The New Zealand national cricket team represents New Zealand in men's international cricket. Nicknamed the Black Caps,they played their first Test in 1930 against England in Christchurch,becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. From 1930 New Zealand had to wait until 1956,more than 26 years,for its first Test victory,against the West Indies at Eden Park in Auckland. They played their first ODI in the 1972–73 season against Pakistan in Christchurch. New Zealand are the inaugural champions of WTC which they won in 2021 and they have also won ICC CT in 2000. They have played in the CWC final twice and the T20 WC final once.
Javagal Srinath, is a former Indian cricketer and currently an ICC match referee. He is considered among India's finest fast bowlers,and was the first Indian bowler to take more than 300 wickets in One Day Internationals. With India,Srinath was a member of the Indian team that was the joint-winners of the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy,a title they shared with Sri Lanka,and was a member of the team that were runners-up in the 2003 Cricket World Cup.
Christopher Lance Cairns is a former New Zealand cricketer and former ODI captain,who played for the New Zealand cricket team as an all-rounder. Cairns finished his Test career with a batting average of 33.53 and a bowling average of 29.40. In 2000,he was named as one of five Wisden Cricketers of the Year. He has appeared in ICC Cricket World Cup tournaments on 4 occasions in 1992,1996,1999 and 2003. He is regarded as one of the greatest allrounders of the game. Cairns was a member of the New Zealand team that won the 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy,the first time the country won an ICC trophy,and he had a major role in the final with 102 not out,and scored the winning run.
Ian David Stockley Smith is a New Zealand cricket and rugby commentator and former cricketer. He played as a wicket-keeper for New Zealand throughout the 1980s and part of the 1990s.
Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff is an English television and radio presenter,former international cricketer,and coach for the England cricket squad. Flintoff played all forms of the game and was one of the sport's leading all-rounders,a fast bowler,middle-order batsman,and slip fielder. He was consistently rated by the ICC as being among the top international all-rounders in both ODI and Test cricket.
Brett Lee is an Australian former international cricketer,who played all three formats of the game. During his international career,Lee was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in the world. With his time representing Australia,Lee won multiple ICC titles with the team:the 2003 Cricket World Cup,the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy,and the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy. Lee was the first bowler to take a hat-trick in the T20 format of the game which he did in 2007 ICC World Twenty20 in the inaugural tournament against Bangladesh,subsequently being the first bowler to do so at an ICC Men's T20 World Cup. Lee was also the first Australian bowler to take a hat-trick at a Cricket World Cup which he did in the 2003 Cricket World Cup Super Match game against Kenya.
Simon Matthew Katich is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer. He captained New South Wales and also,until the end of the 2007 season,Derbyshire County Cricket Club. Katich also played for Lancashire,represented his birth state of Western Australia and played in Indian Premier League for Kings XI Punjab. Katich was also a member of the Australian team that won the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy.
Shane Edward Bond is a New Zealand cricket coach and former cricketer and present bowling coach of Rajasthan Royals,described as "New Zealand's best fast bowler since Sir Richard Hadlee",and often among the greatest fast bowlers of his era. He represented New Zealand in Test,ODI and Twenty20 International cricket and played for Canterbury in New Zealand domestic cricket and Warwickshire in English domestic cricket. A right-arm fast bowler,his fastest recorded delivery was clocked at 156.4 km/h against India in the 2003 World Cup.
Michael Anthony Holding is a Jamaican former cricketer and commentator who played for the West Indies cricket team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest pace bowlers in cricket history,he was nicknamed "Whispering Death" due to his silent,light-footed run up to the bowling crease. Holding was a key member of the West Indies team that won the 1979 Cricket World Cup,as well as finishing as runners-up at the 1983 Cricket World Cup. He had the most wickets for his team at the 1979 tournament. His bowling action was renowned for being smooth and extremely fast,and he used his height to generate large amounts of bounce and zip off the pitch. He was part of the fearsome West Indian pace bowling battery,together with Andy Roberts,Joel Garner,Colin Croft,Wayne Daniel,Malcolm Marshall and Sylvester Clarke,that devastated opposing batting line-ups throughout the world in the late seventies and early eighties. Early in his Test career,in 1976,Holding broke the record for best bowling figures in a Test match by a West Indies bowler,14 wickets for 149 runs (14/149). The record still stands. During his first-class cricket career,Holding played for Jamaica,Canterbury,Derbyshire,Lancashire,and Tasmania. In September 2021,Holding announced his retirement from being a commentator.
Scott Bernardo Styris is a New Zealand cricket commentator and former cricketer,who played all formats of the game. An allrounder,Styris played as an aggressive right-handed middle order batsman and a right-arm medium pace bowler. Styris was a member of the New Zealand team that won the 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy.
