A black barrage of talented international cricketers descended on Senwes Park this past week as the New Zealand Cricket team enjoyed a training camp in Potchefstroom.

This was all in preparation for their tour of Africa in August, where they will play Zimbabwe in three ODI’s (One-day international matches) and then travel back to South Africa to play two T20’s and three ODI’s.

The second of these ODI’s will take place at Senwes Park and promises to be an absolute humdinger. There were a few notable absentees with captain and star batsmen, Brendon McCullum being rested and premier bowlers Trent Boult, Tim Southee and all-rounder Corey Anderson recovering from injuries.

Kane Williamson will take over the captaincy for the tour. Preparations officially started on Saturday, when the coach, Mike Hesson reminded the players that these two series are vital for the growth of their young international stars. One of these young stars is Ben Wheeler.

“This is my first time in South Africa and in Potchefstroom and it has been great, so far. The facilities have been top class,” the pace bowler said. According to Wheeler, the main aim of this tour will be to win both series away from home but admits that it will be no walk in the park.

“The South Africans are top class and this will be a massive test for the team,” he said. There are also individual opportunities for Wheeler, who can now stake his claim for a permanent place in the bowling line-up in the absence of Southee and Boult.

Wheeler also admits that Boult is a player he has looked up to in his career and that it will be a fantastic opportunity to show the world that he could well be the next great NZ left-arm seamer.

* New Zealand beat the North West Cricket Club by 75 runs in a 35-overs match at Senwes Park in Potchefstroom on Monday.

Squad:
Kane Williamson (capt), Grant Elliott, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan McCullum, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, James Neesham, Luke Ronchi (wk), Mitchell Santner, Ross Taylor, Ben Wheeler, Doug Bracewell (South Africa only), Ish Sodhi (Zimbabwe only)