New Zealand tour of Sri Lanka, 2024 Top players best players

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Top batsman New Zealand tour of Sri Lanka

Tom Latham player profile

The son of former allrounder Rod Latham, Tom Latham played varied roles for New Zealand since his international debut at the age of 19. He batted in every position from No. 1 to 9 in limited-overs cricket, and also took on the responsibility of being a wicketkeeper. In Tests, however, Latham was primarily used as an opening batsman, and he quickly settled into a position New Zealand had trouble filling for years.

Latham had been part of New Zealand’s Under-19 World Cup squad in 2010 and later that year he played first-class cricket for Canterbury. In 2012, he made his debut in ODIs and Twenty20 internationals and was shuffled up and down the order for a while but did not cement his spot.

Following an impressive domestic season, Latham played his first Test, against India in Wellington, in February 2014 and was picked as an opener for the tour of West Indies a few months later. In the Caribbean, he reeled off three successive half-centuries, contributing to an overseas series win. Against Pakistan in the UAE that November, Latham scored centuries in successive Tests, the first New Zealand batsman to do so for 24 years. He has been a fixture at the top of New Zealand’s order in Test cricket ever since. In December 2018, he carried his bat in a Test innings against Sri Lanka in Wellington, making 264 not out to set a new Test match record for the highest score by any opener while carrying his bat, surpassing Alastair Cook’s 244 not out in 2017 against Australia. He was also only the second New Zealand opener to carry his bat in a Test. Glenn Turner had previously done it twice.

In ODI cricket, he was included in New Zealand’s 2015 World Cup squad, but did not get a game as Brendon McCullum’s team finished runners-up. However, New Zealand rested several first-choice players from the tour to Africa later that year, and Latham cashed in: he made his maiden ODI hundred in Zimbabwe, and scored three successive half-centuries in South Africa – all while opening the batting. He had had only one 50-plus score in his first 26 ODI innings.

After a lean run in 2017 at the top of the order, he was shifted to No.5 and given the gloves following the retirement of Luke Ronchi. He made 103 not out in his first innings at No.5 in a winning chase against India in Mumbai and remained in that spot all the way through to the 2019 World Cup.

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Top All Rounder New Zealand tour of Sri Lanka

Rachin Ravindra player profile

A dynamic batter, who can slot in at the top as well as in the middle order, and bowl left-arm fingerspin, Rachin Ravindra was earmarked to become a future batting leader for New Zealand right from his Under-19 days.

After featuring in two Under-19 World Cups for New Zealand, Ravindra made a seamless transition into international cricket. He broke into the New Zealand senior team in 2021 and on his Test debut against a spin-heavy India attack that included R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, he played out 91 balls in the final innings to help New Zealand salvage a draw in Kanpur.

Ravindra then shot to global prominence two years later at the 2023 ODI World Cup, also in India, where he was New Zealand’s highest run-getter and fourth highest overall, with 578 runs in ten innings at an average of 64.22 and strike rate of 106.44. He drew level with Kane Williamson as New Zealand’s top scorer in a single edition of a men’s ODI World Cup and was particularly strong against spin.

Ravindra had honed his game against spin, thanks to a number of trips to India with the Wellington-based Hutt Hawks club, run by his father Ravi Krishnamurthy, who played a decent level of cricket in his hometown Bengaluru before he settled down in New Zealand. A cricket nut, Ravindra would even have early-morning training sessions with his father during the New Zealand winters.

Having forged strong partnerships with his good friend Devon Conway at Wellington and New Zealand, Ravindra replaced him at the top in his maiden IPL stint with Chennai Super Kings after Conway was sidelined from the 2024 season with injury. Ravindra made an immediate impact at CSK, hitting 37 off 15 balls on his IPL debut against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Chepauk in March 2024. Later in July, he earned his first New Zealand central contract and also won the Major League Cricket (MLC) competition, under Ricky Ponting, at Washington Freedom.

Rachin Ravindra IPL factfile

After his bumper success at the 2023 ODI World Cup, Ravindra was picked by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for INR 1.8 crore.

He was not expected to start but an injury to Devon Conway opened the door for him.

