The Five Most Notable Movers In Domestic Cricket Ahead Of The 2026/27 Season

Henry Shipley Moves From Canterbury To Wellington

This is the funkiest move in domestic cricket because of the possible impact it could have for Blackcaps, as well as Wellington. Shipley has played ODIs and T20Is for Aotearoa but his last game was mid-way through 2023 and it was followed by a stint in County Championship with Sussex. His last game for Canterbury was early in 2025 and he hasn't played Plunket Shield for a few summers now.

That's the yarn for a talented all-rounder who has battled plenty of injury adversity. An ODI bowling average of 23.9, First-Class average of 29.1 and T20 average of 22.1 highlight how effective Shipley's quirky style of seam bowling has been. Having first appeared for Canterbury back in 2016, Shipley found a groove that led to Blackcaps selection and then suffered another hefty injury setback.

Now Shipley enters the 'change of scenery' bucket with Wellington. He will work with former Blackcaps bowling coach Shane Jurgensen who leads the Wellington team, along with their bowling coach Azhar Abbas. This should give Shipley a fresh perspective and whether it's Logan van Beek, Michael Bracewell, Nick Kelly or Nathan Smith there is a solid history of players improving when moving to Wellington.

Shipley is still a wee way off returning to the Blackcaps mix because Aotearoa has the best seam depth ever and there is no shortage of all-rounders competing for selection. Shipley's not in the top tier for either of those roles right now, yet there is an opportunity for him to make a selection case primarily with wickets but also with useful runs down the order.

Rishika Jaswal Moves From Auckland To Northern Districts

19-year-old Jaswal was already one of the most exciting spin bowling talents in Aotearoa and that intrigue around the leg-spinner's development has increased with her move to ND. She made her debut for Auckland as a 17-year-old and Jaswal has been effective in her limited game time since then.

Auckland's spin department is led by Fran Jonas who has had a rather confusing year or so. Jonas also has a few spinners ahead of her in the White Ferns mix now so she is likely to play plenty of cricket for Auckland this summer, while Bella Armstrong's switch from seam to spin has worked well and she will be an all-rounder to watch out for in pushing for more White Ferns games.

Add in Maddy Green when she is available and Auckland can easily get three spin options in their 11st 11 without Jaswal. Young spinner Anika Tauwhare adds more depth and while there's a chance that Jaswal is the best spinner of them all, she needs consistent game time. ND have Nensi Patel and Jess Watkin as their lead spinners and they are both all-rounders who can bat in the top-six, allowing space down the order for a specialist like Jaswal.

Patel will probably move up to a regular White Ferns role and that will create more space for Jaswal, who averages 27.3 in List-A bowling and she took 1w @ 4rpo in her only T20 game. She has also played for NZ U19s and took 8w @ 8.6avg/5rpo at their T20 World Cup early in 2025.

Eve Wolland and Natasha Wakelin are young spinning all-rounders on the rise for ND who will maintain competition for overs with Jaswal. They fall closer to the Patel/Watkin style though as they are among the best young batting talents and this could see them focus more on their batting, while being handy bowling options after Jaswal.

Olivia Gain Moves From Otago To Canterbury

After showing signs of a powerful batting style in almost 10 years with Otago, Gain moves to Canterbury where she will be aiming to find consistent production in both formats. Gain had two seasons back to back averaging 30+ in one-day batting in 2022/23 and 2023/24 but that only led to two seasons of List-A batting below 20avg.

There is a similar pattern in her T20 batting as Gain scored 100+ runs for the first season in 2022/23 with an average of 14, followed by a summer well below those markers. Then she had her best season of T20 batting in 2024/25 (164 runs @ 18.2avg) and dropped back down to 69 runs @ 9.8avg last summer.

All of which is evident in Gain not having a 50+ score and 11.1avg/94sr in 45 T20 innings. She has been better in LA batting with four 50+ scores and 17.5avg/62sr in 65 LA innings. Last season Gain finished with eight scores below 20 runs and after dips in her recent seasons with Otago, this is a intriguing change of scenery move for the 24-year-old.

Gain will work with coach Amy Satterthwaite which should offer a boost to her batting. Canterbury add Gain to a middle order that will feature Izzy Sharp when she is available and she could quickly settle in as a senior batter as there isn't much experience in the Canterbury batting unit.

