June 27, 2025 • 9 mins
Bevon Jacobs is the only uncapped player in the Black Caps cricket squad for next month's T20 tri-series with South Africa and hosts Zimbabwe.
The 23-year-old was called up to face Sri Lanka over the new year period, but wasn’t selected.
Finn Allen, Adam Milne,Tim Seifert and Ish Sodhi return, despite not having central contracts.
Kane Williamson, Lockie Ferguson and Kyle Jamieson are unavailable for various reasons.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Darcy Wildergrave
from News Talk Zedbals.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I'm crackit on the program now. Yeah, Ale, like Summersman
so far away. The winter Solstice has been though, so
it's getting more and more summary with every passing day.
Give me that, give me something. Please, let's talk cricket.
He Sody joins the program at now the team for
the Try series that he twenty try series over in
(00:36):
Africa has been named.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
He is in it.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Good evening, Ish, Good evening, Dars. How are you mate?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I'm good. You're going to tour and you'll gin the
t twenty side. It's the that's the first side that
Rob Walt is named. And of course you're not on
the central contracted list, but you're still engaged. So before
we talk about the tour, where do you actually sit?
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Yeah, no, it's you know, it's a big changing landscape
at the moment.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
And obviously missing out on the contract list this year
by quite a narrow margin.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
I think was pretty pretty tough to take.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
But I guess, you know, call thing is there's still
an avenue and opportunity for me to play in TEA
twenty creit for New Zealand and obviously with Rob Woltter.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Coming in, fresh set of eyes, something new.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Hopefully it's something that can set me off and I
can play a bit more consistently this year and you know,
eventually get that contract back. But at the moment, I
think it's just about taking every opportunity I can. It's
nice to be able to be named in their first side,
that Rob's named, that's it.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
It shows some faith in what you're doing. And as
we know, look South African, but he spent a lot
of time over here coaching through Central and Otago and
New Zealand days, so he knows what people can do.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Yet, yeah, totally. You know, Rob spent a lot of
time in New Zealand. I think the first time I
met him he was coaching.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Might have been Otarget first and then went to CD
and I could have that wrong, but you know, he's
played against some of his teams a lot, always got
on really well with them off the park. All my
interactions have been positive. So I've only dealt with him
once in a coaching capacity in the camp, you know.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
A week or so ago, but he was he was
very encouraging of where I was at.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
And you know, on encouraging me to keep developing my skills,
so you know, I could still be an asset to
the New Zealand side for some time to come.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
You've still got the passion that is the key thing.
So as far as skills are concerned, as I hate
saying this each but as as bowlers in the spin
department get older and more mature, they become better. Is
that your trajectory? Do you think?
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (02:27):
You know, I think like I often think, you know,
I'm thirty two years old. You often think when a
cricketer is getting old.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
You know he sort of look at that thirty six
or thirty eight sort of mark.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
But you know, at the moment, I think, with the
way the game's gone and how S and C's played
a big part, you know.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Thirty two still feels really young.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
And like I know, if Warning was still here and
I was like talking to him about being old, like.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Matte, you're in your prime, you he's lying, you know.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Like so I sort of have that voice in my
head to you know, continue to keep looking to improve.
And you know, I've played one sort of role for
New Zealand and ten twenties for a long time and
that's been after the power play and through the middle.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
But I think you know, at the moment, I'd love to.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Be able to provide a little bit more support for
US spin bowlers like Mitch and Braces and that power
play as well. So I'm definitely going to have to
figure out some new ways to be able to do that.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
But that's certainly keeping me younger. And like you say,
the passions here, man, I'm hungry is ever.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Well, it wasn't like, you know, super mature saying more mature.
You're you're advancing, You're growing into your role. Please don't
take this as a slap in the face.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
Mate, I like a bit of pay mate.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Okay, fine, you said you're going to be helping out
the bunch. So you've got the Santa Claus Mitchell Santa
who's the skipper And then as you mentioned, there's there's
quite a few tweakers floating around. So as far as
what role you think you're going to play and how
prominent you're going to be, is that just at the
time what Rob's seeing where you think you are sitting.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
There's no guarantees, right, Oh, exactly right, man, there's no
guarantees ever, And you know that's it's international sports a
fickle thing, and you know, like you say, every opportunity
you get is a really positive one. But I suppose
for me and my own growth, as you know, I've
had twelve great, great years playing you know, lots of
credit from New Zealand, playing, lots of credit in northern
districts in Canterbury. I've had a chance to go all
(04:14):
over the world and playing some different leagues, so it's
been awesome. But you know, I've only ever done one
role and that's been effectively from that seventh over onwards.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
So you know, I could carry on doing that and
like you say, you know, or like.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
I've sort of said, I've had a good, good chance
and a good chunk of my life doing that. But look,
I'd love to be able to challenge myself and say
why can't you bowl over in the power play? But
you know, if you are going to do that, you
might have to do it slightly differently to how you
bowl in the middle. So working those things out, you know,
that sort of problem solving is something I find really
exciting at the moment and I've implemented into my training and.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Then it's just trying to marry up with.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
You know what Rob sees in terms of the team
going forward and how I can fit into that.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Twelve years it's been that long. No wonder I thought
you were old, mate.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
I'm telling you what. I'm serious.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Everyone everyone thinks I'm thirty seven, and you know, Christ Almighty,
I've got all these grades coming through the moment.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
I'm like, I'm thirty two. Man, I'm still supposed to
be in my prime and stuff is moving forward, but
far out.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah, you are in your prime. It me knowing you're
thirty two years old, You've got so much more to offer.
