He's currently ranked number two in the world.
Taufeeq Umar is first.
Anyway, now I'm touring Zimbabwe
New Zealand is Zimbabwe 2010
New Zealand Squad
Peter Fulton (Canterbury)
Jamie How (Central Districts)
Peter Howell (Auckland)
Tim Lythe (Auckland)
Nick Horsley (Northern Districts)
Mathew Sinclair (Central Districts)
Brendon McCullum (Canterbury)
Lou Vincent (Auckland)
Chris Jowell (Otago)
Jesse Ryder (Wellington)
Jacob Oram (Central Districts)
James Franklin (Canterbury)
Mark Gillespie (Wellington)
Gareth Shaw (Otago)
Ian Cook (Canterbury)
Ryan Heads (Northern Districts)
Trent Thaw (Otago)
Will Darkes (Northern Districts)
Lots of new faces in there. Chris Jowell is Otago's new wicketkeeper, and he averaged 34 in his first season, so he's been brought over as backup (McCullum now averages over 40 in FC cricket and 38 in tests!). Ian Cook is a Cantabrian legspinner who averaged 29 in his first season. Ryan Heads is a young seamer who took 70 wickets at 20 last year for ND and averages 28 overall. Will Darkes averaged 28 last year and 32 overall with the ball. Trent Thaw averages 30 with the ball for Otago after one season, so I brought him over (The remaining sub 30 bowlers never gave me much joy in other games).
Mathew Sinclair takes over the captaincy.
New Zealand Team
Peter Fulton
Jamie How
Mathew Sinclair (c)
Peter Howell
Jesse Ryder (6)
Jacob Oram (5)
Brendon McCullum (wk)
James Franklin (1)
Mark Gillespie (3)
Ryan Heads (4)
Gareth Shaw (2)
1st Test Match
New Zealand 508
Peter Fulton 154
Brendon McCullum 145*
Prosper Utseya 6/143
Thomas Dangarembizi 3/135
Zimbabwe 203
Gavin Ewing 87*
Vusi Sibanda 35
Ryan Heads 3/30
Gareth Shaw 3/56
Zimbabwe 176
Vusi Sibanda 48
Joubarmuil Patel 38
Gareth Shaw 5/51
James Franklin 2/33
New Zealand win by an innings and 129 runs.
Pretty straightforward, but Zimbabwe has ****ed selection. Four of their top five FC batsmen haven't played a single test match ffs.