Domestic Cricket Daily: Canterbury Kings
Go away Pete.
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 Canterbury preview video
Hopefully you've caught the vibe of domestic cricket by now through these previews and Canterbury are the last real headline act of the young wave that kiwi cricket is on. The Cantabs said ka kite to Peter Fulton, leaving Andrew Ellis and Todd Astle to take the reins as the OG veterans and they will lead a young crew of cricketers who sit in a similar spot to Central Districts. Canterbury's youth has been around for a few years and they aren't as fresh as Auckland's, they just lack the sheer talent and depth of talent of CD, although the Cantabs aren't too far behind.
Canterbury have brought in Michael Pollard from Wellington to bolster their batting line up and you could view Pollard as Fulton's replacement. Fulton's retirement leaves a hole in Canterbury's batting line up that could be plugged by giving Leo Carter and Ken McClure more opportunities, the likeliest option however is a like-for-like swap for Pollard.
Pollard, Astle and Ellis are the only jokers in this squad who are in that grizzly veteran mould. When you consider what Astle and Ellis offer, Canterbury have two of the most important veterans in Aotearoa as they both bat and offer different skills with the ball. Everyone knows about Astle and his work is often highlighted thanks to his proximity to the Blackcaps, Ellis on the other hand tends to glide under the radar despite easily being a top-three domestic cricketer right now.
Injuries are currently robbing Canterbury of their top-tier talent and Ellis has got a broken bone in his hand, so he'll be out of action for this opening round.
Without Fulton, Ellis' stocks could rise even further as he is now that guy for Canterbury. Ellis is the leader and Ellis will lead the way with bat and ball, which he has vast experience in after he took 27 wickets @ 24.59avg/2.43rpo and scored 652 runs @ 40.75avg in Plunket Shield cricket last season. Wickets and runs tend to come via games played and Ellis played all 10 games last season, that's in no way a negative though as Ellis A) showed what an asset he is by staying on the park and B) had fantastic averages. This is a bloke who averaged over 40 with the bat and under 25 with the ball, wtf.
And Canterbury will need that as they have lost Fulton and seamer Logan van Beek, so Ellis could be in store for even more work this summer. Colin Munro's 100+ strike-rates in the three domestic formats could be an amazing achievement this summer and if Ellis can again average over 40 and under 25, that'd be just as good.
Ellis will have help from youngsters with bat and ball though and this could help ease the burden on Ellis, thus slowing down the chances of him dominating. Last summer Canterbury didn't enjoy enough work from Kyle Jamieson and Edward Nuttall in tandem as Jamieson only played the first round of games before getting injured and Nuttall only played seven games. It looks as though we're going to have to wait to see them back in action for Canterbury as they are both currently out injured and won't be back until December-ish.
Nuttall showed his class in returning to PS with 7 wickets in his last two games, while Jamieson finished the season 10th in wickets despite only playing the first five games. This gave Jamieson the lowest average of the top-10 with 18avg and the lowest strike-rate (30.7).
Canterbury will be banking on Jamieson and Nuttall enjoying far more cricket together this season and their combination is nothing but juicy as Nuttall's got the left-arm-swing on lock and Jamieson has freakish height, along with ball movement. This means that not only do they have a variety in angles, they are both capable of moving the new-ball and this is going to be a nightmare for batsmen.
Last season, Canterbury rolled out an opening pair of Jack Boyle and Chad Bowes and these two young lads will be tasked with ensuring that Ellis, along with the likes of Pollard, Ken McClure and Cole McConchie aren't arriving at the crease too early. I've done a fair bit of writing on Bowes, he moved to Aotearoa a few years back from South Africa and averaged 45.66 last season with three centuries in eight games.
Boyle on the other hand hasn't quite had the same attention from me and I'm intrigued by his role in this opening funk. Having scored 81 in his First-Class debut last summer against Auckland, Boyle then struggled through the second round of PS games and didn't pass the 25-run mark, scoring 99 runs in five games. Boyle did however get starts in most of those innings, with four scores of 15+ in eight innings.
Bowes has shown that he can do the trick at this level, although doing it again is another beast, while Boyle has shown some potential without really stamping his mark on the domestic circuit. In limited opportunities, the B-Boys have shown something to get me intrigued, so what they can deliver this season will be have me constantly tuned into their scorecard. Sure, like any opening pair, they want to ensure that the other batsmen are coming to the crease after at least 20 overs, but the depth of Canterbury's batting line up could ease the pressure on the B-Boys.
Tim Johnston can wield the willow nicely as the main spinner, he's likely to come in at No.7/8 with wicket-keeper Cameron Fletcher there as well. The middle order of Ellis and McConchie (49.10avg last season) is bloody nifty, while Pollard, McClure and Leo Carter form a safety net that will ensure the B-Boys can bat without fear. While, Ellis will be hoping that the B-Boys can emerge as a top-tier opening combo this season as well as that Nuttall/Jamieson new-ball tandem, or else Ellis will have to show the youngsters how it's done.
I'm torn. I want to see Ellis got nuts again, but I'm curious about all the players around Ellis and their performances this season as well. With Ellis out injured for a few weeks, we're going to see how the rest of Canterbury's squad shapes up and they'll need a few funky pieces to take on greater responsibility.
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