What happens over in Africa as far as conditions are
concerned likely to be suitable for what you do.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
I mean, I've had two tourists him Babwe before and
I found the wickets were really dry. But it's not
like an Asian sort of dry where they sort of
grip and turn a lot. It's kind of more if
I was the compared it to anyway, it'd be like
u A, you know, almost like sort of desert style,
kind of low, little bit skiddy you know, wickets.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
So yeah, hopefully by by.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
The time the tri series sort of keeps eventuating, and
the wickets start to wear. Hopefully there's a bit of
assistance there in terms of sideways movement, but you know,
hopefully it's something to use in terms of the low
bounce because lays, you know, in New Zealand's like not
really too much on office, so when you do get
some dry conditions, it's off in a.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Nice place to be able to showcase your skills.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
I don't think you want to be pushy around this,
but plainly the T twenty World Cup is right in
your cross here, so this is a perfect opportunity. Like
you're obviously been told by Rob Walter that he sees
you in his plans. So based on what you deliver
over there really sets you up for inclusion of the
home series and of course the T twenty World Cup.
(06:28):
Or is that looking too far ahead each.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Oh, look, it might be looking a little bit too
far ahead of the moment, you know, like I'm trying
to take things in my stride. I've been actually like
nursing a bit of a hip injury of the last
two or three months as well, so you know, that's
kind of been the big focus is to get rehab
in place, get right for this, you know, in terms
of selection for the Zimbabwe tour, which I've managed to do,
which is really exciting. And then and yeah, like you know,
there's always that ticket of world tournaments around the corner.
(06:54):
I've been fortunate to play numerous TEA twenty World Cups
now and I love playing those T twenty World Cups.
It's probably the one of the best tournaments that I've
been involved in, and certainly the last T twenty World
Cup in America the Caribbean, I ended up playing only
one game towards the back end of it, so I
wasn't able to get out of the park. And you know,
I potentially felt like my role of only being able
(07:16):
to offer those middle overs as opposed to the power
play maybe played against me and I couldn't could kind
of break into the side. And so I've definitely got
that motivation to be like, well, you know, whatever it
takes for me to be able to play the role
I can for the team and be versatile and give
us more options moving forward.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
And hopefully that means that, you know, in the long.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Run, there is an inclusion that T twenty World Cup,
not just to be in the squad, but to play
play a bit of a role.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
One last thing, as it's always very pleasurable talking to you.
Long may you play for New Zealand so I can
keep getting you on the airwaves. Tell us about Bevan Jacobs.
He's the debutante here. Is he a man to fear
from the opposition's point of view?
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Yeah, Look, he's a really special player. I think the
thing about the thing about Bevan Jacobs is like he's
one of those guys at bats in the middle order
and you can sort of hit the ball, you know,
for six from ball one, and like I think, you
know upon and I think over the years we you know,
around the world, there's probably two or three guys that
do really well the leaves. You sort of think of,
guys like Current Pollard and Tim David especially sort of standout.
(08:18):
And I know it's you know, we're talking about a
guy who's quite young and he's coming into his own.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
But I really do firmly believe that he can play
to the level of those guys.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
And you know, he's recently had some exposure playing in
the IPL for the Mumbai Indians, and you.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Know, a guy that hasn't even played for New Zealand.
But to be recognized with a.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Big franchise like that, you can you know, probably probably
really understand that he does have a skill set that
you could set him aside and be all you will,
beating star And it's really nice to see a guy
like that come through and you know, be someone that
we can use in the New Zealand side.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Gee another one, Finn Allen after what he's been doing
over in the States. You know what Tim Seifert can
do with the ball as well. Glenn Phillips as a monster.
