zealand Cricket (Y = Holds contract)

Coaching staff

Coaching history

1985–1987: Glenn Turner

1987–1990: Bob Cunis

1990–1993: Warren Lees

1993–1995: Geoff Howarth

1995–1996: Glenn Turner

1996–1999: Steve Rixon

1999–2001: David Trist

2001–2003: Denis Aberhart

2003–2008: John Bracewell

2008–2009: Andy Moles

2010: Mark Greatbatch

2010–2012: John Wright

2012–2018: Mike Hesson

2018–2025: Gary Stead

2025–present: Rob Walter

Team colours

New Zealand's kit is manufactured by Canterbury of New Zealand, who replaced previous manufacturer WStar in 2009. When playing Test cricket, New Zealand's cricket whites feature logo of the sponsors Gillette on the left of the shirt, the ANZ logo on the left sleeve and on the middle of the shirt and the Canterbury logo on the right sleeve. New Zealand fielders may wear a black cap (in the style of a baseball cap rather than the baggy cap worn by some teams) or a white sun hat with the New Zealand Cricket logo in the middle. Helmets are also coloured black (although until 1996, they used to be white with the silver fern logo encased in a black circle).

In limited overs cricket, New Zealand's ODI and Twenty20 shirts feature the ANZ logo across the centre, with the silver fern badge on the left of the shirt, Canterbury logo on the right sleeve and the Ford logo on the right. In ODIs, the kit comprises a black shirt with blue accents and black trousers, whilst the Twenty20 kit comprises a beige shirt with black accents and black trousers. In ICC limited-overs tournaments, a modified kit design is used with sponsor's logos moving to the sleeve and 'NEW ZEALAND' printed across the front.

In ODI, New Zealand wore Beige and brown between 1980 World Series Cricket and 1988 World Series Cricket. The 1983–1984 version was made popular by the Black Caps supporter group Beige Brigade, who sells the version of this uniform to the general public together with a "moral contract" which explains the expectations that come with being a Beige Brigadier. and was also worn in the inaugural Twenty20 international between New Zealand and Australia. Between 1991 and 1997 grey or silver (with some splashes of black or white) was worn instead. Until 2000, the ODI uniform was teal with black accents.

Previous suppliers were Adidas (World Series Cricket 1980–1990), ISC (World Cup World Cup 1992 and 1996, World Series 1993–97) Canterbury (1998–1999), Asics (who supplied all the 1999 Cricket World Cup participating teams) and WStar (2000–2009).

Previous sponsors were DB Draught (1990–1994 in the front, 1995–1997 in the sleeve), Bank of New Zealand (1993–94 and 1997–99 in the front), Clear Communications, later TelstraClear (1997–2000 in the front, 2001–2005 in the sleeve), National Bank of New Zealand (2000–2014) and Dheeraj and East Coast (2009–2010), since 2014 ANZ is the current sponsor, due to National Bank's rebranding as ANZ. Amul became the new sponsor in May 2017 for the ICC CT.

Tournament history

Honours

ICC

World Test Championship

Champions (1): 2019–2021

World Cup

Runners-up (2): 2015, 2019

T20 World Cup

Runners-up (2): 2021, 2026

Champions Trophy

Champions (1): 2000

Runners-up (2): 2009, 2025

Others

Commonwealth Games

Bronze medal (1): 1998

Result summary

Test matches

* Only bilateral series designated to be of 2 or more matches are included here. One-off matches are not credited as a bilateral series.

ODI matches

* Only bilateral series designated to be of 2 or more matches have been included here. One-off matches are not credited as a bilateral series.

* "Tie+W" and "Tie+L" indicates matches tied and then won or lost in a tiebreaker such as a bowlout or one-over-eliminator ("Super Over").

* The win percentage excludes no results and counts ties (irrespective of a tiebreaker) as half a win.

* Forfeited matches are not included.

T20I matches

* Only bilateral series designated to be of 2 or more matches have been included here. One-off matches are not credited as a bilateral series.

* "Tie+W" and "Tie+L" indicates matches tied and then won or lost in a tiebreaker such as a bowlout or one-over-eliminator ("Super Over")

* The win percentage excludes no results and counts ties (irrespective of a tiebreaker) as half a win.

