Black Caps v Pakistan: Uncapped Wellington pair Muhammad Abbas, Nick Kelly named in ODI squad
Tuesday, 25 March 2025
A left-arm pace bowling allrounder who once idolised Wasim Akram and Trent Boult will make history for the Black Caps in their one-day international cricket series against his country of birth.
Muhammad Abbas, 21, was named on Tuesday as one of two uncapped players in the Black Caps ODI squad alongside Wellington Firebirds team-mate Nick Kelly, an Australian-born top-order batter 10 years Abbas’ senior.
Abbas - also a power hitting middle-order bat who was earmarked for national honours as a teenager - will become the first Pakistan-born Black Caps international if selected in the three-match series which opens in Napier on Saturday.
Born in Lahore, Abbas moved to New Zealand as a one-year-old when his father, Azhar Abbas, was lured to Wellington to play for the Karori club in 2004.
Abbas snr had a successful domestic career in Pakistan and New Zealand, where he played for both Wellington and Auckland as a seam bowler, taking 154 first-class wickets at an average of 25, from 45 matches.
On retirement, Abbas snr became bowling coach for Auckland Aces, where his son learned his cricketing craft at the Eden Roskill club and the King’s College first XI under the coaching of former Black Caps spinner Dipak Patel. Abbas was 11 when he scored his first century, at a year seven tournament, and kept racking them up as a teen.
When Abbas snr became Cricket Wellington’s pace bowling coach in August 2022, Abbas jnr followed and made an instant impact in the capital, scoring back-to-back centuries at the national under-19 tournament that summer. He said at the time his cricketing idols were Akram and fellow left-armer Boult.
He earned a first-class debut for Wellington in February 2023 as a 19-year-old. NZ Cricket’s national talent ID manager, Paul Wiseman, said of Abbas at the time: “There’s a lot to like. He makes the game look pretty easy. He’s got a lovely bowling action and with the bat he hits it cleanly and times it beautifully.”
From 21 first-class matches, Abbas averages 36 with the bat and 30 with the ball. He secured Black Caps selection with an impressive Ford Trophy 50-over campaign in which he averaged 42.5 with the bat and scored his maiden list-A century against Central Stags in New Plymouth.
Said Black Caps selector Sam Wells: “Mo is one of our most promising young batters and he also provides a sixth bowling option which is required in the absence of Rachin (Ravindra) and Glenn (Phillips).”
It’s another new look Black Caps squad for the final week of the home summer, without regular skipper Mitchell Santner, Ravindra, Devon Conway, Phillips and Lockie Ferguson at the IPL.
Also absent is Kane Williamson who is unavailable for a second successive home series, while Matt Henry is out with shoulder and knee injuries and Kyle Jamieson is rested.
Legspinner Adi Ashok is back, and in line to add to his solitary ODI against Bangladesh last season.
Tom Latham will captain the side featuring eight of their Champions Trophy squad, while Kelly will partner Will Young at the top of the order.
Melbourne-born Kelly made his first-class debut for Northern Districts in October 2015. The Firebirds skipper gets a long-awaited callup as the form domestic batter, having scored 1307 runs across all three formats this season.
Kelly scored his fifth list-A century (118) against Canterbury in February, and tops the run charts in this season’s Plunket Shield with 749, including four centuries.
“Nick has been the standout domestic batsman the last few seasons. He is a dynamic stroke maker with power, and he can bat anywhere in the top six,” Wells said.
With more than two years until the next ICC ODI World Cup, selection preference was given to players on full national and domestic contracts, NZC said. That ruled out Finn Allen, Tim Seifert and Jimmy Neesham, who are all part of the T20 squad.
That T20 squad, meanwhile, touched down in the capital on Monday for Wednesday night’s (7.15pm) finale at Sky Stadium, having already clinched the series with a 115-run hammering of Pakistan in game four.
The White Ferns also face Australia on Wednesday (2.45pm start) looking to turn around their fortunes after two one-sided defeats, in the final double-header of the home season. MetService predicts fine weather and a maximum of 20C in Wellington.
Black Caps ODI squad v Pakistan
Tom Latham (capt, Canterbury), Muhammad Abbas (Wellington), Adi Ashok (Auckland), Michael Bracewell (Wellington), Mark Chapman (Auckland), Jacob Duffy (Otago), Mitch Hay (Canterbury), Nick Kelly (Wellington), Daryl Mitchell (Canterbury), Will O’Rourke (Canterbury), Ben Sears (Wellington), Nathan Smith (Wellington), Will Young (Central Districts).
Schedule
Saturday, March 29: 1st ODI at McLean Park, Napier, 11am
Wednesday, April 2: 2nd ODI at Seddon Park, Hamilton, 11am
Saturday, April 5: 3rd ODI at Bay Oval, Tauranga, 11am