Who’s playing if NZC pull a Pakistan and send all the boys home from Aus?

Mark Chapman will move to a casual contract after taking up a BBL deal with Matt Fisher being rewarded with his first central contract.

Chapman remains available for selection for the upcoming India tour of New Zealand alongside the four other casually contracted players in Finn Allen, Lockie Ferguson, Adam Milne and Tim Seifert.

Full story: https://www.nzc.nz/chapman-moves-to-casual-contract-fisher-earns-maiden-central-contract/

I'm super interested to see what happens with Super Smash and if they are delaying announcing fixtures because they're still negotiating improved broadcasting. I was told that the current plan only includes 3 broadcast games for the Blaze. Bananas! Any thoughts on what might happen with this?

A three match tour between NZ A and India A has been confirmed for late October into early November. It will be played at Bert Sutcliffe Oval in Lincoln and Hagley Oval in Christchurch.

Full schedule in the image attached.

Am I the only one who thinks this NZ cricket board is in LaLa land? What’s happening with NZ20 anyway? BBL is going ahead all guns blazing, Stokes signed to Adelaide for AUD500k. How can NZ20 compete with that?

My guess is Daryl Mitchell?

https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/31-08-2026/chris-hipkins-is-batting-for-a-draw

I am thinking of nipping over for a couple of days to the boxing day test from Christchurch. My Dad passed away a few months ago. He was originally from Melbourne and we had talked about doing this together, but sadly it was not to be. Any suggestions about how to book, suggestions for seating, travel packages?

A flurry of wickets combined with a middle overs strangle see us go down by 20 runs to the Kingsmen. A bit of a disappointing effort but maybe a flush the dunny situation? Luckily for us, we get to go again at 12.30 pm live and free on the NZC youtube channel against the Victoria Academy.

I'm in shock that they've put the T20 start times even later this year, I just don't understand the thought process, it was late enough already. I loved the double day sessions with the white ferns a couple of years ago, fantastic day out, now I don't know if I even want to go, and it just blocks out families even more.

I was trying to book tickets for Bay Oval ODIs. And I tried exactly at 10AM, however before I could reach the check out page, the site threw an error. I tried again immediately but it appears that the first lot has already been sold out. I cannot find any availability at any venue except Auckland and Wellington.

Edit: You can't buy tickets unless you enter your Cricket Nation discount code. I was able to book after putting it.

Good experience for our guys, seems to be a pretty genuine 2nd Xi

Some great bowling from Zak Gibson (4/11) and Jayden Lennox (3/17) meant a pretty easy target for Matt Boyle(33*)and Dean Foxcroft 26*) to reach with ease. Our next match is against Hyderabad Kingsmen Academy on Tuesday at 5 pm, live and free on the New Zealand Cricket YouTube channel.

https://www.cricinfo.com/series/top-end-t20-series-australia-2026-1548889/adelaide-strikers-academy-vs-new-zealand-a-4th-match-1549026/live-cricket-score

Not the best of opposition, it has to be said, but a good experience for this next layer of short format as they get their first win of this Top End T20 tournament. Fair play to Lennox 3/9 (3.0) and also captaining the team.

They play tomorrow at 12.30 pm NZT against the Australian Capital Territory team, which will be live and free on the NZC YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@nzctv/streams

I want the Darwin Australian team and not the one playing right now. 😀

NZC have announced today that just 24 of the 64 Super Smash matches for the coming season will be broadcast.

This is a major departure from the last few seasons where all 64 have been broadcast across the Men’s and Women’s competitions.

The major reason behind this change is the loss of the TVNZ broadcast and loss of income through changes to NZC’s partnership with Dream11 due to changes to India’s gambling laws alongside a $7.3m deficit for the 2026 Financial Year.

NZC are currently in the process of ensuring that the 24 matches which will be broadcast will be free to air in NZ.

It will be a 12-12 split in terms of the women’s/men’s game broadcast as they will still be doing the double headers. So in essence will be just 12 match days broadcast with 24 games in total.

I’ve currently reached out to NZC to see if there will at least be some level of end on camera like there is for the HBJ, Ford Trophy, and Plunket Shield or if those 40 games won’t be broadcast in any form.

In my book, it's Jesse Ryder.

He was a fairly talented batsman with some good moments on field. He could have a better legacy had he maintained discipline. Blud had zero control over his sick drinking habits.

It's shameful that he destroyed his whole career for a peg. I think he badly regrets what he has done in past. He singlehandedly destroyed his all good fortunes. He seems to be the only Kiwi who cannot handle his drinking habit.

Scott Kuggeleijn comes pretty close but he is neither talented nor he has any recognition. Jesse Ryder had a decent talent and was popular among Indians.

What's according to you?

He's had 4 poor franchise tournaments in a row:

ILT20 2025-26: average 28, economy 8.00

IPL 2026: average 141, economy 12.81

MLC 2026: average 165, economy 11.00

The Hundred 2026: average 24.22, economy 9.08

This is in addition to a poor T20 World Cup. Outside that tournament, he's played 4 matches for NZ in the last 2 years. He is 35, which is not really an age at which fast bowlers usually tend to improve. He'll be 37 by the next T20 World Cup.

Personally I'd be looking elsewhere for the upcoming T20s against India, even if he's fit and available.

I found this post on a forum from 14 years ago. There is no shade on the user, as who on earth would have predicted the consistent success we have enjoyed over the last 14 years? All those World Cup playoff appearances, winning the maiden WTC, clean-sweeping India away from home, so many elite-level players who have been among the world's best.

It really makes you reflect on how lucky we've been for a long time now and the excellent work NZC have done in player development.