Wisden Overview
Lancashire-born slow left-armer Mark Haslam's rise was spectacular, being chosen to tour Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka at the age of 20 after only five first-class matches for Auckland. He played two Tests against Zimbabwe but was unimpressive, taking only one tail-end wicket for 153 runs, and one ODI in Sri Lanka. He retained his place for the following season's tour of Australia but his chances there were limited. He was recalled for the 1995-96 tour of India and made two more Test appearances. At Chennai the match was ruined by rain and he never took the field; it was a similar story at Cuttack where he took 1 for 42 in the only innings. The emergence of Daniel Vettori as New Zealand's leading spinner towards the end of the 1990s curtailed Haslam's international ambitions, although he continued to play regularly for Auckland, latterly as something of a one-day specialist. Martin Williamson