Tour of  Zimbabwe 2011-12               Captain : Ross Taylor

57th official Test tour.

 Test-playing tour of West Indies by New Zealand

 (October - November 2011)

This was the first tour party selected after New Zealand Cricket set up a new structure with Kim Littlejohn as national selection manager and John Buchanan, Director of Cricket, choosing the team.

This was also Ross Taylor’s first taste of captaincy after taking over from Daniel Vettori in June. In the one-off Test match at Bulawayo he declared the innings, setting Zimbabwe 366 to win and just pulled off a victory with 35 runs to spare.

Earlier the Black Caps had won both the Twenty20 and one-day series.

All New Zealand tours

Previous tour

India 2010-11

Next tour

Australia 2011-12

Next tour of Zimbabwe 

 not yet scheduled

Members of the Test tour party (14  + 1)

Opening batsmen Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum.

Batsmen  Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Dean Brownlie, Jesse Ryder, B-J Watling.

Wicket-keeper: Reece Young.

Spin bowlers: Daniel Vettori, Jeetan Patel.

Fast bowlers: Chris Martin, Doug Bracewell, Andy McKay, Kyle Mills,  Graeme Aldridge (reinforcement).

Provincial representation 

A - Auckland (4)

C - Canterbury (1)

CD - Central Districts (2)

ND - Northern Districts (3)

O - Otago (1)

W - Wellington (3)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(1 November 2011) :  26 yrs  11 months.

ODI played in Digicel one-day series

⋄ contracted players (1 July 2011 - 30 June 2012)

Test Appearances made before the tour

Vettori 105,  Martin 61,  McCullum 57,  Taylor 30,  Mills 19,  Guptill 15,  Southee 13,  Patel 12,  Watling 5,  Williamson 5,  Young 2,  McKay 1, Bracewell 0,  Brownlie 0.  Ryder

Team Officials

Donaldon took over from Bryan Stronach who took on a new role as coordinator of the national strength and conditioning programme and would now be based in NZ and no longer tour with the team.

Paul Close replaced Dayle Shackel who reverted back to his role of injury management and physiotherapy coordinator.

Selectors

Kim Littlejohn (National Selection Manager),  John Buchanan (Director of Cricket)

The list of contracted players was announced on 1 July 2011 by acting National Selection Manager Mark Greatbatch.

Selection

A 29-strong squad assembled at Lincoln University (Christchurch) on Monday 19 September for a ten-day training camp during which the tour party would be named. It included five practice matches (during which Flynn was injured and missed selection for the tour).

Unavailable  : ⋄ Hamish K Bennett (lower back injury), ⋄ Daniel Flynn (hip injury), Grant Elliott (calf muscle tear);  Scott Styris (retired).  Daniel Vettori requested to take a break from the limited-overs format.

Tour Party Announced  : 25 September 2011.

The selectors introduced Dean Brownlie, who was born in Perth and lived there until 2009 but qualified for New Zealand through his father (who was born in Christchurch); and Doug Bracewell, son of Brendon and nephew of John.

Not selected:  ⋄ Neil Broom,  James Franklin,  Tim McIntosh,  ⋄Trent Boult (perhaps doubt about recovery from stress fracture in his back).

Withdrawal :  ⋄ Tim Southee was initially left out of the limited-overs squad because of cartilage damage in his left knee, and after he pulled out of the Champions League in India on 20 September, it was decided not to rush him back for the Test match in Bulawayo so that he would be fit for the Australian tour.

One-day/T20 squad announced: 23 September 2011.

Time between selection and departure from New Zealand

  x days

(25 September to depart NZ)

Travel

Christchurch  Q Johannesburg   Q Harare

Theteam left Christchurch for Johannesburg on 7 October 2011. It was a low key departure as everyone in New Zealand was focussed on the Rugby World Cup and the All Blacks attempt to win after 24 years

James Franklin came from India where he was playing for Mumbai in the Champions League.

After three days at the South African Academy in Pretoria where they had been acclimatising, the team flew from Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo Airport on Wednesday 12 October 2011. The flight to Harare International Airport took two hours.

Time spent in Zimbabwe

   x days

(12 October - depart Host)

On-tour selection panel

 -

Reinforcements

Tim Southee  was originally named for the Test team but had a knee injury so Graeme Aldridge was added to the squad to stay on on after the one-dayers. Therefore when Kyle Mills tore an abductor muscle in the one-day series, he was not replaced because there was sufficient fast-bowling in the squad.

Jesse Ryder suffered a calf strain bowling in the warm-up match reducing the squad to thirteen for the Test match.

Fixtures/Results

⊕ Twenty/20 international

§  one-day international

† not first-class

Time spent in Zimbabwe before First Test: 

23 days

(12 October - 1 November)

Test appearances on tour

1  -   Bracewell,  Brownlie,  Guptill,  McCullum,  Martin,  Patel,  Taylor,  Vettori,  Watling,  Williamson,  Young

0  -   Aldridge,  McKay,  Mills,  Ryder.

Highlights

•    Martin Guptill scored 109 in the Test match.

•   Ross Taylor scored 76 in each innings, sharing in a century partnership of 132 with Guptill and 119 with Williamson (who scored 68)

•   Daniel Vettori took 5 wickets for 70 runs, his twentieth five-wicket haul in Test matches

•   Both on their Test debuts, Dean Brownlie scored 63 and Doug Bracewell took 5/85.

•   Chris Martin became only the fourth New Zealand bowler to take 200 Test wickets.

Tour Summary

Return to New Zealand

?  Q ?

Franklin,  N McCullum,  Nicol,  Oram and Woodcock returned after the limited-overs matches.  Ryder had a calf strain and Mills a pulled leg muscle so they, too, returned home before the Test match.

Time away from New Zealand    x days  

(depart NZ to arrive home NZ

Finances