Meet Katene Clarke, New Zealand's latest big-hitting batter

Across the past two Super Smash seasons, Clarke has rattled up 616 runs in 15 innings at a strike rate of nearly 150

Deivarayan Muthu

Published: Mar 21, 2026, 2:35 AM (1 hr ago)

With the big guns resting ahead of the IPL, the PSL and future international tours, New Zealand are shaking things up for their home T20I series against South Africa. Among the changes is Katene Clarke, an uncapped batter from Northern Brave, who is poised to make his debut in the fourth T20I in Wellington. Here's a lowdown on the newest big-hitting Black Cap.

Who is Katene Clarke?

Clarke, 26, is an aggressive right-hand top-order batter in the mould of Finn Allen. He is a bit of a white-ball specialist and has not played a first-class game since November 2023 but has been a particularly powerful presence for Northern Brave in the Super Smash, New Zealand's domestic T20 competition. He has won the Super Smash three times with Brave in the past five years. Clarke has always had the talent and over the past two seasons, he has married that with game awareness and consistency, which has culminated in a maiden international call-up.

Across the past two Super Smash seasons, Clarke has rattled up 616 runs in 15 innings at a strike rate of nearly 150. Only Bevon Jacobs has scored more runs in this period. Clarke also has T20 exposure outside New Zealand, having participated in the Minor League Cricket in the USA.

What's his batting style like?

Clarke goes hard at the top in the powerplay and often keeps going hard like Allen or his Northern Brave team-mate Tim Seifert. Clarke's power was on display during his unbeaten 100 off 54 balls against the Volts, which propelled Brave to 231 for 3. Along the way, Clarke became the fifth player to score multiple centuries for a Super Smash team, joining Will Young (Central Stags), Brendon McCullum (Volts), Conway (Wellington Firebirds) and Glenn Phillips (Auckland Aces).

Clarke enjoys pace on the ball and showed improvement against spin in the most recent Super Smash season. In the 2025-26 edition, he had a strike rate of nearly 170 against spin, hitting 86 off 51 balls while being dismissed just once.

Clarke now knows when to sit back or put the pedal to the floor. "I've had a few different batting partners - sort of knowing when to be that aggressive player and sort of taking a back seat when I was batting with [Brett] Hampton this year and Seifert earlier on," Clarke said after getting picked for New Zealand. "Knowing sort of when to go in between the options."

He has also played for New Zealand Under-19, right?

Yes, he followed the footsteps of his elder brother Tamati Clarke, who was part of New Zealand's Under-19 World Cup squad in 2008. Katene represented New Zealand Under-19 in the 2018 World Cup at home, where he slotted in the middle order, with Allen and Rachin Ravindra batting in the top order.

Tell me more about his background.

Clarke has a strong sporting background. His grandfather Rauhuia Reuben Clarke was a Maori All Black (prop), as was his father Te Rau Clarke and uncle Teina Clarke (both loose forwards). His aunt Te Aroha Keenan was was a Silver Fern who later also coached the New Zealand netball team.

"Pretty stoked to be at a different sport at the highest level," Clarke said. "Obviously, my oldest brother Tamati played a couple of games for ND [Northern Districts] a long time ago. [I] looked up to him and looked up to people we would play club cricket against and he played with. Brook Simpson and people like that."

At the domestic level, his career was shaped by former Northern Districts coaches Graeme Alridge and Sri Krishnamurthy, and current Northern Districts coach BJ Watling.

What they said

"I've obviously played with Katene [at Northern Districts] and seen him grow as a player and as a man over the last few years. He's really kind of started to understand his game at the top of the order and put on a bit of a show in the Super Smash. Good to see him get the opportunity for the last couple of games this series."

New Zealand white-ball captain Mitchell Santner on Clarke's rise

"He put in big performances for the Brave and won games of cricket for them. Get out there, dominate, shoot the lights out and the rewards will be there for you. Awesome, he'll play games four and five and then we've obviously got April tours as well."

Black Caps selector Gavin Larsen is excited about Clarke

Deivarayan Muthu is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

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