Domestic Cricket Daily: Jimmy Neesham Moves To Wellington Firebirds

Ol' mate is chuffed for Jimmy.

On the back of Neil Wagner's departure from Otago Volts, we now know that Jimmy Neesham is off to Wellington Firebirds. There will likely be more shuffling this winter and we'll have a greater understanding of that when the domestic squads are announced, but in terms of top-tier kiwi cricketing talent hitting the transfer market, there is no bigger move than Neesham to Wellington.

That definitely includes Wagner and Colin de Grandhomme (Auckland to Northern Districts) as well, with Neesham looking to re-establish himself in the upper echelon and seal some

Uploaded by Vivek Prabhakar Singh on 2014-09-14.

Blackcaps game time. Neesham's path back to the Blackcaps isn't all that interesting to me and while Neesham is more than capable of settling into international cricket again, the narrative of him getting back into the Blackcaps is rather complex.

Right now, there simply isn't much space up for grabs in either the Test or ODI teams. Aotearoa has better batsmen than Neesham in and around the Blackcaps, including an abundance of wicket-keeper/batsmen who could force their way into Blackcaps teams as batsmen, Aotearoa also has better bowlers in and around the Blackcaps than Neesham. 

In the all-rounder role, Colin de Grandhomme is the settled choice and with Mitchell Santner perhaps the best genuine all-rounder in Aotearoa, the Blackcaps can then lean on the likes of Doug Bracewell, Matt Henry, Todd Astle, Ish Sodhi, Ben Wheeler, Adam Milne and Scott Kuggeleijn; bowlers first and foremost who can offer lower order batting.

Not to mention Corey Anderson, who is coming back from injury and played a few Plunket Shield games last summer.

While I do find it fascinating to ponder where Neesham fits in, Neesham has to excel, like, truly be brilliant in domestic cricket to even get to the Blackcaps fringes. There's so much going on here - thus making it fascinating - that I just don't find it overly interesting right now and my interest will grow, as Neesham momentum builds.

However, from my Domestic Cricket Daily perch; wow!

Wellington have added Jimmy Neesham to a team that was already stacked, full to the brim with talent. What makes this so amazing is the value that Wellington will get from Neesham as Neesham is almost certain to be available for the whole season, across all three formats and it's not every winter that a domestic club can snap up a top-tier talent with such availability.

Not only has Wellington signed a top-tier talent who will play consistently, they are adding Neesham to a team full of top-tier domestic talent that strictly plays domestic cricket. Tom Blundell is the only Firebird who is in or even close to genuine Blackcaps selection, which now puts Wellington in a very similar situation to Central Districts where they have fantastic talent that is outside the current Blackcaps bubble.

Neesham's seamers will link up with Logan van Beek, Hamish Bennett and Iain McPeake who all averaged under 20 in Plunket Shield cricket last summer. Jeetan Patel will probably lace up again as the main spinner and Wellington's middle order is likely to consistently feature Neesham, Blundell, Michael Bracewell and Devon Conway.

I don't know anything about Wellington's squad for this summer, but assuming that there are no major departures, Wellington could roll out a 1st XI of;

Malcolm Nofal, Luke Woodcock, Stephen Murdoch, Michael Bracewell, Devon Conway, Jimmy Neesham, Tom Blundell, Logan Van Beek, Jeetan Patel, Iain McPeake, Hamish Bennett.

That's a heck of a team, but most importantly it's a team or core group that will play together for most of, it not all of the summer. Northern Districts would never turn down Wagner and de Grandhomme, but at this very point in time, Neesham is the best signing you can make as a domestic club. 

De Grandhomme is an all-format Blackcap and is unlikely to feature at all this summer for the Knights, while Wagner's value last summer came because the Blackcaps only played four Tests. We all hope that there is more Test cricket this summer, which then means less Wagner for the Knights, meanwhile Neesham is hungry to prove himself and will be a consistent presence for Wellington.

Assuming Neesham performs well, the yarn about Wellington rejuvenating Neesham and getting the best out of him will be trotted out. Wellington are receiving a rejuvenated Neesham already, as Neesham's second half of the summer after his mid-summer sabbatical, was far better than his first half.

All three of Neesham's 50+ scores in the Plunket Shield last summer came in 2018, post-sabbatical. Upon returning to Ford Trophy cricket after his break, Neesham hit both of his Plunket Shield 50+ scores. 

That means that all five of Neesham's 50+ scores in Plunket Shield and Ford Trophy, came in 2018 after he took some time off. Neesham played nine games this year, with five 50+ scores and 1+ wickets in six of those games; Neesham rejuvenated himself mid-season.

Wellington are getting a Jimmy Neesham who finished the season strongly, or who started 2018 strongly depending on how you want to look at it. The substance is already there and on top of that you have what you hope Neesham can do, as well as the knowledge that he will be present for the majority of the summer. 

As for Otago Volts? Well, we wait to see how they intend to rebuild when they drop their roster in the coming weeks.

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Peace and love 27.