In his very first game in IPL 2024, Ravindra scored 37 off just 15 balls against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and followed it up with a 20-ball 46 against Gujarat Titans in the next game. His form fell away after that and he finished the 2024 season with 222 runs at an average of 22.20 and strike rate of 160.87.

Kamindu Mendis player profile

Though foremost a batsman who scores heavily square of the wicket, it is for his unique skill set with the ball that Kamindu Mendis had gained an international reputation long before he entered a national squad. He bowls finger spin with both arms, and does it with skill and accuracy – his offbreaks not quite as good as his left-arm orthodox, but not far off. Understandably, his potential has impressed coaches. In the age of T20, a bowler who can spin it away from both right and left-handers, not to mention employ different lines of attack to the same batsman, could potentially have team owners and data analysts drooling, so long as Kamindu continues to develop those skills.

A product of Galle’s Richmond College, Mendis made his under-19 Sri Lanka debut shortly before his 16th birthday, and would go on to captain the under-19 side in the 2018 World Cup. In October of that year, he was picked in a Sri Lanka senior side for the first time, for the one-off T20 against England. A half-century in the practice match before that England tour had helped him secure a place.

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Top Bowlers of New Zealand tour of Sri Lanka

Tim Southee player profile

Tim Southee, a right-arm swing bowler, burst upon the international scene in great style. He was still only 19, with only one T20I cap behind him, and fresh from a Player-of-the-Tournament performance at the 2008 Under-19 World Cup when he was handed a Test debut against England in Napier. Southee responded with 5 for 55 before smashing 77 off 40 balls in the second innings with nine sixes.

It was a debut that gave a clear indication of the career to come. Over the next decade or so, Southee would go on to form one of the world’s best new-ball partnerships with Trent Boult, and would also come to be known for his ability to clear the fence. He hit his 50th six in only his 36th Test.

In 2022 he was named as New Zealand’s Test captain when Kane Williamson stood down from the role.

Pace and outswing are the main tools of Southee’s trade. His bag of 18 wickets at 17.33 in the 2011 World Cup prompted Allan Donald to say he had the potential to become the best swing bowler in the world, and though frequent injury-forced absences have kept him from fulfilling that prophecy, he has shown he can be devastating across a wide range of conditions.

In 2012, he showed his adaptability in the subcontinent, picking up 7 for 64 in Bangalore, the best figures for a New Zealand bowler in India, before bowling his side to a rare win in Sri Lanka with match figures of 8 for 120 at the P Sara Oval. Two years later, his 11 wickets in the West Indies, at 21.09, helped New Zealand achieve their first series win away from home, against anyone other than Bangladesh or Zimbabwe, in 12 years. In ODIs, his landmark performance came at the 2015 World Cup, when he sliced through England’s batting with a sensational spell of swing bowling to finish with figures of 7 for 33, the best bowling figures for a New Zealander in ODIs.

Southee was elevated as a stand-in captain in a T20I in 2017 and then an ODI in 2018. But despite standing in as captain and remaining a key Test and T20 bowler, he fell out of favour in the ODI side due to the form of Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson and only played one match in the 2019 World Cup, but was still around the format four years later.

Lahiru Kumara player profile

A robust, right-arm fast bowler from Kandy, Lahiru Kumara had played only eight days of first-class cricket – all of which were for the Sri Lanka A team – before he was selected in the Test squad in October 2016. He was largely picked on his promise. One of the fastest bowlers in Sri Lanka’s system, Kumara possesses a sharp bouncer, and an ability to both swing and seam the ball – all allied to a bustling intensity.

He had played in the Under-19 World Cup in February, but it was on a u-19 tour of England that he put himself into contention for higher honours. He took a series-high 13 wickets at an average of 18.30 through the Youth Tests, and was especially effective at Northampton, where he claimed first-innings figures of 7 for 82, then a further 4 for 52 in the second innings to send England Under-19s to their first home defeat in six years.

Injury layoffs for Dushmantha Chameera, Nuwan Pradeep and Dhammika Prasad then opened up a spot for Kumara in the Test team. Though his initial performances in Zimbabwe were modest, Kumara became the second-youngest Sri Lanka bowler to claim a five-wicket haul at Newlands, in January 2017, taking 6 for 122 in the first innings.

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