{"id":836850,"date":"2026-08-01T01:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T01:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/836850\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T01:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T01:52:11","slug":"black-caps-v-australia-tom-lathams-chance-at-captaincy-immortality-in-transtasman-test-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/836850\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Caps v Australia: Tom Latham\u2019s chance at captaincy immortality in transtasman test series"},"content":{"rendered":"

Only Stephen Fleming (28) and Kane Williamson (22) have captained the Black Caps to more test victories than Latham\u2019s 13. Excluding Mitchell Santner\u2019s two from two tests against Zimbabwe last year<\/a>, no Kiwi captain boasts a better win percentage than Latham\u2019s 59.09.<\/p>\n

But, somewhat predictably for this generation of Black Caps, personal accolades take a back seat for Latham. Instead, the chance to lead New Zealand to a second World Test Championship final<\/a> will be the sole focus of travelling to Australia, coming after India\u2019s all-format tour to kickstart the Kiwi summer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom my point of view, it\u2019s not necessarily about me,\u201d he told the Herald. \u201cI\u2019m the one that\u2019s calling the shots on the field, but to me, it\u2019s always been about a team effort in terms of how we operate, and how we want to play our style.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a really important series in the context of the World Test Championship. For us, that\u2019s always the biggest drawcard \u2013 how we can keep playing our brand of cricket to give us the opportunity to be in a position to hopefully be in a final again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys have played some really good cricket over a period of time now, and different series away from home. By doing that as best you can, these statistics come up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re able to do that in Australia, hopefully we\u2019ll give ourselves a good chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, while 2024\u2019s win over India meant this Black Caps side achieved the hardest series win of the three first, Australia remains New Zealand\u2019s final frontier.<\/p>\n

Since 2011, the Black Caps have won just one of 12 tests played against Australia, with 10 defeats to go with it. Seven years ago, arguably the best generation of New Zealand cricketers headed across the Tasman with hope of ending a 33-year wait for success in Australia, and were humbled 3-0.<\/p>\n

This time around, though, things are largely different \u2013 as far as the Black Caps are concerned at least. Of the squad that toured in 2019, only six are still playing and likely to return. On the other side, eight players will likely return for Australia, with concerns over an ageing playing group.<\/p>\n

And considering such a drastic change in New Zealand\u2019s playing stocks \u2013 with Williamson, Ross Taylor, BJ Watling, Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Neil Wagner among those not making the trip this time around \u2013 there are few scars for this Black Caps group.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a completely different squad,\u201d Latham continued. \u201cIf you look at the bowling group, Matt Henry was the only one there in 2019. From a batting point of view, things look different as well.<\/p>\n

\"TomTom Latham lifts the Crowe-Thorpe Trophy won against England. Photo \/ AFP<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do have a really good opportunity to go over there, play our style as best we can. That\u2019s something we\u2019ll be looking to do heading into that series.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not saying results are guaranteed, but we know if we play our style, we\u2019ll give ourselves a really good chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a personal level, Latham will likely reach a special mark of his own in Australia. Providing he plays every test between now and then, the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne will be Latham\u2019s 100th, and become the seventh to reach that mark for New Zealand.<\/p>\n

In the rush to anoint Williamson as New Zealand\u2019s best batter of all time, the achievements of players like Latham have for the most part been overlooked.<\/p>\n

However, 95 tests mostly opening the batting for nearly 6500 runs to go with 17 centuries \u2013 only Williamson and Taylor have more for the Black Caps<\/a> \u2013 speak to a player that should be remembered as one of the best to wear the silver fern.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be a really special chance when it does come,\u201d he said of the milestone. \u201cYou look at the players who\u2019ve done it; I\u2019ve been fortunate enough to play with a lot of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have your name against the likes of them is a bit surreal. There\u2019s a bit of water to go under the bridge to get to that point.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe longer you play the game, these stats tend to pop up. I\u2019ve been really fortunate to play in a team that\u2019s been reasonably successful over a 10-12 year period.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m fortunate to be in that position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Powell<\/a> is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Only Stephen Fleming (28) and Kane Williamson (22) have captained the Black Caps to more test victories than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":836851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[1914,1929,64,63,303,32605,103145,57655,23816,740,26051,9031,1571,84821,4717,65136,41284,408841,34827,9672,85,10965,231,19004,792,408842,8281,1547],"class_list":["post-836850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-against","tag-at","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-black","tag-caps","tag-captaincy","tag-chance","tag-clubs","tag-cricket","tag-elite","tag-field","tag-history","tag-immortality","tag-in","tag-join","tag-latham","tag-lathams","tag-most","tag-series","tag-sports","tag-take","tag-test","tag-this","tag-tom","tag-transtasman","tag-when","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=836850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/836851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}