Will Young cricket: Debutant batsman replaces BJ Watling for Hamilton Test vs West Indies

Will Young: The 28-year old uncapped batsman will taste international cricket for the first time in Hamilton tomorrow.

Uncapped batsman Will Young has replaced injured New Zealand wicket-keeper batsman BJ Watling for the first Test of the ongoing West Indies tour of New Zealand.

Representing Northern Districts in the Ford Trophy, 35-year old Watling had suffered a hamstring injury which ended up ruling him out of the first Test.

Wicket-keeper batsman Tom Blundell, who had opened for New Zealand in their last Test against India in Christchurch earlier this year, will bat down the order in addition to being handed the wicket-keeping gloves.

Will Young all set to make his Test debut in Hamilton

Young, on the other hand, will be opening the batting with Tom Latham. In 78 first-class matches, the 28-year old batsman has scored 5,077 runs at an average of 43.76 with the help of 10 centuries. Other than a century in five Plunkett Shield innings this season, Young is also coming on the back of scoring 133 (270) in a warm-up match against West Indians last week.

“He’s [Will Young] been around the environment for some time without getting his first opportunity so I think that’s also a real positive. Often you come into teams and it’s new, you are trying to get a feel for the group but he’s got that feel, he’s an experienced player, has played a lot of first-class cricket and to a very high standard and he deserves that opportunity,” New Zealand captain Kane Williamson said while addressing the media in Hamilton.

New Zealand, who beat West Indies 2-0 after the third T20I was washed out most recently, will now be looking to register a similar score in a two-match Test series starting from December 3 at the Seddon Park.