Having made his first class debut for Wellington in 2013, Tom Blundell for long had been waiting to get a call-up for the national side. Though the wait was long, it did come eventually when he replaced an injured Luke Ronchi for the last T20I against Bangladesh in January, 2017. Not just the T20I, he soon was inducted into the ODI squad for the Chappell-Hadlee trophy as well. It all started for Blundell in 2010 where he shared the dressing room with Tom Latham, James Neesham and Doug Bracwell during the Under-19 World Cup. Most of his peers went on to play for New Zealand and, although much later, Blundell too was lucky to get the New Zealand cap. All this could be possible due to his string of good scores in the domestic circuit, particularly in the Super Smash 2016-17 where he emerged as the highest run-scoring wicketkeeper-batsman with 243 runs. It was in December 2017 that Blundell finally got a chance in National colors when he replaced an injured BJ Watling for the series against West Indies at home. He made it count with a fine century and looked quite composed in his stay at the crease. Still early days in his career but he does look a fine prospect with his keeping skills and proactive batting skills. The Kiwis definitely have a backup in store in case the likes of Watling or Latham need a breather across formats. Blundell’s path to the Test team was cleared when BJ Watling retired post the 2021 World Test Championship final. He has been a fine gloveman, but his batting has been a bit patchy especially away from home. Blundell scored a clinical century in a pink ball Test against England in 2022, and has three other centuries to his name so far. Cricbuzz Staff