Kate Anderson will be chasing White Ferns selection with another dominant season and then there are Sharp, Gain, Kate Irwin and Abigale Gerken who will be relied on to help Anderson with the run-scoring. All-rounder Missy Banks showcased her batting talent last summer as a powerful hitter as well and her combo with Gain will be one to track throughout the season.

Nick Kelly Moves From Wellington To Northern Districts

This year Kelly has worked his way into the all-format mixer for Blackcaps and made a sneaky appearance during the Test series win against a cricket cartel nation. Kelly has been impressive in all three formats for Leicestershire this winter and all that of stems from the foundations he laid with Wellington as one of Aotearoa's best batters below the Blackcaps level.

Now Kelly moves back to ND where his career started. A player of Kelly's quality making a move between domestic cricket teams is notable but this is unlikely to impact Kelly's status in the Blackcaps ranks. The funkiest thing for Kelly right now is how he performs for Aotearoa when selection swings his way and based on how he has been a constant presence in Blackcaps groups this year, his mahi for ND probably won't much influence ... unless his run-scoring vanishes all together.

Kelly makes a similar move as Rob O'Donnell did a few seasons ago as mature batters who join an experienced ND batting unit. Bhart Popli has retired and Jeet Raval will probably play a diminished role this season, both of whom were mainly Plunket Shield batters last summer. Kelly adds all-format skills to those of O'Donnell, Joe Carter and Henry Cooper who can then help youngsters like Xavier Bell and Snehith Reddy develop as they take on bigger roles.

Yasmeen Kareem Moves From Northern Districts To Central Districts

Lefty batter Kareem was a regular member of ND's HBJ Shield team with 10+ games in her last two seasons but she only played two games of Super Smash. Now she moves to CD where she will be add consistent T20 game time to her solid one-day batting and Kareem is likely to be a key batter alongside Kerry Tomlinson, Flora Devonshire, Emma McLeod and Cate Pedersen.

Kareem scored 150+ runs in her last two LA seasons and while she only has one 50+ score in her five seasons, there are encouraging signs. This includes scores of 23, 36, 11, 20, 17, 2, 19, 6, 12 and 16 throughout the HBJ Shield. Nothing spectacular but Kareem helped ND win the HBJ Shield last season with solid scoring, after hitting 242 runs @ 24.2 in the season prior.

She looks like a good batting talent, played her role in a championship and now moves to CD who need those skills. CD will have two lefties in their line up with Devonshire on the rise as a swift scoring lefty. Kareem will need to show an increased scoring rate to command Super Smash selection and as this development pattern is clearly present throughout women's domestic cricket in Aotearoa, Kareem should make the most of her freshen up with CD.

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One Funky Player For Each Domestic Cricket Team Ahead Of The 2026/27 Season

Auckland: Jock McKenzie | Bella Armstrong

McKenzie is an excellent seaming all-rounder who battled injuries last summer and played his last game of the season in early December. He was tracking pretty well up until that point in Ford Trophy and Plunket Shield with solid scores and regular wickets. I’m curious to see if he can be a consistent presence in all formats and how big his role is because he has top-six batting and leading seamer potential.

Jock McKenzie - 24yrs

  • FC: 28.6avg/45sr | 37.2avg/3.4rpo

  • LA: 24.2avg/78sr | 35.5avg/5.4rpo

  • T20: 28.4avg/124sr | 20.2avg/9.3rpo

Armstrong made a good switch from seam to spin last summer. There are lots of offies who are good fielders and improving batters around the women’s circuit, but Armstrong has the most batting power and is closest to the White Ferns fringe. If Armstrong can stack up a few scores, which will probably have relatively high strike-rates, she could earn a promotion to White Ferns.

Bella Armstrong - 26yrs

  • LA: 24.8avg/84sr | 23.4avg/32sr

  • T20: 17.6avg/108sr | 26.7avg/6.6rpo

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Northern Districts: Zak Gibson | Marama Downes

Two seamers for ND and they are both on the cusp of representing Aotearoa. Gibson had an excellent all-format season and was recently selected for NZ-A in the T20s. This makes Gibson one of the best seamers who isn’t on most folks’ radar and given how his younger ND comrades in Matt Fisher and Kristian Clarke have progressed, Gibson has a clear path to follow.

Zak Gibson - 29yrs

  • FC: 36.4avg/3.7rpo

  • LA: 34.5avg/5.1rpo

  • T20: 25.4avg/8.1rpo

Downes doesn’t fit the fast/bouncy profile that I think White Ferns prefer but her command of nibble is undeniable. It would be a useful skill to have alongside Bree Illing, Molly Penfold and Kayley Knight, even offering a completely different style of movement to Jess Kerr. Downes has shown signs that her method can be effective at higher levels and a strong start to the summer will add even more wicket-taking weight to her case.

