Trent Boult

Trent Alexander Boult (born 22 July 1989) is a professional cricket player from New Zealand who plays as a bowler and tail end batsman for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL, Northern Districts in the New Zealand domestic league, and New Zealand internationally. He is a left-arm fast-medium opening bowler and a right-handed batsman, Boult made his Test debut for New Zealand in December 2011 and his one-day international debut the following July. He was the joint leading wicket taker at the 2015 Cricket World Cup. Trent Boult became the ICC's No.1 Ranked ODI Bowler in January 2016.

Born in Rotorua in 1989, Boult is of Ngāi Tahu and Ngāti Porou descent. He grew up in Ohope and Tauranga, and was educated at Otumoetai College. He is the younger brother of cricketer Jono Boult.

Boult accompanied the New Zealand A team on their winter training tour in 2007. On 9 February 2007, he took two wickets for 28 runs and scored seven not out against India's Under-19 team. He then travelled to Malaysia in February 2008 for the Under-19 World Cup.

On 21 January 2009, Boult was selected for the New Zealand squad for the one-day series against Australia at just 19 years of age. Boult only managed to play in the warm up game against the Prime Minister's XI and went wicketless off seven overs. During the tour Boult was clocked as the fastest bowler touring with the New Zealand team with a highest speed of 143.3 km/h (89.0 mph).

Boult made his Test debut in the 2011–12 season, in the Second Test against Australia in Hobart, in a match won by New Zealand by 7 runs, New Zealand's first test win in Australia since 1985 and their first test win over Australia since 1993. He took four wickets in the match; additionally, he scored 21 runs in a tenth-wicket partnership with Chris Martin in the second innings.

His brother Jono Boult has also played cricket for Northern Districts.

In 2012, Boult produced a string of strong performances with the ball against the West Indies, India and Sri Lanka to consolidate his position as Tim Southee's new ball partner. He carried this good form into 2013 when he took 19 wickets in 5 tests against England, including his best test match innings bowling figures of 6/68 at Eden Park in March.

After suffering a side strain during New Zealand's final test match against England at Leeds, Boult returned to the New Zealand test side for a two test tour of Bangladesh. Boult struggled in the hot and dry conditions, taking just 3 wickets and frequently straying with his accuracy. However, when back in home conditions against the touring West Indies, Boult swiftly returned to his best. In the second test at the Basin Reserve Boult won man of the match award, after taking career best figures of 10 for 80 and completing a brilliant one-handed diving catch to his left to dismiss Dinesh Ramdin. In the first innings of the second test on the same venue against India, Boult made another one-handed diving right-handed catch to dismiss Ajinkya Rahane. He also had bowling figures of 4 for 146.

In 2014 T20 series against West Indies, Boult's squad number switched from 8 to 18, a number previously worn by Mathew Sinclair.

In Trans-Tasman trophy 2015-16 series, in Australia, in the third Test, the first ever day-night test in history, Boult became the first New Zealander and second overall after Josh Hazlewood, to take a five-wicket haul in a day-night test. However, Australia won the day-night match by 3 wickets.

In 2015, Boult received a Maiden call-up into the Indian Premier League by the Sunrisers Hyderabad and he was purchased for $600,000.

In February 2017, he was bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders team for the 2017 Indian Premier League for 5 crores.

Boult is a left-arm fast medium swing bowler. He makes up for his relative lack of height with deceptive pace and the ability to swing the ball both ways. Boult's primary weapon is the inswinger to the right-hander. Perhaps unsurprisingly, his childhood cricketing hero was Wasim Akram. In 2013, in a radio interview, former New Zealand Captain Jeremy Coney rated Boult as New Zealand's best bowling discovery since Shane Bond. He is also known to haul in one-handed catches with either hand, both in Basin Reserve. In 2014, he became the 4th test bowler since Richard Hadlee, Chris Martin and Ian O'Brien to claim 30+ wickets in consecutive years. He has also developed a great opening bowling partnership with Tim Southee, having taken 46% of all wickets between them since 2013, especially since the retirement of Martin. In 2015 at Basin Reserve, he finally removed Kumar Sangakkara with his left hand after he scored a double century.

Boult is a useful right-handed tailender, having scored a half century against Bangladesh in a 2013 test. He tends to open his stance by stepping the left (front) foot off to the side for his back-foot cover drive, much akin to Shivnarine Chanderpaul. He is also known to have a Flamingo Back Defensive stroke (FBD) where he lifts his left (front) foot up before the ball reaches the bat.

Test 10 wicket hauls

#	Figures	Match	Opponent	Venue	City	Country	Year
1	10/80	19	West Indies	Basin Reserve	Wellington	New Zealand	2013

Test 5 wicket hauls

#	Figures	Match	Opponent	Venue	City	Country	Year
1	6/68	13	England	Eden Park	Auckland	New Zealand	2013
2	5/57	15	England	Headingley	Leeds	England	2013
3	6/40	19	West Indies	Basin Reserve	Wellington	New Zealand	2013
4	5/85	31	England	Lord's Cricket Ground	London	England	2015
5	5/60	35	Australia	Adelaide Oval	Adelaide	Australia	2015

ODI 5 wicket hauls

#	Figures	Match	Opponent	Venue	City	Country	Year
1	5/27	21	Australia	Eden Park	Auckland	New Zealand	2015
2	6/33	43	Australia	Seddon Park	Hamilton	New Zealand	2017

Test Cricket

Man of the series awards

Man of the Match Awards

S No	Series	Season	Series Performance	Result
1	West Indies in New Zealand	2013/14	1st Innings: 38* (27 balls: 5×4, 2x6); 15–5–40–6 2nd Innings: 12.5–2–40–4, 1 catch	New Zealand won by an innings and 73 runs.

One-Day International Cricket

Man of the match awards

S No	Opponent	Venue	Date	Match Performance	Result
1	Scotland	University Oval, Dunedin	17 February 2015	6–1–21–2; DNB	New Zealand won by 3 wickets.
2	Australia	Eden Park, Auckland	28 February 2015	10–3–27–5; 0* (2 balls)	New Zealand won by 1 wicket.
3	Australia	Seddon Park, Hamilton	5 February 2017	10-1-33-6; 1* (3 balls)	New Zealand won by 24 runs.

Twenty20 International awards

Man of the Match Awards

#	Series	Season	Match Performance	Result
1	Sri Lanka vs New Zealand	2015/16	DNB ; 4-0-21-3 ; 1 ct.	New Zealand won by 3 runs.