Michael Rae

Michael Rae is a sharp, swing bowler from New Zealand’s South Island region of Otago but now based in Canterbury. A right-arm seamer that can hit 140km/h when the mood is right, his natural in-swing has proved to be a real handful as he matured into a regular in the Otago Volts side across all 3 formats. Having originally been pigeon-holed as a longer format player since bursting on to the scene as a 19 year old, he has become one of the countries best white-ball bowlers, recognised by his selection for the New Zealand A side that toured Australia in Sept 2023. He shifted to Canterbury ahead of the 2023-24 summer.

His sharp pace saw him dominate the Otago Premier League consistently for North East Valley CC but his form in the 2016-17 & 2017-18 seasons saw Michael come into his own, being named Otago Volts bowler of the year (2016-17) and the Volts Plunkett Shield player of the year (2017-18). His impressive 2017-18 form saw Michael selected to represent a NZ XI in one day games against both the West Indies and Pakistan and he finished the summer with 38 wickets @ 23.42 in all formats.

Having ventured to the UK in 2015, joining Tewkesbury CC in the ECB West of England competition, Michael picked up 35 wickets @ 25.91 with a best of 5-48 against Frenchay CC. He also managed to score 452 runs including a 102* batting at 3 in a tour match. He scored 232 runs @ 15.47 with a half century in the league, showing his ability to be able to not only hold an end but contribute.

In 2020, Razor was selected for New Zealand A on 4 occasions, picking up the wickets of a number of household names like Azhar Ali, Mayank Argawal, Shubham Gill, Kraigg Brathwaite & Vijay Shankar. His selection was well earned with summer 2020-21 yielding 53 wickets across all formats proving to be his most successful to date.

Over the 2022-23 & 2023-24 summer’s to date, he’s bagged 78 wickets across all 3 formats with 53 of those coming in the shorter formats.

With a UK passport, Michael will be a great option for a club seeking a genuinely sharp new ball bowler for next summer. His wife will be joining him for around a month during the earlier part of the season.