On Wednesday (April 2), New Zealand handed a debut to opener Rhys Mariu during the second ODI against Pakistan.
Mariu became the 223rd man to represent New Zealand in ODI cricket, receiving his cap from Canterbury teammate Daryl Mitchell ahead of the start of play.
The 23-year-old has been a fixture of the New Zealand domestic circuit for some time now. After excelling in school cricket, Mariu made his first appearance for Canterbury's U19 team just two weeks shy of his 16th birthday – and made a stunning start.
Chasing 273 in a 50-over game against Wellington, Canterbury were bowled out for 201, but Mariu, opening the innings, remained unbeaten on 104 off 131 balls as the next highest score was 40. He even outshone opposition opener and skipper Rachin Ravindra.
In August 2019, he played for New Zealand's U19 team for the first time, and picked up the wicket of Jake Fraser-McGurk with his part-time medium pace. He went on to represent the national team at the U19 World Cup in 2020, finishing as his side's top scorer in the tournament with 206 runs in five innings.
Rhys Mariu – a first-class star in the making?
Despite the early white-ball promise, Mariu's best format still appears to be first-class cricket. He debuted against Northern Districts in February 2023, scoring 68 and 78 not out, opening the innings. In his last match of the 2022/23 season, he notched up his maiden first-class century, 112 against Wellington in a 138-run win, finishing the season with 405 runs at an average of 57.9.
He started 2023/24 with a bang, scoring 145 in his first knock – but only crossed 50 once more that season. In the most recent season of the Plunket Shield though, he stepped up his game.
Mariu began the season with a career-best 240 against Central Districts, before scoring 185 in the very next match against Auckland. He notched up three more half-centuries, and finished the season as the second highest run-scorer, just two runs behind Nick Kelly, his opening partner on ODI debut.
Before his New Zealand debut, Mariu had an underwhelming List A record, averaging a shade over 27 from 12 matches. He did not get off to a great start in ODIs either, as Mohammad Wasim drew a leading edge off his bat to have him caught at cover, sending him back for 18.
| Format | Matches | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | 50s | 100s | High Score |
| First-class | 15 | 1436 | 59.8 | 62.1 | 7 | 4 | 240 |
| List A | 13 | 346 | 26.6 | 80.6 | 2 | 0 | 87 |
| T20 | 2 | 15 | 7.5 | 107.1 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
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