Records

Individual records

Richard Hadlee, one of New Zealand and the world's best all-rounders, took the world record for most Test wickets (374) vs India at Bangalore in 1988. Hadlee was the first bowler to reach 400 Test wickets, vs India at Christchurch in 1990, and finished his career with 431 wickets. He subsequently lost the record to Kapil Dev.

Corey Anderson holds record for the second fastest century in One Day Internationals (or any other format of international cricket). Playing against West Indies, he scored his ton in just 36 balls. Corey Anderson lost the record to AB de Villiers when AB scored a century in just 31 balls against West Indies.

In a One Day International in 1996, the entire New Zealand team were awarded man of the match against the West Indies, the first such occasion.

Andrew Jones and Martin Crowe held the highest ever 3rd-wicket partnership in Tests, with 467 against Sri Lanka in 1991, which at the time was the highest partnership for any wicket.

Brian Hastings and Richard Collinge together scored 151 runs for the 10th-wicket against Pakistan in 1973, the highest 10th-wicket partnership at the time.

Nathan Astle scored Test cricket's fastest ever double century versus England, at Christchurch in 2002. He scored 200 off 153 balls with the second hundred coming off just 39 deliveries. He was eventually out for 222—the dreaded double Nelson. He knocked the first hundred off 114 balls. Astle smashed the record by 59 balls, previously held by Adam Gilchrist Australia vs South Africa Johannesburg 2002.

Brendon McCullum holds the world record for the fastest Test hundred in terms of balls faced. It was scored off 54 balls on 20 February 2016, against Australia during his final Test match, in Christchurch.

Brendon McCullum holds the world record for the most sixes in Test cricket with 107. He passed Adam Gilchrist's record of 100 in his final Test match. This record was also previously held by Chris Cairns.

Team records

New Zealand has the record of taking the most number of Tests to register their first win in the format (45 Tests)

New Zealand became the second team after Australia to win their debut ODI (beat Pakistan at Christchurch in 1973)

New Zealand hosted Australia to play the first-ever T20 international match at Eden Park in Feb 2005

New Zealand became the sixth team to achieve No. 1 ranking in all three formats by ICC (T20I 2016–2018, Test 2021–2021, ODI 2021–2023)

New Zealand won the inaugural WTC Title on 23 Jun 2021 beating India at Hampshire Bowl, Southampton

New Zealand became the first team to appear in two men's Finals in ICC Events in a calendar year (WTC & T20 WC in 2021)

New Zealand became the first team to whitewash India in India in a Test series of 3 or more matches

New Zealand has appeared in the joint-most Semi-Finals in ICC ODI & T20I World Cups (14)

New Zealand has appeared in the joint-fourth Finals in ICC Events (8)

New Zealand has won two ICC Titles, joint-seventh with South Africa

Notable

Ross Taylor has the 8th highest ODI batting average among batsmen to have played at least 100 ODIs, and Kane Williamson has the 10th highest.

New Zealand dismissed Zimbabwe (Harare 2005) twice in the same day for totals of 59 and 99. Zimbabwe became only the second team (after India at Manchester in 1952) to be dismissed twice in the same day. The whole Test was completed inside two days. This feat was then repeated at Napier in 2012 when NZ dismissed Zimbabwe for 51 and 143 to end the match within three days.

Kane Williamson holds the record for most centuries by a New Zealander in Tests, with 33.

Brendon McCullum holds the record for the highest Test innings by a New Zealander of 302 (vs India in 2014). He is currently the only triple centurion from New Zealand.

Brendon McCullum holds the New Zealand Test record for the most innings of 200 or more, with 4.

Brendon McCullum scored the fastest World Cup fifty (off 18 balls) for New Zealand in a Pool A Match of 2015 Cricket World Cup against England, beating his own 20-ball record set against Canada in World Cup (2007) earlier.

Martin Guptill holds the record for the highest One Day International innings by a New Zealander, with 237 not out against West Indies in the 2015 World Cup quarter-final in Wellington.

Shane Bond took an ODI hat-trick in the last over (innings bowling figures: 10–0–61–4) vs Australia at Hobart in January 2007.

Tim Southee took a Twenty20 hat-trick, taking 5–18 in the match against Pakistan.

Colin Munro scored the second fastest T20 International 50, off 14 balls, against Sri Lanka at Eden Park, Auckland on 10 January 2016.