There is a smooth, unassuming nature to Matt Henry’s efficiency in One-Day cricket. Even as his bristling action screams a Shane Bond likeness in the final motion at the crease, Henry was not gifted with the yards of extra pace as his Canterbury senior, one of his heroes growing up.
Henry would model his style on that of another bowling great from his boyhood days – an epitome of accuracy who sacrificed pace for line and length, Glenn McGrath.
He may not bear a flamboyant presence on the circuit. But Henry’s impact, or the lack of it, will be grossly felt should he not be a 100 percent fit for New Zealand’s ICC Champions Trophy final against India in Dubai after jamming his right shoulder on the field during the semi-final win over South Africa.
New Zealand’s Matt Henry celebrates the dismissal of India’s Shubman Gill during the ICC Champions Trophy cricket match between India and New Zealand at Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP)
Featuring in his maiden Champions Trophy edition, Henry tops the charts with 10 scalps, building on from his best ODI season in 2023 when he scalped 25 wickets in 17 games. He’s nearly achieved the same numbers this year in double-quick time – 24 in nine games with a wicket every 19 deliveries.
Having jolted India in Dubai last Sunday with a five-for and quite famously in the 2019 World Cup semifinal in Manchester, Henry, shoulder willing, is poised to recreate the new-ball menace again in Dubai. Numbers back him to do so and put him in the same bracket as his teenage heroes, “Pigeon” and “Bondy”.
Powerplay surge
Relegated to the shadows of Tim Southee and Trent Boult for nearly a decade since his ODI debut in 2014, Henry has subtly climbed up to 165 wickets in 91 matches with an impressive strike rate of 28.6. Only contemporaries Mohammed Shami (25.71) and Mitchell Starc (26.68) have acquired more ODI wickets at a better strike rate than Henry.
Best ODI bowling strike rates among pacers (min. 150 wickets)
The 33-year-old works his magic best in the first Powerplay, a phase where he has collected over 43 percent of his career wickets. Of the six bowlers who have picked up at least 50 scalps in that stage of a game since 2014, Henry’s 72 wickets rank third behind Boult (90) and Chris Woakes (74). His 22.56 average in the phase ranks third-best (for min. 50 wickets) among all bowlers since 2000, only behind McGrath (100 wickets at 20.01) and Bond (65 at 21.29).
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New Zealand’s Matt Henry celebrates the dismissal of India’s Shubman Gill, right, during the ICC Champions Trophy cricket match between India and New Zealand at Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, March 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
With the two wickets in the semifinal that helped him cross the 50-wicket milestone in Asia, Henry also uncannily matched his compatriot Bond’s numbers as an opening bowler in ODIs.
As ODI opening bowlers (Pos. 1-2)
While all 147 of Bond’s career wickets from 80 innings came as an opening bowler, Henry picked up his 148th wicket in his 80th innings as an opening bowler on Wednesday in Lahore, sharing almost identical strike rates with the former Kiwi quick!
Asian expert
As New Zealand hope to end the white-ball ICC trophy drought on Sunday, they have one of the finest visiting seam bowlers in Asia at their disposal. Of the 26 visiting bowlers who have picked up at least 50 ODI wickets in Asia, Henry’s 25.9 strike rate stands distinctly clear at the top.
