A veteran of First-Class cricket, Reece Young forced his way into the national side as a late bloomer.

This dedicated wicketkeeper has been a servant to the domestic game in New Zealand since 1998. Reece played a decade for the Auckland Aces, before making a switch to the Canterbury Wizards in July 2009. It was from here that Reece launched his bid for national selection and was called into the squad as a back-up keeper to McCullum in the series against Sri Lanka that same year.

Unfortunately he wasn’t called upon to play, but consistent strong performances for New Zealand A forced him into the minds’ of the selectors. Finally, on January 7 2011 he made his debut against Pakistan, making scores of 12 and 14.

Since taking over the gloves from McCullum, Young has become a useful lower order batsman for the BLACKCAPS Test side, with a top score of 57 in his very brief international career.

Reece is part of the BLACKCAPS squad to tour Australia this summer and will be looking forward to more opportunities with the bat as he cements his place in the team.

Reece describes his career highlight as holding the Auckland record for most dismissals by a keeper.