The New Zealand cricket team, also known as the Black Caps or BLACKCAPS, played their first Test (Test cricket) in 1929-30 against England (English cricket team) in Christchurch, New Zealand, becoming the fifth Test nation. It took the team until 1955-56 to win a Test, against the West Indies (West Indian cricket team) at Eden Park in Auckland (Auckland, New Zealand). They played their first ODI (One Day International) in the 1972-73 season against Pakistan (Pakistan cricket team) in Christchurch. The national team is organised by New Zealand Cricket.

The current Test (Test cricket), One-day (Limited overs cricket) and Twenty20 captain is Daniel Vettori. He replaced New Zealands most successful captain, Stephen Fleming, who led New Zealand to 28 Test victories, more than twice as many as any other captain. Vettori lost his first match as captain (vs South Africa) by 358 runs, New Zealands worst ever defeat by runs.

The New Zealand cricket team became known as the Black Caps in January 1998, after its sponsor at the time, Clear Communications, held a competition to choose a name for the team.

As of April 2009, the New Zealand team has played 351 Test matches, winning 18.80%, losing 39.88% and drawing 41.32% of its games.