Cricket: Watling confirmed as keeper

BJ Watling. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand skipper Ross Taylor has confirmed BJ Watling will take the wicketkeeping gloves for the one-off cricket test with Zimbabwe starting at McLean Park in Napier tomorrow.

Watling made 84 from No 6 in the three-day tour game in Gisborne during the weekend, which reinforced his selection ahead of Central Districts' Kruger van Wyk.

"BJ always had the inside running but I thought the way BJ kept wicket in Gisborne was promising and obviously he had a good knock with the bat in the first innings. It was always going to be BJ but it was nice to see him score runs and keep pretty well,'' Taylor told a press conference this afternoon.

With extra grass on the McLean Park strip, Taylor also confirmed he would bowl first tomorrow if he won the toss and that Otago all-rounder Sam Wells would be 12th man.