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.

In summer 2024, he joined Copdock & OI CC in the ECB East Anglian Premier League, picking up 23 wickets and 189 handy runs, being dismissed just twice. During the season, he was picked up by Warwickshire CCC playing both County Championship and ODC fixtures for the county.

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.