He last donned the whites for New Zealand in their latest red-ball series against England at home.
New Zealand made light work of the hosts Zimbabwe in the opening Test to clinch a nine-wicket victory in Bulawayo. The second and final Test of the series begins on August 7. However, former New Zealand captain Kane Williamson is not a part of the Black Caps playing XI for the match at the same venue.
TBW
188/5
BVB
183/5
AMR
–
TBW
–
ABF
–
GAW
–
SLK
–
TKR
–
NDT
144/3
ODW
142/7
New Delhi Tigers beat Outer Delhi Warriors by 7 wickets
NDS
–
EDR
–
WDL
–
PD
–
NDSW
118/5
EDRW
116/4
North Delhi Strikers Women beat East Delhi Riders Women by 2 runs
AUST
88/7
BEL
136/6
Belgium beat Austria by 48 runs
AUST
115/7
BEL
153/2
Belgium beat Austria by 38 runs
AUST
136/3
BEL
131/6
Austria beat Belgium by 7 wickets
AUST
146/0
BEL
142/4
Austria beat Belgium by 10 wickets
ROM
–
CZR
–
ROM
–
CZR
–
ROM
–
CZR
–
ROM
–
CZR
–
AUST
–
BEL
–
AUST
–
BEL
–
ROM
195/4
CZR
170/7
Romania beat Czech Republic by 25 runs
ROM
157/8
CZR
159/6
Czech Republic beat Romania by 4 wickets
KHTC
147/6
VFB
149/4
VFB Fallersleben beat 1.Kieler HTC by 6 wickets
KSV
173/3
SGFD
137/6
KSV Kings beat SG Findorff by 36 runs
SGFD
152/8
VFB
116/8
SG Findorff beat VFB Fallersleben by 36 runs
SGFD
82/10
KSV
87/3
KSV Kings beat SG Findorff by 7 wickets
LAN
249/9
BB
253/5
Birmingham Bears beat Lancashire by 5 wickets
DER
345/10
SURR
388/4
Surrey beat Derbyshire by 43 runs
YOR
354/7
DURH
142/10
Yorkshire beat Durham by 212 runs
WOR
298/5
GLAM
297/7
Worcestershire beat Glamorgan by 5 wickets
NOT
291/10
GLO
343/7
Gloucestershire beat Nottinghamshire by 52 runs
PNG
205/10
DEN
223/8
Denmark beat Papua New Guinea by 18 runs
KWT
–
JER
–
IRE-W
–
ITA-W
–
NED-W
–
GER-W
–
BAN
–
IND
–
Match Called off
TBC
–
TBC
–
TBC
–
TBC
–
ALRS
151/7
TTS
152/3
Thrissur Titans beat Alleppey Ripples by 7 wickets
ARKS
164/9
ATR
165/6
Adani Trivandrum Royals beat Aries Kollam Sailors by 4 wickets
KBTS
–
ALRS
–
TTS
–
CAGS
–
HBT
173/2
GBM
172/7
Hubli Tigers beat Gulbarga Mystics by 8 wickets
SML
195/7
MGD
200/5
Mangalore Dragons Won by 5 runs
HBT
–
MYW
–
BNB
–
GBM
–
RNC
124/9
YSG
152/8
Yallah Shabab Giants beat Renaissance Challengers by 28 runs
MAT
139/5
MUT
136/5
Majees Titans beat Muscat Thunderers by 5 wickets
ROS
110/5
IAI
104/10
Royal Oman Stallions beat IAS Invincibles by 5 wickets
YSG
–
MUT
–
RNC
–
IAI
–
ROS
–
MAT
–
AUS
193/10
SA
277/10
South Africa beat Australia by 84 runs
IPS
189/9
GCT
211/8
Gold Coast beat Ipswich by 22 runs
TMB
271/5
NSBB
193/8
Toombul beat Northern Suburbs by 78 runs
SSC
–
SGR
–
WYN
–
RLS
–
TMB
–
VLLY
–
SBB
–
IPS
–
WSS
–
UOQ
–
IPS
–
TMB
–
BIP
138/9
WEF
140/2
Welsh Fire won by 8 wickets
NOS
–
OVI
–
LOS
–
SOB
–
BIP-W
114/9
WFW-W
150/3
Welsh Fire Women beat Birmingham Phoenix Women by 36 runs
NOS-W
–
OIW-W
–
LSW-W
–
SBW-W
–
MR-A
134/9
AS-A
135/4
Adelaide Strikers Academy beat Melbourne Renegades Academy by 6 wickets
NTS
135/10
PSA
139/3
Perth Scorchers Academy beat Northern Territory Strike by 7 wickets
PS
144/9
NEP
143/7
Pakistan Shaheens won by 1 run
CHK
–
HHA
–
ACOM
–
MS-A
–
BANA
–
AS-A
–
NOSK
114/6
