Test places to play for in white-ball tour of Bangladesh by Black Caps

Thursday, 16 April 2026

A white-ball tour of Bangladesh seems the most unlikely place to launch a bid for a role in a test series in England.

But that’s the key item of interest in the six games the Black Caps will play, starting with an ODI in Mirpur on Friday.

New Zealand will be without 18 frontline players - including their entire T20 World Cup squad - for the three ODIs and three T20Is.

But the return from injury of three pace bowlers - Will O'Rourke, Matt Fisher and Blair Tickner - will create interest, with the three-test series against England in June looming.

Throw Nathan Smith into that mix too, and Ben Sears, who will now miss the ODIs after having been signed as an overseas replacement by Rawalpindiz in the Pakistan Super League.

That quintet will be keen to show coach Rob Walter what they can do - even in conditions unlikely to assist the quicks - to nab a spot in the squad for the England tour, which is preceded by a four-day test against Ireland.

“First of all, [I'm looking to] put a decent performance out in Bangladesh and hopefully push my name forward to England and then the rest of the season hopefully takes care of itself,” O’Rourke said recently after returning to the bowling crease after a lengthy rehabilitation of a back stress fracture suffered during the first test against Zimbabwe last July.

Tickner dislocated his shoulder during the second-test win over the West Indies at the Basin Reserve in December and then was bothered by an ankle injury later in the season, while Fisher made his test debut in Zimbabwe before being sidelined by a shin problem.

There’ll also be opportunities for batters and allrounders to impress too, as Walter and his staff look towards the next ODI World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia in October-November 2027.

Dean Foxcroft will get his chance to resume his Black Caps career after his most recent white-ball appearance came in April 2024.

Fellow allrounder Muhammad Abbas is coming off a century for the New Zealand A side in Sri Lanka, while young legspinner Adithya Ashok also had some good showings on that tour.

In the absence of Mitchell Santner - one of many first-choice Black Caps playing in the Indian Premier League and PSL - Tom Latham will skipper both squads.

The hosts will field an unchanged 15-man squad from that which beat Pakistan 2-1 last month at home for the first two ODIs.

Mehidy Hasan Miraz will captain the squad, which will feature a handy pace attack of Nahid Rana, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman and Shoriful Islam.

Black Caps ODI squad

Tom Latham (capt), Muhammad Abbas, Adi Ashok, Josh Clarkson, Dane Cleaver, Dean Foxcroft, Nick Kelly , Jayden Lennox, Ben Lister, Henry Nicholls, Will O'Rourke, Nathan Smith, Blair Tickner, Will Young.

Black Caps T20I squad

Tom Latham (capt), Katene Clarke, Josh Clarkson, Dane Cleaver, Matt Fisher, Dean Foxcroft, Bevin Jacobs, Nick Kelly , Jayden Lennox, Ben Lister, Tim Robinson, Ben Sears, Nathan Smith, Ish Sodhi, Blair Tickner.

Missing: Mitchell Santner, Finn Allen, Tim Seifert, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Jimmy Neesham, Cole McConchie, Kyle Jamieson, Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Adam Milne.

Bangladesh ODI squad

Mehidy Hasan Miraz (capt), Soumya Sarkar, Saif Hassan, Tanzid Hassan, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Towhid Hridoy, Litton Das (wk), Afif Hossain, Mahidul Islam, Rishad Hossain, Tanvir Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Nahid Rana.

Black Caps v Bangladesh tour schedule

Friday April 17: 1st ODI, Mirpur, 5pm (NZT)

Mon Apr 20: 2nd ODI, Mirpur, 5pm

Thu Apr 23: 3rd ODI, Chattogram, 5pm

Mon Apr 27: 1st T20I, Chattogram, 8pm

Wed Apr 29: 2nd T20I, Chattogram, 8pm

Sat May 2: 3rd T20I, Mirpur, 8pm