Domestic Cricket Daily: Fuckin' Stoked Bro
Good to have you back Benji.
Haere mai Ben Stokes, welcome home cuzzie.
After laying claim for producing Stokes ever since he emerged on the scene as the premier all-rounder on Earth, kiwis are now in a bit of a twist at Stokes returning to Aotearoa to play some cricket. I'm not overly bothered with the decision from Canterbury to get Stokes involved in their limited overs campaign as Canterbury haven't made any mistakes, or errors in judgement in signing Stokes.
This allows me to dig deeper into the influence of Stokes in Canterbury's team, which is of far greater importance than debating anyone's moral compass. The simple fact of signing Stokes is that Canterbury need Stokes, well, they need a quality cricket player to help their Ford Trophy campaign and signing the best seam bowling all-rounder in the world right now, is a bonus.
Forget about Stokes' stats, there's no need to concern yourselves with those numbers as I simply don't think Stokes will find domestic cricket in Aotearoa all that difficult. The beauty of Stokes is that even if he struggles to score runs - as happens to every batsman - he can still be of great use with the ball and Stokes' bowling is fairly unique when he gets hoopin' in-swing into right-handers; the same in-swing that makes Lockie Ferguson such a nightmare to face.
The all-round ability of Stokes is of immense importance when pondering his place in Canterbury's team right now, based around the premise that Stokes could enjoy success with bat or ball and/or both. Canterbury finished that first stanza of Plunket Shield cricket with only Cameron Fletcher (10th @ 29.80avg) in the top-10 run-scorers, which basically means that their top-six batsmen did nothing of note and they had no bowlers in the top-10 wicket-takers.
Canterbury's best PS bowlers have been Blake Coburn and Tim Johnston, both of whom are spinners. Closely followed by Daniel Sams, a burly Aussie lefty who (if he sticks around for the FT) will form a brutal all-round combination with Stokes as Sams averaged 40.16 in three PS games with the bat and did so with a strike-rate of 103.43.
The idea of Canterbury stems from the fact that that don't have a player in the upper echelons of the PS this season with bat or ball, although that's a different format. Their two best batsmen from last season's FT were Henry Nicholls and Peter Fulton and neither of them will be playing much FT cricket with Nicholls in the Blackcaps set up and Fulton retired.
Johnston was their best FT bowler last season, edging out Andrew Ellis; who had a freakish FT campaign with 12w @ 17.41avg. Ellis has been battling a hand injury in the PS, limiting his run-scoring and while he's still managed to bowl a fair bit, he hasn't had the same impact with 8w @ 40.62avg. This just means that Ellis can't be viewed as Canterbury's main strike-weapon right now and Canterbury's only other seamer to take over 10w last season in FT was Logan van Beek, who is coming in hot off a dominant start to the season with Wellington.
Canterbury don't have a batsman or bowler who they can rely on to offer the sublime. They have blokes who could find form with the bat in Cole McConchie, Chad Bowes and Todd Astle, while Astle, Ellis, Coburn and Johnston could prove to be dangerous bowlers. Right now though, Canterbury lack a top-tier talent in their squad and this will only be amplified if Sams has to go back to Australia - he was only initially signed for a few PS games.
Injecting Stokes into the Canterbury team is a huge boost to their batting and bowling, especially with Ellis not quite at his peak-nek-level-all-rounder status. Stokes will likely take Ken McClure's spot in the batting line up (shout out Ken McClure, we'll see you back in action) and add some much needed depth to Canterbury's bowling stocks.
Having Stokes bat in the top-order, will ease the pressure on Astle and Ellis, allowing them to stick their their roles in which they've enjoyed success. This could allow Canterbury to field all three of their spinners (Astle, Johnston, Coburn) in a funky bowling attack, that could low key shake up the FT given everyone in Aotearoa assumes that you need more seamers.
The pieces around Stokes, Astle and Ellis are all on the younger side and you can't expect them to score freely, or consistently. Stokes scores runs freely and at this level, I doubt he'll be pegged down by FT bowling attacks, which will then allow the likes of McConchie, Bowes, Fletcher and Jack Boyle to play with greater comfort. Merely having Stokes there, will change the mindset of other batsmen as they'll know that they have a genuine international match-winner in their team.
If Sams has been signed on to play FT cricket, Canterbury will then have two hard-hitting legit all-rounders; a combo that could prove to be an unstoppable force.
Keep in mind that other domestic teams will have use of their limited-overs Blackcaps in these opening rounds. Without Stokes, Canterbury would have been a solid team but a team that lacked the talent of other teams. With Stokes, Canterbury have some much-needed assistance with bat and ball, along with a timely dose of x-factor. While I can see Stokes struggling with bat or ball for a period of time, I can't see Stokes struggling with both and Stokes is the type of cricketer who finds ways to impact a game, with a habit of doing so when it matters most.
That's exactly what you need when Auckland have Colin Munro, or Northern Districts have Ish Sodhi, or Central Districts have Jesse Ryder (and Tom Bruce, Ben Wheeler etc), or Wellington have the hottest seamers in Aotearoa and Otago have Jimmy Neesham and Neil Broom playing with a point to prove. May the Ford Trophy funk commence.
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Peace and love 27.