Wellington Firebirds

Michael Bracewell

Wellington lead the way in 'change of scenery' contracts with Michael Bracewell moving up from Otago and Logan van Beek moving up from Canterbury. Bracewell has been one of the more promising batsmen in Aotearoa and appeared to be on the cusp of being a long-term possibility for the Blackcaps, but after averaging over 30 (49.50, 34.47, 52.81) in three of his first four seasons, Bracewell has averaged 24.15 and 17.77 in his last two First Class seasons; he hasn't hit a FC century since the 2014/15 season after hitting seven up to that point.

Now Bracewell moves to Wellington where he will hope that a change in environment and some fresh vibes will help him put himself back in the discussion of wider Blackcaps squads.

Bracewell can smack a cricket ball and has the tools to score runs in all formats, but with a crop of youngsters emerging reasonably quickly, Bracewell needs to find some success with Wellington. Expect Bracewell to be eyeing up No.3/No.4 spots in Wellington's batting line up and he's likely to love life batting behind Michael Papps and Luke Woodcok in Plunket Shield cricket.

Logan van Beek

Clearly looking to have a younger tinge to their group, Wellington have also got all-rounder van Beek on their books. The Dutch international recently played three one-day games for Netherlands and took a wicket in all three, while also hitting 64* and 31* in the first two games.
Van Beek is an all-rounder to keep tabs on thanks to the depth Aotearoa has in that position, pushing van Beek into 'low key' status and as he plays for Netherlands, it only makes things funkier. Wellington will be hoping that van Beek can churn out bowling performances as he did in 2014/15 and 2015/16 when he averaged 23.22 and 26.33 (he ballooned out to 46.33 last season), although van Beek joins Wellington having averaged 54.33 with the bat last season.
There's a serious opening for van Beek to operate as the top-dawg all-rounder for Wellington and he'll do a very similar job to Scott Kuggeleijn.

Malcolm Nofal

Malcolm Nofal caught the eye because it's a name I hadn't seen before. Nofal is part of an interesting little trend as he and Canterbury's Chad Bowes were both South Africa U19 players who have come to Aotearoa while still being fairly young - Nofal is 25yrs. Nofal impressed with Wellington 'A' and before coming to Aotearoa, he played 11 FC games in South Africa where he averaged 30.86 with the bat while also offering some handy left-arm spin, taking 9 wickets in 11 games @ 24avg/2.75rpo.

Expect Nofal to get a chance up the order as he's opened and batted No.3 for Gauteng in South Africa, don't sleep on the spinning guidance he'll get from Jeetan Patel and Luke Woodcock either.

Canterbury

Michael Pollard

The Catabs went the other way to Wellington, bringing in Wellington's Michael Pollard to provide experience and something close to what Peter Fulton was capable of with the willow. Canterbury have a super talented group on paper and the likes of Bowes, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Johnston, Ken McClure, Cole McConchie and Ed Nuttall have all proven their quality at this level despite being in their mid-early 20s.

I expect Pollard to be a straight swap for Fulton. That's not because Pollard is as good as Fulton and with Pollard averaging less than 30 in each of his past three FC seasons, he's clearly not (change of scenery alert!) but Fulton's retirement comes at a good time as they younger batsmen are ready to take on greater responsibility. This will ease the pressure on Pollard and he'll have a simple job in that top order in offering support to Bowes, McClure and McConchie.

Chad Bowes

I've touched on Bowes a bit and this is why:

Bowes scored 548 runs in eight games last season, averaging 45.66. That's the highest FC season average of his career and back in 2011/12 and 2012/13 when he was playing in South Africa for KwaZulu-Natal, Bowes averaged 66.66 and 72 in List-A cricket. His last season in South Africa saw him average 37.80.

It's weird how Bowes has enjoyed his best four-day work in Aotearoa and his best one-day work in South Africa. Either way, he's shown he can score runs as an opener in either format.

Otago Volts

Rob Nicol

Otago snared the signature of Auckland veteran Rob Nicol and Nicol is likely to slot into Michael Bracewell's vacant spot in the batting line up. Nicol's coming off a strong FC season where he played 10 games for the first time since 2009/10 and averaged 39, which when combined with his off-spin and experience, makes Nicol a valuable asset for Otago.

With Hamish Rutherford and Brad Wilson opening the batting, Nicol is likely to bat No.4, although a lot will depend on where Anaru Kitchen bats. Nicol and Kitchen can genuinely bat anywhere in the order and with talented youngster Josh Finnie continueing to develop, having a four experienced batsmen who are still churning out runs, Finnie is in a great position. Chuck in Derek de Boorder and Finnie will be surrouned by classy domestic batsmen.

Nicol's arrival means that Otago will have three of last season's top-five Plunket Shield run-scorers; Wilson (1st), Kitchen (2nd), Nicol (5th).

Shawn Hicks

Nicol is joined in sliding down south from Auckland by young all-rounder Shawn Hicks. Folk outside of Auckland might not know too much about Hicks as he hasn't quite flexed on the domestic circuit just yet, however there's been plenty of buzz around Hicks as he worked his way through the grades in Auckland.

There's not a whole lot to say about Hicks' stats as he averages 20.64 with the bat and 55.33 with the ball - the opposite of what you want as an all-rounder. Hicks is blatantly talented though and he'll be hoping to follow the path of fellow Auckland Grammar old boy Jimmy Neesham. They're both strong all-rounders and Neesham left Auckland to take his career to the next level with Otago, so Hicks will be hoping to do the same and break the shackles this season.

Otago don't really need Hicks' bowling and Namibian international Christ Viljoen is one of the best undercover all-rounders on the domestic circuit, so Hicks won't be selected over him. Viljoen is joined by seamers Jacob Duffy, Michael Rae, Warren Barnes and Nathan Smith who will be better bowling options than Hicks as well. Hicks will need to wait for his chance, but could get a sneaky look in as a No.5/6 batsman if the stars align.

I'm gonna go all-in and make up an Aotearoa African team soon; Hicks' move to Otago gives the Volts Hicks, Barnes, de Boorder, Viljoen and Neil Wagner as kiwi-Africans. That's almost as many as Auckland.

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