Kyle Jamieson’s return illustrates how much his absences hurt the Black Caps

Tuesday, 18 March 2025

T20 double-header, Dunedin, Tuesday

Women: White Ferns vs Sri Lanka. Where: University of Otago Oval. When: 10.15am. Coverage: Live on TVNZ, updates on Stuff.

Men: Black Caps vs Pakistan. Where: University of Otago Oval. When: 2.15pm. Coverage: Live on TVNZ, updates on Stuff.

ANALYSIS: It looked like the walk of a condemned man.

When Kyle Jamieson trudged disconsolately out of a sparsely-populated conference room in the bowels off the Novotel Hamilton Tainui just before Christmas in 2023, the Black Caps pace bowler was agonisingly coming to terms with another back injury which threatened his career.

There were no guarantees the then 28-year-old would return to the bowling crease, after suffering a second back stress fracture during a test series against South Africa.

So the smiles from the towering seamer on Sunday in Christchurch after capturing his career-best T20I figures of 3-8 in the nine-wicket romp over Pakistan haven’t been seen a lot in recent years.

“I think it's just nice playing cricket,” said Jamieson, who made his international comeback as a replacement for the injured Lockie Ferguson at the Champions Trophy.

“I think that's been the nice part of this journey, it didn't really matter what arena it was in, it was just nice to be back playing.

“You know what has gone into the last 12 months to get to this point. And while it's not done in the sense of the journey, there's still a wee way to go, it's nice to be out there, to be fit … and to be a part of this group.”

Jamieson’s second lengthy absence from the New Zealand side became partly a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’ for many Black Caps followers, lessening the true impact his injuries had on the results of the team.

But not having the services that his pace, bounce and movement provided - particularly with the red ball - grew more important after Jamieson starred in the World Test Championship final in 2021 with match figures of 7-61 in NZ’s win over India.

The following year, Trent Boult turned down a NZ Cricket contract and played his final test in June, while Colin de Grandhomme retired from international cricket soon after.

Neil Wagner’s ‘forced retirement’ came last summer, while Tim Southee’s form dropped off as he came to the end of his outstanding test career at the end of 2024.

It means should Jamieson play in the two-test series in Zimbabwe in the middle of the year, he’ll be the only paceman left from the quintet which spearheaded the win over India in Southampton.

Matt Henry’s consistent superb form and the emergence of Will O’Rourke has softened the blow, but Jamieson’s back problems certainly played a major part in the Black Caps missing their opportunity to qualify for next year’s WTC final during a topsy-turvey qualifying campaign by all nations.

He has missed 19 tests since June 2022, and could have had a prominent part in a number of key results which led to the inaugural champs missing out.

There were two draws against Pakistan in Karachi at the end of 2022 and start of 2023, which the visitors could have won both in tight finishes.

New Zealand came within three wickets of upsetting Australia in Christchurch last year, when their pace-bowling line-up featured Ben Sears on debut and Scott Kuggeleijn and couldn’t limit the impact of the crucial sixth-wicket stand in Australia’s second innings from Mitchell Marsh and Alex Carey.

There were consecutive defeats to Sri Lanka in Galle in September last year, and also at home versus England in Christchurch and Wellington, when Nathan Smith made his test series debut.

In white-ball cricket, Jamieson was ironically used as injury cover - twice - in the squad at the 2023 World Cup, but didn’t play, and missed the 2024 T20 World Cup early exit in the West Indies.

He made a sensational start to his test career in 2020, and raced to 50 test wickets in just his 11th appearance. From 19 tests, interrupted by the two back stress fractures, Jamieson still has 80 victims at an average of 19.73, while his strike-rate of a wicket every 44.4 balls is behind only Shane Bond in the country’s test history.