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.

Will Young will definitely play and open. A long awaited debut. BJ Watling has taken no part in training today.

— Guy Heveldt (@GuyHeveldt) December 1, 2020

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.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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