Domestic Cricket Daily: Plunket Shield Round Toru (333)
Three games of Plunket Shield cricket and three draws for round three. I dipped into some bowling performances yesterday, although there was still cricket to be played on day four and Neil Wagner added to his tally of wickets for Northern Districts Knights against Otago Volts, along with Volts lefty-leggy Michael Rippon.
Wagner finished with 6w @ 2.83rpo in 40.2 overs, as the Knights dismissed Otago for 349 before the Knights put up 104/6 to finish the game. It hasn't exactly been a dominant patch of Plunket Shield for the Blackcaps involved, except for Wagner who leads all wicket-takers after three games with 17w @ 24.11avg/3.39rpo. Wagner's average is slightly higher than the other leading wicket-takers because he's racked up 120.4 overs to start the season and the only other bowler to bowl 100+ overs is Matt Henry.
Both Wagner and Henry will likely feature in a Blackcaps Test squad and while it's one thing to take wickets and feel that vibe, getting through plenty of overs prior to moving into international cricket has to be equally as beneficial. Here are some Blackcaps numbers from the three rounds of Plunket Shield cricket...
Neil Wagner: 120.4ov, 17w @ 24.11avg/3.39rpo.
Matt Henry: 115ov, 9w @ 39.55avg/3.09rpo.
Trent Boult: 69ov, 8w @ 32avg/2.90rpo.
Tom Latham: 4inns, 267 runs @ 66.75avg, 1 x 100 (224).
Henry Nicholls: 4inns, 134 runs @ 33.50avg, 1 x 100 (103).
BJ Watling: 5inns, 100 runs @ 20avg.
Jeet Raval: 3inns, 24 runs @ 8avg.
Trent Boult also batted 2 innings for 45 runs and currently has more runs than Jeet Raval. Seth Rance, Ajaz Patel, Jacob Duffy and Will Somverville all have more runs than Raval - some have more innings though but Raval's clearly under-performing.
Michael Rippon also exploded with wickets for Otago, taking 4w @ 2.38rpo in 25.1ov in the first innings and then 5w @ 1.22rpo in 27 overs in the second. In between taking those wickets, Rippon hit 98 batting #8 and that ain't a bad effort in your first game of the season. Rippon had a funky excursion to Canada back in August, playing in the Global T20 Canada tournament where he took 4w @ 39avg/9.55rpo in 16.2ov and now he's slotted in as Otago's premier spinner.
That's kinda notable given that Otago previously relied on the handy all-round abilities of Dean Foxcroft to offer spin, while Dale Phillips and Nick Kelly both dabbled in overs. I'm partial to Otago's seam attack, although they only took 4 of the 16 Knights wickets in this game and with a rather unique spinner like Rippon in their bowling group, there's a better general balance to the bowlers.
Otago seamer Nathan Smith is a member of the Volts seam attack that appears to be kinda similar to Canterbury in terms of a lack of clinical wicket-taking powers, but the Volts give me a more optimistic vibe via guys like Smith and Jacob Duffy. Smith though, is yet to take a wicket this season despite bowling in 4inns.
That's digestible, because Smith put up his first century in First-Class cricket against the Knights and this sign of batting potential isn't a one-off. Smith batted #7 for the Volts and scored 114 in Otago's lone batting innings vs ND and this flows on from last season when Smith was Otago's fourth best batsman.
Smith's last three Plunket Shield games for last summer looked like this in terms of runs: 45, 75*, 46, 47* and 15. This season, after scores of 24 and 0 in the first game, Smith has a century and Smith's runs saw him creep up the order a bit in certain games. There is a long way to go for Smith to command further attention and unfortunately, Otago's form doesn't lend itself to their younger wave of lads getting the love that others get. That young wave at the Volts is settling into domestic cricket though and whether you are a Volts fan, or someone trying to look like a bit of an alternative cricket mind; watch out for doses of intriguing performances like a Smith century.
The other century-hitter was ND Knights opener Henry Cooper, who I have ranked as a top-three, maybe the top-dawg of the young opener gang. Cooper put up 149 in the Knights first innings vs Otago and while Cooper enticed me as a quintessential four-day opener, he whacked 6 sixes in his innings and Devon Conway's the only batsman with more sixes after three games.
This was Cooper's third century in 22 First-Class games and he is averaging an extremely respectable 37.91. Like Smith, Cooper finished last season like a emerging jedi; 37*, 41, 58, 36, 12, 27 and 78. Things get a wee bit funkier when we consider the Aotearoa 'A' team that was named to battle England in Whangarei starting Friday and Rachin Ravindra is again selected, most likely to open the innings.
I have absolutely no issue with Ravindra being selected and it's super blatant that Ravindra has the skills to be a force in domestic cricket, thus demanding Blackcaps attention. It's also super blatant that Ravindra is a favourite of the NZC decision-makers and Ravindra has been blasted into A squads with a level of certainty that very few young cricketers receive. Again, nothing against Ravindra here, I'm merely noting observations of what is happening and the immense support offered to Ravindra doesn't seem to extend to Cooper.
Here are their two First-Class records...
Henry Cooper: 22 games, 1403 runs @ 37.91avg, 3 x 100, 8 x 50.
Rachin Ravindra: 11 games, 542 runs @ 33.87avg, 5 x 50.
Now that I've planted that seed in my own brain, I'm definitely going to keep tabs on this little battle moving forward. It's a beautiful battle considering the presence of two young openers who have transitioned nicely into domestic cricket and while it would be wrong of me to ride with a favourite of mine, the idea of Ravindra getting all the lovin' and Cooper going under the radar, definitely intrigues me.
Auckland Aces skipper Rob O'Donnell hit the only 50+ score in Wellington Firebirds vs Auckland Aces - Devon Conway (32*) and Michael Bracewell (22*) were not-out when the game was wrapped up though. Keep in mind that Auckland and Otago are a game behind the rest, but it's still bonkers that O'Donnell is Auckland's best batsman at 26th in runs.
No Auckland batsman has 100+ runs, O'Donnell is clos with 98 runs in 3inns @ 49avg. Next best is Will Somerville.
Stephen Murdoch hit 75 and Todd Astle hit 53 for Canterbury in their lone batting innings vs Central Districts. So far this season, Astle's batting average is 30 and his bowling average is 53.66.
We finish with the Stags, who enjoyed knocks of 82 from Ben Smith and 63 from Brad Schmulian in their second innings. Smith has back to back 50+ scores in his last two games, I'm all about Schmulian though who is kinda dominating everyone. Schmulian now sits 3rd in runs, but is the only batsman in the top-four who hasn't hit a century and the only player to match Schmulian's three 50+ scores is Conway.
Schmulian averages 51.20 this season and after 13 First-Class games, averages 39.90. Here are his last 11 innings: 50, 16, 31, 49, 60, 74*, 32, 60, 12, 15 and 63. This is probably a good time to remind youz that Schmulian may not even be in a Stags 1st 11, considering that Will Young has been absent to start this season and the likes of Doug Bracewell, Ben Wheeler and Adam Milne are all absent as all-rounders who have previously batted fairly high in the Stags line up.
Schmulian's runs deserve steady selection though and if very few are talking about Henry Cooper, even less are celebrating the current underground king Brad Schmulian.
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Peace and love 27.