Marama Downes - 23yrs

  • LA: 27.3avg/4.1rpo

  • T20: 15.3avg/5.4rpo

Central Districts: Toby Finday | Ashtuti Kumar

Findlay worked his way into all-format selection last season and has the tools to be an emerging player of note. His stats aren’t quite there but he has played less than 15 games in each format and has similar natural skills to McKenzie or Cameron Paul. Findlay is 23yrs and made his FC debut at 19yrs for CD, so they have clearly got high hopes for him too.

Toby Finlday - 23yrs

  • FC: 46.8avg/4.1rpo

  • LA: 58.6avg/5.8rpo

  • T20: 28.6avg/8.5rpo

Kumar added herself to the group of talent offies/good fielders with a strong season last summer. She should have the chance to establish herself as a leading spinner for CD along with lefty Flora Devonshire and I’m curious to see if she can add a few runs down the order as well.

Ashtuti Kumar - 23yrs

  • LA: 39.8avg/4.9rpo

  • T20: 25.2avg/6.8rpo

Wellington: Samuel Morgan | Xara Jetly

Morgan only played T20s last season. He did have scores of 55 and 71 with a strike-rate of 173 though and looked fantastic doing so. Morgan will need to earn selection in the other formats to reach the next level but we have also seen dominant Super Smash campaigns catch the eye as well. It looks like he has the talent to score in the longer formats so watch out for Morgan’s mahi.

Samuel Morgan - 22yrs

  • T20: 126 runs @ 63avg/173sr

Jetly had a much bigger batting role last season and leads the offie/good fielder group below White Ferns. The intrigue for Jetly revolves around her scoring rate and this is a notable wrinkle to keep an eye on throughout the women’s circuit. White Ferns want quicker scoring and players like Emma McLeod have shown that good development is happening in the pipeline, as lots of them have increased their scoring rates in both formats. Jetly is a slow scorer and that’s handy for her role with Wellington but her White Ferns role would be down the order where she needs to operate around 100sr.

Xara Jetly - 25yrs

  • LA: 16.3avg/52sr | 22.5avg/4.1rpo

  • T20: 14.1avg/93sr | 18avg/5.9rpo

Canterbury: Cameron Paul | Kate Anderson

Paul is one of the most hyped players in the Niche Cache and this has only increased with his stint with NZC at the Chennai Super Kings Academy, as well as being mentioned in the NZ-A squad announcement as being injured. He is likely to be an all-format player for Canterbury and should have a prominent role as a genuine all-rounder following on from Darfield homie Zak Foulkes

Cameron Paul - 21yrs

  • FC: 18.5avg/33sr | 21.7avg/3.9rpo

  • LA: 14.8avg/4.3rpo

  • T20: 6.2avg/89sr | 25.8avg/9.4rpo

There are spots up for grabs in the White Ferns batting unit and Anderson is the best batter in domestic cricket. Anderson has already played for White Ferns but they shuffled her out pretty quick and she kept scoring runs for Canterbury. Now a few batters have dipped out of the mix and others are struggling for form, so Anderson has an opportunity to blow all other contenders out of the contest to start this season.

Kate Anderson - 30yrs

  • LA: 36.3avg/86sr | 27.9avg/5.1rpo

  • T20: 22.5avg/102sr | 26avg/7.1rpo

Otago: Jacob Cumming | Louisa Kotkamp

Cumming is one of the best opening batters creeping below the radar with a similar style to Tom Latham as a lefty who skews towards longform cricket. He earned all-format selection last season though and showed the skills to score quicker, which are strong indicators of his talent. Cumming has traditional opening batter ability and I think he will soon join the likes of Rhys Mariu and Curtis Heaphy as the best in this emerging pocket.

Jacob Cumming - 22yrs

  • FC: 28.6avg/46sr

  • LA: 22.3avg/69sr

  • T20: 20.3avg/131sr

Kotkamp seems to have the fast/bouncy style that makes her an interesting emerging seamer. Last season she was good in Super Smash and less effective in HBJ Shield so I’m curious to see how she grows into a more prominent role for Otago, especially as they have overs up for grabs in the seam department.

Louisa Kotkamp - 20yrs

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