The awards ceremony comes off the back of the Black Caps winning a rare test series over England, having held on for a draw in the final day of their second test yesterday.

Spinner Ish Sodhi produced a sterling defensive effort with the bat to hold New Zealand's tail together over 3h 20 min to ensure a draw against England at Hagley Oval.

By the end he was unbeaten on 56, his third test half century and New Zealand had battled their way to 256 for eight, nowhere near the target of 382 to win the match and make it a 2-0 sweep, but had prevented England getting up to square the series.

With the draw securing a 1-0 series win over England, New Zealand also edged out Australia into third spot on the test rankings before the cut-off date of April 3.

Both teams finished on 102 points in the team rankings. However, New Zealand are ahead by a wafer-thin margin, as they are now on 102.263 points and Australia are on 102.2 points.

The change in rankings means that New Zealand will now get a prize money of US$200,000 for finishing third while Australia will have to be content with US$100,000.

Over the 2017/2018 season, New Zealand played four tests, 13 ODIs and 11 T20s.

Some players came and went and barely raised a blip; others such as Trent Boult, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor and captain Kane Williamson, repeatedly caught the eye; still others such as Ish Sodhi gave the fans plenty to cheer albeit in an unexpected way.