Tom Latham

Background

Latham is the son of former New Zealand cricketer Rod Latham.

Career

He is primarily a batsman and a backup Wicket-keeper. Playing for Canterbury, he made his first class debut against Central districts in 2010 in the Plunket Shield. He was selected for the One Day International series against Zimbabwe in 2012 and made his ODI debut on 3 February 2012.

He made his Test match debut against India in February 2014.

Latham scored 24 runs on debut, batting at number five, in an ODI against Zimbabwe in 2012. He made his Twenty20 International debut against the West Indies on 30 July, making 15 and 19 in the series.

Latham also played in the tour"s ODI series but failed to contribute significantly, his highest score being 32. He was recalled against Bangladesh, where he played a bright innings of 43 while opening the batting, and scored a match-winning 86 off 68 balls during the following tour of Sri Lanka.

He made his Test match debut against India in February 2014, with scores of 29 and 0.

He then toured the West Indies with New Zealand in June, playing in all three Tests and two T20s. He had a highly successful Test series, scoring three half-centuries and 288 runs in total, finishing second in the series list of top run scorers, just behind team-mate Kane Williamson. In doing so he helped his side to an overseas series victory.

By July 2014 he had claimed the spot of opener after a run of poor form for incumbents Hamish Rutherford and Peter Fulton.

He also shared Test wicket-keeping duties against England with BJ Watling, keeping for New Zealand in the first test at Lord"s following an injury to Watling. When he is not a keeper he generally fields close to the wicket or in the slips.

Latham was selected to tour Zimbabwe in 2015 as an opening batsman. In the third Test against Australia in the 2015-2016 Transport–Tasman Trophy, the first ever day-night Test match, Latham became the first man to score a fifty in a day-night Test.

Test centuries

As of 23 February 2016

One Day International centuries.

Achievements

• His first Test century was achieved against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi, on 11 November 2014. He scored 103. Despite his position as an opening batsman in Test matches, Latham was named as a middle-order batsman and backup wicket-keeper to Luke Ronchi for the 2015 Cricket World Cup. During the second ODI of the series, he scored his maiden ODI century of 110 not out as part of an unbeaten partnership with Martin Guptill of 236 as New Zealand won the match by 10 wickets to level the series.