Trent Boult

Boult was born in Rotorua in 1989. He grew up in Ōhope and Tauranga, and was educated at Otumoetai College. He is the younger brother of cricketer Jono Boult. Of Māori descent, Boult affiliates to the Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Porou and Ngāi Te Rangi iwi.

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).

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.

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 Iain O'Brien to claim 30+ wickets in consecutive years. He has developed a good opening bowling partnership with Tim Southee, having taken 46% of all wickets between them since 2013, especially since the retirement of Martin. In Tests, they are ably complemented by Neil Wagner's short left-arm seam deliveries. In August 2019, in the series against Sri Lanka, Boult became the third bowler for New Zealand to take 250 wickets in Test cricket.

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, or turns sideways and leans his whole body back over leg stump and play the bat across to play his cut shots.

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

In 2015, Boult was New Zealand's leading wicket taker at the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup. Following the tournament, Boult received a Maiden call-up into the Indian Premier League by the Sunrisers Hyderabad and he was purchased for $600,000.

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. For his performances in 2015, he was named both in the World Test XI and ODI XI by the ICC. He was named World ODI XI by the ICC in 2017. He was also named in the ODI XI of the year 2015 by Cricinfo. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2015 World Cup by the ICC. He was also named in the 'Team of the tournament' by Cricinfo and Cricbuzz. He was also named in the Test XI of the year 2015 by Cricbuzz.

Trent announced his engagement to partner Gert Smith in June 2016, and the couple married in August 2017 in a private ceremony at Kauri Bay Boomrock. They have two children.The family resides in Mt. Maunganui, New Zealand.

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

In 2018, Boult produced his best figures in Test cricket, taking 6/32 in the First Test against England in Auckland. England were bowled out for 58 in their first innings and New Zealand went on to win the Test by an innings and 49 runs. Boult was named man of the match. New Zealand went on the win series 1–0; Boult finished with 15 wickets at an average of 18.33 and was named man of the series. At the NZC Annual Awards, he received the Men's Test Player of the Year and the Sir Richard Hadlee Medal for best International player of the year. In May that year, Boult was one of twenty players to be awarded a new contract for the 2018–19 season by New Zealand Cricket.

In June 2019, he was selected to play for the Toronto Nationals franchise team in the 2019 Global T20 Canada tournament.

In April 2019, he was named in New Zealand's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. On 5 June 2019, in the match against Bangladesh, Boult took his 150th wicket in ODIs. On 29 June 2019, in the match against Australia, Boult took the second hat-trick of the World Cup. He was the first bowler for New Zealand to take a hat-trick at the Cricket World Cup. He was named as 12th man in the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2019 World Cup by the ICC.

Boult was traded by Delhi to the Mumbai Indians prior to the thirteenth season of the IPL. He played a critical role in Mumbai winning the 2020 IPL title. He was the man of the match in the final and was also named the cred power player of the season. Boult claimed 25 wickets in that edition of the IPL and was the third highest wicket taker after Kagiso Rabada and Jasprit Bumrah. He also bowled 4 maiden overs, the most by any player in a single season of IPL. His best bowling figures in the IPL are 4/18 against CSK on 23 October 2020.

Trent Boult: 10 interesting things to know about ‘ThunderBoult’

Trent Boult, born July 22, 1989, is one of the finest pace bowlers New Zealand have produced for some time. While his physique is far from that of a typical pacer, he generates good speed and is a tremendous athlete on the field. On his 26th birthday, CricLife looks at 10 interesting things to know about the Kiwi fast bowler.