The Super Smash rolled through a very interesting round of games this weekend as the Blackcaps went back to their respective domestic teams, before they regroup for some ODI cricket. This bolstered every team and makes you wonder why the Super Smash can't be nestled in-between international series' because while it's funky to see the local domestic lads performing in the T20 arena, surely it's more beneficial for crowds, telly audiences and general buzz to have as many top-quality players involved as possible.

Seeing Ish Sodhi skittled Colin Munro's stumps was pretty cool, as was Colin de Grandhomme's epic 72 off 35 balls, or Jimmy Neesham leading Otago with bat and ball, or Matt Henry and Lockie Ferugson steaming in to bowl. The return of the Blackcaps amplified the intrigue in the Super Smash, yet they'll drift back to the Blackcaps soon enough.

(I'd also love to share video highlights and stuff like that with y'all but it would be way too smart to make those easily available for the public, wouldn't it? So dumb)

That's all good for a nerd like me, as I'm appreciating the performances of two blokes who have played for the Blackcaps and currently lead the runs and wickets. 

Tarun Nethula is currently head-and-shoulders above any other bowler as the best Super Smash bowler in the country, with 9 wickets from 16 overs with a 10.88avg and a stingey 6.12rpo; Nethula has the lowest economy-rate of any bowler who has more than 5 wickets. 

In Auckland's first game of the weekend, Nethula took 2/20 @5rpo as he went up against fellow leggy Ish Sodhi and Northern Districts. Sodhi was also impressive and was the pick of ND's bowlers, taking 2/26 @6.50rpo (including Munro's wicket) but Nethula took a narrow points decision before he tore through Canterbury's batting line up with 4/18 @4.50rpo (!). Nethula was up against another leggy in Todd Astle and thanks to de Grandhomme's freakish knock, Astle finished up conceding 13.28rpo off his 2.2 overs without a wicket.

Sodhi suffered similar treatment to Astle, conceding 10.50rpo off his 2 overs without a wicket against Otago. 

Henry Nicholls is the other stand-out performer at the moment, having returned to Canterbury from the Blackcaps to score 39*, 66*, 67* and 20 in his four innings'. Even when Nicholls puts up a semi-mediocre innings like the 20 he scored against Auckland, it came off 20 balls and he's got a strike-rate of 162.71 overall with the most fours of any batsman (17) and he's tied-3rd for the most sixes with 7. 

Some handy form from Nicholls - in what is quickly becoming his best format - comes at the same time as Neil Broom's return to the Blackcaps, kinda taking Nicholls' place. Broom hit 28 off 25 balls in Otago's loss to Central Districts on Friday and then hit 54 off 41 balls against ND to steer them to victory. That's exactly how you'd hope Broom would respond to the Blackcaps call up and he thoroughly deserves that call up, although the form of Nicholls and CD's Tom Bruce offer insight into younger alternatives to Broom.

Bruce is my official 'Best Batsman You Don't Know About' and he's currently sitting in 3rd (Nicholls is 1st, Broom's 2nd) in the run-scorers rankings. Bruce hit 33 off 19 balls against Otago and then backed it up with 74 off 41 balls against Wellington, taking him up to 146 runs (73avg) with his strike-rate of 173.80 higher than both Nicholls' and Broom's.

Let's not stop there with the No.4 batsmen because Corey Anderson's 4th in run-scoring and has been coming in at No.4 for ND. Anderson hit 28 off 22 and 39 off 30 over the weekend, with the 39 his highest score in five innings' and 144 runs. He's yet to really go big (34, 13, 30, 28, 39) but Anderson is finding away to chip in with a few runs in every innings and that these runs are coming at a 138.46sr is the most important aspect of his work.

So, Colin de Grandhomme has 108 runs in two games with a 229.78sr. Yikes.

Brent Arnel, Donovon Grobbelaar,  Tymal Mills, Darryl Mitchell and young Otago seamer Warren Barnes are all doing a fine job with the ball having all taken over 5 wickets, but a battle between two up and coming lefties has caught my eye. CD's Ben Wheeler had a fine weekend, taking 2/39 @9.75rpo and 1/33 @8.25 to climb to 2nd on the wicket-taker rankings while Canterbury's Ed Nuttall also impressed with 3/17 @4.75 despite de Grandhomme's trip to boom-town. 

Both Wheeler and Nuttall are on the fringes of the Blackcaps after strong performances in domestic cricket for a number of seasons, as well as selections in various NZ 'A' teams. As left-arm-swingers, they are probably better suited to the longer formats, but the way they are still finding a way to pose a threat in T20 cricket suggests plenty of talent. While Wheeler has the better average (22 vs 25.80), Nuttall is proving to be very hard to hit, conceding just 6.78rpo off 19 overs; which is also the most overs bowled by any bowler.

There are a couple of games before Christmas, so we'll touch base with a few more thoughts before Sunday.