Tom Latham

Born on April 2, 1992 in Canterbury, New Zealand, Tom Latham is the son of former New Zealand player Rod Latham. An elegant left handed wicket-keeper batsman, Latham made his debut for the Kiwis in the year 2012 and is currently the vice-captain of New Zealand’s ODI and Test teams.

Latham joined his first domestic side Canterbury in 2010 and had an average domestic season with the bat. An impressive century in the Ford Trophy in 2011, gained him a call-up for the series against Zimbabwe. 

He made his ODI debut against Zimbabwe in February 2012, and had an average game with the bat as the southpaw could score just 24 runs.

He made his T20I debut in the same year against the West Indies and could only score a mere 34 runs in the two matches. For the next two years, Latham performed poorly and was in and out of the New Zealand ODI team. However, a string of good batting performances against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh gained Latham his maiden Test call-up against India in February 2014.

Latham was dismissed for a duck in his very first Test innings, while in the second innings, he scored 29 runs as the match ended in a draw.

Following the series against India, Latham travelled with the team to face West Indies, and scored three successive half-centuries in the first two Test matches. 

By mid 2014, Latham had cemented his place as New Zealand’s first choice opener, and his dream of following his father’s footsteps and scoring a Test ton for his nation was fulfilled as he scored a brilliant 103 against a good Pakistani bowling line-up in Abu Dhabi.

Latham was selected in New Zealand’s World Cup squad in 2015 as a backup wicket-keeper batsman to Luke Ronchi, but he did not feature in the tournament.

Post 2015 World Cup, the Kiwis travelled to Zimbabwe and Latham managed to score his maiden ODI ton- 110 not out as New Zealand won the match comfortably by 10 wickets. 

The following year, Latham improved his batting and was slotted in the middle order for the ODI series against India, mainly due to his ability to play spin.

It’s Latham’s Test career that people talk about more than his ODI career. He has been a reliable batsman for the Kiwis over the past 7 years and this was showcased against Sri Lanka in 2018, when he slammed his highest score in Test matches (264*). The match was drawn, but Latham’s knock was praised even by the harshest of the critics.

In April 2019, he was named in New Zealand’s World Cup squad. In the semifinal match against India, Latham played his 150th match (all formats) for the Blackcaps. The dashing left hander had a World Cup to forget as he only amassed 155 runs in 10 matches at an average of 19.37.

In January 2020, Latham captained New Zealand for the very first time in Test cricket in the absence of Kane Williamson who was ruled out of the match due to flu.

Tom Latham is one of the pillars of New Zealand cricket at the moment. He has established himself as an old school Test opener who plays the ball closely. He has played quite a few ODI matches, but it is generally believed that Latham does not have the power that is needed in modern ODI cricket. 

A terrific player of spin bowling, Latham still has 5-6 years before he decides to hang up his boots.

(As of March 2021)