Henry Shipley

Henry Shipley is a hugely talented seam bowling all-rounder who has impressed since making his Blackcaps ODI debut in January 2023.

After three ODI's in India, Shipley hit headlines on his home debut helping rout Sri Lanka for 76. Opening up, Shipley bagged figures of 5-31 at Eden Park - those five dismissals were all from Sri Lanka's top seven.

Shipley's New Zealand selection back in January was just reward for his impressive form for Canterbury in recent years.

The towering quick, and explosive middle-order batter, has excelled for Canterbury across all formats in New Zealand domestic cricket. To date, he has played nearly 100 games for the State dating back to his Ford Trophy (List A) debut in January 2016.

Shipley comes from a rich cricketing heritage with Father James representing Canterbury (1984/85), and Uncle (Mark Priest) playing 21 matches for New Zealand (1989-98). Originally an out-and-out seamer, Shipley has developed into a genuine all-rounder, often playing white-ball cricket as a batter.

In 2021/22, Shipley took his game to the next level topping the Super Smash wicket charts (18 wickets at 14.11 – S/R 11.66, Econ 7.25), and finishing third to Will Williams (Lancashire), and Matt Henry (New Zealand) on Canterbury’s Plunket Shield (first-class) wicket tally. Alongside his 16 wickets at 12.81, he also struck 3 fifties amongst 228 runs at 32.57 from the middle-order to evidence his all-round ability.

Courtesy of his barnstorming season, Shipley was awarded Canterbury’s “Bowler of the Year”, “Player of the Year”, and “Player’s Player of the Year” awards. His success culminated with selection as injury cover for the most recent Blackcaps tour to the UK and Europe (summer 2022).

Roll on the 2022/23 season and Shipley continues to shine on the domestic circuit. He opened his Plunket Shield campaign with a career-best 82 against Otago, before taking his second first-class 5-for against Auckland (5-97). Shipley then set records tumbling in in Ford Trophy opener (Nov 2022) bagging figures of 6-40 including a hatrick in Canterbury's 102-run win over Wellington.

Standing 6 foot 5, Shipley’s steepling bounce and ability to swing the ball has cemented his spot across all formats for Canterbury in recent years. With the bat, he has proven to be an incredibly destructive middle-order batter. His innings against Central Districts in the Super Smash last season (39* from 11 balls including 5 sixes) lays testament to that, not to mention his recent career-best Plunket Shield score, and destructive Premier ton for club side Darfield in March 2021.

Now a 2-time Plunket Shield, and Ford Trophy winner, courtesy of Shipley's recent success he was picked up for the Blackcaps for the Pakistan tour in January 2023, and has subsequently enjoyed success for New Zealand since.

The Canterbury all-rounder is one of New Zealand domestic cricket's stand-out performers, who has also enjoyed success abroad. He initially played club cricket for Sudbury in the strong East Anglian Premier League (2019), hitting 463 runs at 24.37 alongside 36 wickets at 20.08, before a strong 3-match Championship stint with Sussex in June/July 2023 (118 runs at 58 and 13 wickets at 36.23).

The in-form kiwi is now eager to secure further opportunities abroad around his New Zealand and State commitments.