Shane Robert Watson is an Australian cricket coach,commentator and former cricketer who played for and occasionally captained the Australian national cricket team between 2002 and 2016. He was an all-rounder who played as a right-handed batsman and a right-arm fast-medium bowler. He was ranked as the world's No. 1 all-rounder in Twenty20 Internationals (T20I) for 150 weeks,including an all-time record of 120 consecutive weeks from 13 October 2011 to 30 January 2014. He began playing during the Australian team's golden era in the early 2000s,and was the last player from this era to retire. In his time playing for Australia,Watson was part of their winning squad in the Cricket World Cup two times in 2007,and 2015 along with the ICC Champions Trophy twice in 2006 and 2009,with Watson named as the player of the match in the final on both occasions,as he scored the winning run in the 2006 tournament,with the winning six in the 2009 tournament.
Daniel Kyle Morrison is a New Zealand cricket commentator and former cricketer. He specialized as a pace bowler with a useful outswinger. He made his test debut for New Zealand in 1987 at the age of 21 against Australia.
Simon James Arthur Taufel is an Australian former cricket umpire who was earlier a member of the ICC Elite umpire panel. He won five consecutive ICC Umpire of the Year awards between 2004 and 2008,and is widely regarded as one of the top 10 the greatest umpire of all time. He announced his retirement from international cricket on 26 September 2012,after the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 final. He subsequently worked as the ICC's Umpire Performance and Training Manager until October 2015. In 2020 he joined the Channel Seven commentary team as an expert commentator for the 2020/21 test series.
Ryan Jay Sidebottom is a former England international cricketer who played domestic cricket for Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire and retired in 2017,after taking more than 1,000 career wickets. He is the only player in the last 15 years to win 5 county championships and also won the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 with England.
Mpumelelo"Pommie" Mbangwa is a Zimbabwean cricket commentator and former cricketer. A right-arm fast bowler,he played 15 Test matches and 29 One Day Internationals for Zimbabwe between 1996 and 2002. After being dropped from the international side after the 2002 Champions Trophy,he took up work as a cricket commentator for television,and he has remained in that line of work since. He holds the unique distinction of being the only batsman to have scored exactly the same amount of career runs in two formats with 34 runs each apiece in ODIs and Tests.
Hamish Kyle Bennett is a New Zealand former international cricketer who played for the New Zealand national cricket team. He played for Wellington in New Zealand domestic competitions. Earlier in his career he represented New Zealand in the 2006 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka.
Timothy Grant Southee,is a New Zealand international cricketer who plays for New Zealand cricket team in all formats of the game,captain in Tests and vice captain in T20Is. He is a right-arm medium-fast bowler and a hard-hitting lower order batsman. The third New Zealand bowler to take 300 Test wickets,he was one of the country's youngest cricketers,debuting at the age of 19 in February 2008. On his Test debut against England he took 5 wickets and made 77 off 40 balls in the second innings. He plays for Northern Districts in the Plunket Shield,Ford Trophy and Super Smash as well as Northland in the Hawke Cup. He was named as New Zealand's captain for the first T20I against West Indies in place of Kane Williamson,who was rested for that game. The Blackcaps won that match by 47 runs. Southee was a member of the New Zealand team that won the 2019–2021 ICC World Test Championship. Southee currently has the highest (international) test batting strike rate among the batsmen with a minimum of 2000 test runs. His (batting) career strike rate is 83.12. He was also a part of the New Zealand squads to finish as runners-up in two Cricket World Cup finals in 2015 and 2019.
Ishant Sharma is an Indian cricketer who has represented India in Tests,ODIs and T20Is. He is a 6 ft 4 in tall right-arm fast-medium bowler. At the age of 18,Sharma was called to join the Indian squad for the tour of South Africa in 2006–07. However,after receiving the call and organising travel arrangements,he was deselected. In reference to his height and lean physique in his Under-19 days,the bowler was nicknamed Lambu. In 2011,he became the fifth youngest player to take 100 Test wickets. Against South Africa in 2013,Ishant Sharma became the fifth quickest Indian to grab 100 ODI wickets. While being a "rhythm" bowler,he still is considered one of the fastest Indian bowlers having bowled in excess of 150 km/h on several occasions in international cricket as well as the IPL,his fastest being 152.2 km/h bowled to Ricky Ponting on Boxing Day Test in 2011. In 2020,Indian government has awarded him the Arjuna Award to recognize his outstanding achievement in cricket. Sharma was a member of the Indian team that won the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy.
The India national cricket team toured New Zealand from 7 December 1998 to 19 January 1999 and played a three-match Test series against New Zealand. New Zealand won the series 1–0. The two teams also played a 5-match ODI series that ended in a 2–2 draw.
Grant Wallace Nisbett is a New Zealand sports broadcaster and former TAB media liaison. He is the lead rugby commentator for SKY Network Television and called his 300th test match between the All Blacks and France at Westpac Stadium on 16 June 2018. His career spans over 40 plus years.