Now we can add Bevan Jacobs to it. This is
looking like all the fun of the circus and fun
of the nets, mate.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
Yeah, it's really good.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Like it's quite tough to bolt to as well, Like
I've been able to go out there and play against
against them a few times and so it's always quite
quite challenging to bolt on.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to news talks
that'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Darcy Wildergrave
from News Talk Zedbals.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I'm crackit on the program now. Yeah, Ale, like Summersman
so far away. The winter Solstice has been though, so
it's getting more and more summary with every passing day.
Give me that, give me something. Please, let's talk cricket.
He Sody joins the program at now the team for
the Try series that he twenty try series over in
(00:36):
Africa has been named.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
He is in it.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Good evening, Ish, Good evening, Dars. How are you mate?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I'm good. You're going to tour and you'll gin the
t twenty side. It's the that's the first side that
Rob Walt is named. And of course you're not on
the central contracted list, but you're still engaged. So before
we talk about the tour, where do you actually sit?
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Yeah, no, it's you know, it's a big changing landscape
at the moment.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
And obviously missing out on the contract list this year
by quite a narrow margin.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
I think was pretty pretty tough to take.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
But I guess, you know, call thing is there's still
an avenue and opportunity for me to play in TEA
twenty creit for New Zealand and obviously with Rob Woltter.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Coming in, fresh set of eyes, something new.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Hopefully it's something that can set me off and I
can play a bit more consistently this year and you know,
eventually get that contract back. But at the moment, I
think it's just about taking every opportunity I can. It's
nice to be able to be named in their first side,
that Rob's named, that's it.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
It shows some faith in what you're doing. And as
we know, look South African, but he spent a lot
of time over here coaching through Central and Otago and
New Zealand days, so he knows what people can do.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Yet, yeah, totally. You know, Rob spent a lot of
time in New Zealand. I think the first time I
met him he was coaching.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Might have been Otarget first and then went to CD
and I could have that wrong, but you know, he's
played against some of his teams a lot, always got
on really well with them off the park. All my
interactions have been positive. So I've only dealt with him
once in a coaching capacity in the camp, you know.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
A week or so ago, but he was he was
very encouraging of where I was at.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
And you know, on encouraging me to keep developing my skills,
so you know, I could still be an asset to
the New Zealand side for some time to come.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
You've still got the passion that is the key thing.
So as far as skills are concerned, as I hate
saying this each but as as bowlers in the spin
department get older and more mature, they become better. Is
that your trajectory? Do you think?
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (02:27):
You know, I think like I often think, you know,
I'm thirty two years old. You often think when a
cricketer is getting old.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
You know he sort of look at that thirty six
or thirty eight sort of mark.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
But you know, at the moment, I think, with the
way the game's gone and how S and C's played
a big part, you know.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Thirty two still feels really young.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
And like I know, if Warning was still here and
I was like talking to him about being old, like.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Matte, you're in your prime, you he's lying, you know.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Like so I sort of have that voice in my
head to you know, continue to keep looking to improve.
And you know, I've played one sort of role for
New Zealand and ten twenties for a long time and
that's been after the power play and through the middle.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
But I think you know, at the moment, I'd love to.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Be able to provide a little bit more support for
US spin bowlers like Mitch and Braces and that power
play as well. So I'm definitely going to have to
figure out some new ways to be able to do that.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
But that's certainly keeping me younger. And like you say,
the passions here, man, I'm hungry is ever.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Well, it wasn't like, you know, super mature saying more mature.
You're you're advancing, You're growing into your role. Please don't
take this as a slap in the face.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
Mate, I like a bit of pay mate.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Okay, fine, you said you're going to be helping out
the bunch. So you've got the Santa Claus Mitchell Santa
who's the skipper And then as you mentioned, there's there's
quite a few tweakers floating around. So as far as
what role you think you're going to play and how
prominent you're going to be, is that just at the
time what Rob's seeing where you think you are sitting.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
There's no guarantees, right, Oh, exactly right, man, there's no
guarantees ever, And you know that's it's international sports a
fickle thing, and you know, like you say, every opportunity
you get is a really positive one. But I suppose
for me and my own growth, as you know, I've
had twelve great, great years playing you know, lots of
credit from New Zealand, playing, lots of credit in northern
districts in Canterbury. I've had a chance to go all
(04:14):
over the world and playing some different leagues, so it's
been awesome. But you know, I've only ever done one
role and that's been effectively from that seventh over onwards.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
So you know, I could carry on doing that and
like you say, you know, or like.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
I've sort of said, I've had a good, good chance
and a good chunk of my life doing that. But look,
I'd love to be able to challenge myself and say
why can't you bowl over in the power play? But
you know, if you are going to do that, you
might have to do it slightly differently to how you
bowl in the middle. So working those things out, you know,
that sort of problem solving is something I find really
exciting at the moment and I've implemented into my training and.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Then it's just trying to marry up with.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
You know what Rob sees in terms of the team
going forward and how I can fit into that.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Twelve years it's been that long. No wonder I thought
you were old, mate.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
I'm telling you what. I'm serious.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Everyone everyone thinks I'm thirty seven, and you know, Christ Almighty,
I've got all these grades coming through the moment.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
I'm like, I'm thirty two. Man, I'm still supposed to
be in my prime and stuff is moving forward, but
far out.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah, you are in your prime. It me knowing you're
thirty two years old, You've got so much more to offer.
