Cricket, as steeped in off-field intrigue as on-field subtleties, somehow survives as our summer sport.

New Zealand cricketers Doug Bracewell and Jesse Ryder are under investigation after a late-night drinking session the night before the first test against India.

Ish Sodhi's development as a test spinner will make its sharpest climb in the next 10 days.

Brendon McCullum led the way as New Zealand posted 503, before India’s response was stopped by bad light on 130-4.

Brendon McCullum has been named as one of 16 marquee cricketers to be auctioned first at the Indian Premier League auction next week in Bangalore.

Having been sent in and had their top order swept away, New Zealand scrapped hard and by stumps had decisively won back the honours from India at Eden Park yesterday.

Lest it be suggested New Zealand might be getting a touch cosily confident before today's first test against India, Brendon McCullum yesterday made it emphatically clear they're not.

Success at Eden Park and/or the Basin Reserve will be hard earned. There can't be any corner-cutting, writes David Leggat.

Hosts may be rated six places behind India but will fancy their chances at Eden Park.

Black Caps coach Mike Hesson - fresh from a one-day series win over India - says he has faced real challenges in his career.

The focus of the New Zealand cricket team's recent success has rightly been on Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson and the conveyor belt of effective, competitive pace bowlers.

Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor further resuscitated the nations' cricketing pulse in the final one-day international against India.

If there's a lesson to be learned from the NZ-India series, it's to be wary of the hero-to-zero mantra spawned by knee-jerk reactions to success and failure, writes Andrew Alderson.

Ross Taylor's ninth one-day international century has eased New Zealand to an epic one-day series triumph over world champions India...

Success against the West Indies has brought loyalty from the New Zealand Cricket selection panel.

The Virat Kohli handshake probably gave New Zealand opener Martin Guptill the best gauge of the impact his fifth one-day international century had on India last night.

If the Black Caps were to smash India in this series, the superpower would probably just shrug their shoulders and move on, writes Mark Richardson.

Sometimes it seems there has never been a sport capable of soiling its own nest as badly as cricket.

NZ and India produced one of the most epic one-day encounters on these shores with a tied third match, meaning the series stays alive into the final two games.

The Brendon McCullum-Mike Hesson regime is on the cusp of its biggest one-day international series triumph in today's third match against India.

There is no point asking Brendon McCullum how the nerves stirred up by owning a horse racing for $1m tomorrow compare with captaining the Black Caps against India at Eden Park today.