Jesse Ryder's six-month ban for failing a drug test expires today and he will rejoin the Otago squad on Monday to prepare for the start of domestic first-class cricket.

It may be cold comfort, but the New Zealand cricket team are far from alone when it comes to the difficulty of negotiating with Indian officials.

Auckland have had a rattling one-day championship campaign, but will be no more than slight favourites in tomorrow's final against Canterbury at Eden Park.

Two wickets in as many balls from Stuart Broad during the final session of play today has put England on top after two days of the second cricket test.

This is the summer to be a batsman in New Zealand domestic cricket. Bowlers are suffering as a combination of factors have the batsmen cashing in.

Apologies aren't always necessary, despite what an apologist might think. A prime example occurred yesterday, courtesy of New Zealand Cricket's Twitter account.

The year was 1989 and I was finishing intermediate at St Kentigern's School, a fancy Presbyterian learning establishment which occupies a pohutukawa-framed piece of coast at the bottom of Remuera, Auckland.

As Hamish Rutherford elbowed his way into cricket's record books yesterday, the mind went back to others on that roll of debutant century-makers.

Former New Zealand cricket captain Ken Rutherford watched every ball of son Hamish's century on debut at University Oval from his home in Johannesburg.

Neil Wagner celebrated being added to the Black Caps test squad by hitting the winning runs to help seal a three-wicket win for the New Zealand XI against England at the Queenstown Events Centre yesterday.

It's upon us. The tour we've been waiting all summer for. Finally, we're hosting a decent international team who also have English as their first language.

Ross Taylor's return to the national team didn't go as he'd have wanted but he would certainly have felt the public love.

The one gap on Nathan McCullum's cricketing CV could be filled next month.

As they assessed the wreckage of New Zealand's two tests against South Africa last month both captain and coach made a similar observation.

A piece of advice from his father has paid an impressive dividend for fast bowler Mitchell McClenaghan.