What happens over in Africa as far as conditions are
concerned likely to be suitable for what you do.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
I mean, I've had two tourists him Babwe before and
I found the wickets were really dry. But it's not
like an Asian sort of dry where they sort of
grip and turn a lot. It's kind of more if
I was the compared it to anyway, it'd be like
u A, you know, almost like sort of desert style,
kind of low, little bit skiddy you know, wickets.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
So yeah, hopefully by by.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
The time the tri series sort of keeps eventuating, and
the wickets start to wear. Hopefully there's a bit of
assistance there in terms of sideways movement, but you know,
hopefully it's something to use in terms of the low
bounce because lays, you know, in New Zealand's like not
really too much on office, so when you do get
some dry conditions, it's off in a.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Nice place to be able to showcase your skills.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
I don't think you want to be pushy around this,
but plainly the T twenty World Cup is right in
your cross here, so this is a perfect opportunity. Like
you're obviously been told by Rob Walter that he sees
you in his plans. So based on what you deliver
over there really sets you up for inclusion of the
home series and of course the T twenty World Cup.
(06:28):
Or is that looking too far ahead each.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Oh, look, it might be looking a little bit too
far ahead of the moment, you know, like I'm trying
to take things in my stride. I've been actually like
nursing a bit of a hip injury of the last
two or three months as well, so you know, that's
kind of been the big focus is to get rehab
in place, get right for this, you know, in terms
of selection for the Zimbabwe tour, which I've managed to do,
which is really exciting. And then and yeah, like you know,
there's always that ticket of world tournaments around the corner.
(06:54):
I've been fortunate to play numerous TEA twenty World Cups
now and I love playing those T twenty World Cups.
It's probably the one of the best tournaments that I've
been involved in, and certainly the last T twenty World
Cup in America the Caribbean, I ended up playing only
one game towards the back end of it, so I
wasn't able to get out of the park. And you know,
I potentially felt like my role of only being able
(07:16):
to offer those middle overs as opposed to the power
play maybe played against me and I couldn't could kind
of break into the side. And so I've definitely got
that motivation to be like, well, you know, whatever it
takes for me to be able to play the role
I can for the team and be versatile and give
us more options moving forward.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
And hopefully that means that, you know, in the long.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Run, there is an inclusion that T twenty World Cup,
not just to be in the squad, but to play
play a bit of a role.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
One last thing, as it's always very pleasurable talking to you.
Long may you play for New Zealand so I can
keep getting you on the airwaves. Tell us about Bevan Jacobs.
He's the debutante here. Is he a man to fear
from the opposition's point of view?
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Yeah, Look, he's a really special player. I think the
thing about the thing about Bevan Jacobs is like he's
one of those guys at bats in the middle order
and you can sort of hit the ball, you know,
for six from ball one, and like I think, you
know upon and I think over the years we you know,
around the world, there's probably two or three guys that
do really well the leaves. You sort of think of,
guys like Current Pollard and Tim David especially sort of standout.
(08:18):
And I know it's you know, we're talking about a
guy who's quite young and he's coming into his own.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
But I really do firmly believe that he can play
to the level of those guys.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
And you know, he's recently had some exposure playing in
the IPL for the Mumbai Indians, and you.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Know, a guy that hasn't even played for New Zealand.
But to be recognized with a.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Big franchise like that, you can you know, probably probably
really understand that he does have a skill set that
you could set him aside and be all you will,
beating star And it's really nice to see a guy
like that come through and you know, be someone that
we can use in the New Zealand side.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Gee another one, Finn Allen after what he's been doing
over in the States. You know what Tim Seifert can
do with the ball as well. Glenn Phillips as a monster.
Now we can add Bevan Jacobs to it. This is
looking like all the fun of the circus and fun
of the nets, mate.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
Yeah, it's really good.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Like it's quite tough to bolt to as well, Like
I've been able to go out there and play against
against them a few times and so it's always quite
quite challenging to bolt on.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to news talks
that'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
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