Not sure if the kids know what's coming.

With each domestic cricket preview, I'll make a wee video to go with it for Patreon. We''ll be getting knee deep in domestic cricket this summer and there will be some bonus, exclusive stuff on Patreon as well. All you gotta do is sign up for $1 a month and tu meke.

Here's the link for the Central Districts Stags preview video

The common trait of the three most northern/first three teams I'm previewing is youth, although within that there are some rather funky differences. Auckland Aces are super young and lack key veterans who are there consistently, Northern Districts Knights have found a balance where they bring young players into an established core and Central Districts Stags are young but experienced and ready to step into their power.

Perhaps the Stags have already stepped into their power to some extent, but this season and the next few will mark a point in this group's arc where they have all been playing domestic cricket for a number of years and more importantly together. Coach Heinrich Malan has overseen this shift and led by captain Will Young, CD should be moving into a stage where the reap the rewards of this shift. That's especially the case when you consider that they only have Ross Taylor and Adam Milne in the immediate mix for Blackcaps cricket, meaning they won't have too many changes between each game.

You can gauge the level of talent in this group though by the number of cricketers who are sitting on the cusp of the Blackcaps; not quite in the best 15 players (Test and ODI), but in the best 25. George Worker (the closest of the lot), Doug Bracewell, Tom Bruce, Will Young, Seth Rance and Ben Wheeler could feature for the Blackcaps this summer if certain stars align, but they are likely to play a lot of cricket for CD. Thus making CD strong unit, with options and depth.

I've harped on a fair bit about Young and Bruce, so I'll spare y'all from that yarn again. For new readers, all you need to know is that they are two lads in their mid-20s who average over 40 in First-Class cricket.

One lad who has dipped out of our attention is Doug Bracewell and while others ponder Bracewell's Blackcaps future, which has them pondering Bracewell's shenanigans, I'm merely concerned with what Bracewell does in domestic cricket. When you are pondering Bracewell in whatever context, keep in mind that Bracewell made his FC debut in 2008, almost 10 years ago when he was 18-years-old.

Funky cricket nerd note: Bracewell's debut came against Auckland his CD comrades included Peter Ingram, Mathew Sinclair, Ewan Thompson and Mitchell McClenaghan. His Auckland opponents included Tim McIntosh, Richard Jones, Andrew de Boorder, Scott Styris, Reece Young, Colin de Grandhomme, Tarun Nethula and Andrew McKay.

In Bracewell's last three FC games (end of last season, start of this season) he took 11 wickets and in the two games from last season he took 6 wickets. I'm still of the belief that Bracewell is one of the best seamers in Aotearoa and my hype around seeing Bracewell in action this summer revolves around this idea. Will Bracewell come out and consistently take 2-3 wickets an innings? Given his experience and ability, there is every chance that Bracewell is a dominant force in this opening round of Plunket Shield cricket (assuming he's playing).

I don't care what that means in terms of the Blackcaps, I just want to see out-swingers to the right-hander with a bit of nibble off the pitch. There's nothing better and Bracewell does this unlike any other in Aotearoa.

I'm also not overly bothered by Ajaz Patel's Blackcaps potential and I'm far more interested in whether Patel can go three seasons as the leading PS wicket-taker. Patel was the only bowler to take over 40 wickets in 2015/16 (43 @33.69avg/3.63rpo) and he backed that up as one of three bowlers to take over 40 wickets last season, all of whom were spinners. Patel led all wicket-takers last season with 44 (30.81avg/3.07) and while one season can be an out-lier, two seasons ain't an accident and opposition batsmen must be sussing out plans to nullify Patel's influence.

In both seasons, Patel bowled the most overs (399, 441.4) and that's why his average has been higher than Nethula is both seasons and both averages were a lot higher than Ish Sodhi's last season. Don't let that down-play Patel's achievements here though because he only conceded 3.07rpo last season and if Patel is bowling that many overs - while conceding only 3rpo and taking over 40 wickets - he is doing so because he's on top.

Opposition batsmen aren't blasting Patel out of the attack and are barely ticking the scoreboard over when Patel is bowling. You still need to be effective when you're bowling that many overs and as batsmen haven't sussed out a way to get on top of Patel, he's allowed to bowl as much as he can and dictate proceedings. Will that change this summer?

While batsmen around Aotearoa are trying to suss out how to play spin (three spinners led all wicket-takers last season in kiwi conditions!!), let's not overlook the fact that Patel is learning his craft even more. This means we could see Patel unleash something fresh and funky, at the very least Patel will be incredibly confident in what he does and after two consistent seasons, Patel would have seen all the different approaches to his bowling.

Three-straight seasons as the leading wicket-taker? Shit the bed, that would be quite some achievement. Even if Patel can go three-straight with 40+ wickets, I'll be even more impressed and this is why Patel is my pick for the most fascinating cricketer this season.

It's only right that I finish with Ben Smith, the best kiwi cricketer you haven't heard of. Smith is a 26-year-old opener who made his FC debut in 2011 and in 43 games, Smith has an average of 37.63. We didn't see the best of Smith last season as he missed a bit of the first stanza of PS via injury, he did come back to hit two half-centuries in four PS games in the second stanza though.

Smith has the weight of runs behind him; he averaged 41.40 in 2014/15 and 61.13 in 2015/16. Everyone celebrated Bharat Popli's efforts in 2015/16, but Smith wasn't too far behind as he and Popli were the only batsmen to average over 50 that season, thus making them the only batsmen to average over 60. He also hit 50 against Bangladesh for an Aotearoa XI last summer and after a dip in run-scoring overall last season, I'm eager to see what Smith has in store for us this summer.

Peace and love 27.

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