Domestic Cricket Daily: Sussing The Ford Trophy Bowlers
Having explored a few of the batsman things after Ford Trophy round two, now it's time for the bowlers and specifically Jacob Duffy and Will Williams. That's because they led the wicket-takers from round two, with 4w each and they did so in the first innings where their wickets helped restrict their opponents to scores under 200, thus setting up fairly easy run chases for Otago and Canterbury.
The similarities get a bit weirder when you consider that they both split their 4w between top order batsmen and tail-enders. Domestic cricket hasn't quite got too analytical and to be honest, neither has any level of kiwi cricket. Nor does our Patreon donations of $100 a month to keep the Niche Cache up and running, stretch far enough to suss out that level of statistics. All of which means that it's bloody difficult to narrow down when a bowler is taking a wicket; a joker has 10w but 8 of those wickets are batsmen #10 and #11 type of thing.
If you're taking the majority of your wickets down the order, you're beating up on the worst batsmen. Duffy and Williams though, sent two of their opponent's top-three batsmen back to the sheds before coming back to dismiss a couple bowlers. There is definitely a need to dismiss lower order batsmen as they can play crucial roles with the bat, but to take 4w as a young seamer and split them between knocking the top off and wrapping up the innings is a good sign.
There is a lot to like about Duffy, who captained Otago in a Plunket Shield game prior to Ford Trophy when Mark Craig was absent. Duffy's been on the scene for a few years now and impressed when he was fresh on the scene, with an overall List-A average of 24.50. Tall and with a smooth, out-swinging action, Duffy also has a bit of zip to his bowling and of his 3w that were catches behind the stumps, they were all caught above waist height.
Apart from Craig's 7ov with 1w @ 2.71, Duffy was the most economical Otago bowler and seamer in the win over Northern Districts (3.35rpo). Williams had Matt Henry taking that honour for Canterbury - no shame in that - but was stingey with his 4w coming at just 3.40rpo in Canterbury's win over Central Districts.
Williams doesn't appear to be as lively as Duffy, most evident in Canterbury wicket-keeper Cameron Fletcher often standing up to the stumps. However, Williams did show off his ability to nip the ball back into righties and of his 4w, 3 saw Williams skittlin’ the stumps; inside edge of Kieran Noema-Barnett (lefty) and then going through the gate of Ma'ara Ave, before cramping Bevan Small with a huge in-ducker.
With a First Classs average of 24.67, Williams has shown signs like Duffy that he can pose a threat and in List-A cricket, Williams is averaging a handy 30.11. They lack the consistency of others as they have taken all of their wickets in one innings so far, although you can counter that by the fact that they are the only bowlers who have taken 4w in an innings after two games.
I'm especially intrigued as to how Duffy goes this summer and whether he can step up as a leader of this Volts bowling attack. Of the top-five bowlers, Duffy is the only lad who is under 30-years-old and while age isn't a factor in selecting the Blackcaps, there's a strong case for Duffy having the most upside of this group; Hamish Bennett, Ollie Newton, Mitchell McClenaghan and Ryan McCone.
Bennett is still the alpha of domestic bowlers and has 6w after two games, while his Wellington comrade Ollie Newton has 5w but has been far more economical with 3.91rpo compared to Bennett's 5.63rpo. McClenaghan also has 5w and like Bennett, he's been fairly expensive (5.72rpo) while Duffy is a whisker ahead of McCone via economy rates; 4.26rpo vs 4.48rpo.
There is only one spinner in the group of nine bowlers who have 4+ wickets and that's Auckland offie Will Somerville (4w @ 24.75avg/4.95rpo). This is most likely because the best spinners are over in United Arab Emirates and without Ish Sodhi, Todd Astle and Ajaz Patel, most teams are operating with a fresh spinner other than Somerville with Auckland and Craig for Otago.
Conditions right now also appear to be hugely in favour of the seamers and you don't need to be a genius to nut out why. Juicy pre-Christmas pitches are offering plenty of seam movement and while this hasn't resulted in seamers putting up crazy numbers, teams are struggling to put up scores around 250 and there is a largely a prototypical kiwi seamer look to the top of the wicket-taking rankings.
Lastly, just a quick word on a bowler I always keep an eye on and that's Doug Bracewell. This isn't to throw Bracewell into any Blackcaps conversations, merely to point out that I am keeping close tabs on Bracewell as I enjoy his work and low key reckon he's one of the best seamers in Aotearoa.
Of the 15 bowlers who have taken 3+ wickets thus far, Bracewell is the most economical at just 3.70rpo. For context, Newton is the only other bowler in that group who is conceding less than 4rpo. Bracewell has 3w @ 21avg and while he's not blasting teams away with his seamers, the thing about Bracewell is that he's usually, always taking wickets. Whether it's a wicket here, or 3w there, Bracewell is chipping in and doing so with a tidy economy rate.
This summer, after two Plunket Shield games and two Ford Trophy games, Bracewell has taken 1+ wicket in 4 of 5inns; 2, 0, 3, 1, 2.
Prior to that, Bracewell played three games for Northamptonshire in England and again, took 1+ wicket in 4 of his 5inns bowled (all First Class games); 1, 3, 3, 4, 0.
That's Dougie Bracewell. He may not put up the big innings wicket totals, but given that he's take 5w in Plunket Shield @ 21.40avg/1.94rpo and now he's replicating that in Ford Trophy, Bracewell is likely to keep taking wickets and end up near the top of the wicket-taking rankings.
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