Who is Will Young? With the batsman set to make his first Test appearance for New Zealand against the West Indies at Seddon Park, we take a look at the Blackcaps newcomer.
William Alexander Young was born in New Plymouth on 22 November 1992, making him 28 years old.
The right-handed top-order batsman made his first-class debut for the Central Stags in a Plunket Shield match against Auckland in March 2012.
Who is Will Young?
He established himself quickly at domestic level and was named captain of the Stags aged just 23, leading the team to success in both red and white-ball cricket.
After two and a half seasons in the role, Young relinquished the captaincy to focus on his batting and prolific run-scoring prompted the New Zealand selectors to hand him a maiden Test squad call-up ahead of a series against Sri Lanka in 2018.
He was due to make his debut at the Hagley Oval against Bangladesh last year, but the match was cancelled after the Christchurch Mosque shootings.
The Kiwi’s patience has no doubt been tested since then during his time on the fringes, but an injury to wicketkeeper BJ Watling has finally provided him with another opening.
Young will open the batting in the first Test against the West Indies in Hamilton and he comes into the game high in confidence.
Not only did he score a sparkling century for the Stags in a Plunket Shield game in mid-November, but he recorded scores of 27, 64* and 133 in warm-up matches against the tourists over the past fortnight.
Young now has 10 first-class centuries to his name and looks as ready as he’ll ever be to enter the international arena.
Safely negotiating a quality West Indies attack on the opening morning of a Test is an altogether different task than dominating the same bowlers in a tour match, but Will Young has waited for such an opportunity for years and he’ll be determined to make an impact.