KASS
110/10
Noida Super Kings beat Kanpur Superstars by 4 wickets
LUF
182/8
GOLS
183/3
Gorakhpur Lions beat Lucknow Falcons by 7 wickets
KARS
–
MEMA
–
GOLS
–
KASS
–
The news from the match centre is that Zimbabwe have won the toss and elected to bat first.
Zimbabwe: Brian Bennett, Nick Welch, Sean Williams, Brendan Taylor, Craig Ervine (capt), Sikandar Raza, Tafadza Tsoto, Vincent Masekesa, Blessing Muzarabani, Trevor Gwanda, Tanaka Chivanga.
New Zealand: Will Young, Devon Conway, Henry Nicholls, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Mitchell Santner, Jacob Duffy, Zakary Foulkes, Matt Henry, Matthew Fisher.
The 34-year-old had opted out of the Test series against Zimbabwe due to his recent contract with Middlesex for the 2025 season. This deal includes his availability to represent London Spirit in The Hundred, Middlesex in the T20 Blast, and at least five county championship matches in the second half of the season.
Previously, the batter decided to withdraw from New Zealand’s central contract for consecutive years to shift his focus to overseas matches. Notably, he has put up 9,276 runs, including 33 tons and 37 fifty-plus scores, in 105 Test matches. The inaugural ICC World Test Championship (WTC) winning skipper last donned the whites for New Zealand in their home series against England.
He recently notched up a sublime 114 for Middlesex against Northamptonshire, which included 14 boundaries and a six at the Merchant Taylors’ School Ground, Northwood.
On Tuesday, Williamson made his debut in The Hundred, leading the London Spirit side against Oval Invincibles. He had a disappointing outing with only 20 runs as his team lost by six wickets.
ALSO READ:
The regular New Zealand skipper Tom Latham, has been ruled out of the second Test as well. The wicketkeeper-batter is yet to recover from his recent shoulder injury. The 33-year-old stayed with the team in hopes of getting fit in time for the second game but could not pass the fitness Test. The white-ball skipper, Mitchell Santner, will lead New Zealand in his absence once again.
“It’s never great when you lose your captain, who’s a world-class opening batter and a great team man, but that said we’re going to work really hard to have him available for the second Test. We’ll continue to assess and see whether a replacement player is necessary, but at this stage we are hopeful that he’ll recover in time,” head coach Rob Walter stated earlier.
Bevon Jacobs was brought in as a batting cover. They also suffered two other blows with all-rounder Nathan Smith and fast bowler Will O’Rourke getting ruled out of the second Test with injuries. Zakary Foulkes and Ben Lister were called in as replacements.
Mitchell Santner (C), Tom Blundell, Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy, Matthew Fisher, Matt Henry, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Zakary Foulkes, Ben Lister, Ajaz Patel, Rachin Ravindra, Will Young, Bevon Jacobs.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram, and YouTube.
Tungabhadra Warriors beat Bhimavaram Bulls by 5 wickets