Ain't it funny how this sport thing works? Last week we saw Brad Schmulian hit a double-hundy on debut in the middle order for Central Districts. That's a mighty fine effort and Schmulian was rewarded for that knock with a promotion up to No.3 for CD against Auckland Aces, yet Schmulian's domestic career thus far (two games) has largely been dictated by the coming and goings of other geezers.

There was a notable absentee last week in Jesse Ryder and the blazing lefty was back in action for CD this week, smacking 175 and 106 in another demolition of Auckland. I'd suggest that Schmulian only got his opportunity last week because of Ryder's absence and Ryder slotted right back in at No.5 this round. Along with opener Ben Smith's absence caused a shuffle of CD's batting line up; Ryder came into the team, Mitch Renwick replaced Smith at the top and Schmulian replaced Renwick at No.3.

Schmulian hit 28 and 4, which with that double-hundy in the bank is all good for now. CD have two of their starting batsmen out of this team though in Smith and Tom Bruce and they'll be back soon enough, making for a funky, competitive situation as CD progress through the Plunket Shield. One joker who definitely won't be making way for nobody is Ryder and the return of the most damaging kiwi batsman is righteous.

Is it sweet if Kane Williamson is my third favourite kiwi batsman? 

Ross Taylor's first and despite Kane Williamson being Kane Williamson, Ryder is second.

There's no sight like Ryder flicking his wrists through a cover drive and the ball pinging over the in-field to the boundary. Ryder hit two boundaries against Tarun Nethula where he did exactly that to a wide/horrible delivery outside off and then the next boundary Nethula understandably corrected, going straighter only for Ryder to sweep him for four. This is A) an example of Auckland's kinda average bowling (Nethula has fallen off a cliff after going blow for blow with Ajaz Patel as a gun domestic spinner and he's got 1 wicket @ 229avg/3.99rpo from two games) and B) how glorious Ryder's hand-eye co-ordination is. 

Ryder scores runs all around the wicket and he does so with minimal footwork. This doesn't feel like Peter Ingram stylez though, I'm not sure if it's because Ryder just looks like a much better batsman of if it's because Ryder can genuinely access the boundary from any delivery.

When you're that good, simplifying your batting can be hugely beneficial because domestic bowlers tend to be unable to serve up six great deliveries (the best Test bowlers can serve up 12) and because of Ryder's stand and deliver style, the margin for error is so small. Limited foot movement means Ryder's head is still and allows him to work the ball to the boundary from anywhere, with his hand-eye co-ordination ensuring he middles it - as opposed to foot movement that restricts where you can hit the ball.

Let's keep a hunnit; Ryder's the only batsman who can pull that off and this isn't advised for battlers. Hence Ryder's 2nd to Taylor in my favourite kiwi batsmen rankings.

And don't come at me with Jesse Ryder for the Blackcaps talk. That conversation is only for people who are too lazy to enjoy domestic cricket and have to connect everything to the Blackcaps. There's so much more to kiwi cricket than Blackcaps, there's a thriving domestic men's circuit that deserves to be its own eco-system and you can tell that someone is a fake domestic cricket fan when they're only talking about domestic cricket in a Blackcaps context.

"Turning back the clock". Fuck outta here. Ryder's been doing this in domestic cricket most seasons, y'all just don't pay domestic cricket any attention other than when something crazy happens. 

And let's not sleep on Ryder the leader either. Ryder is an OG in this CD team full of younger lads who undoubtedly love having Ryder there spreading his cricketing wisdom and Ryder has been playing this role for a few seasons now. Apart from opener Greg Hay (who scored 52 and has now has two notable scores from the first two games), Ryder is the only grizzly veteran in this CD team and has embraced a leadership position.

Ryder had a few funky supporting cast members as well. Doug Bracewell hit his second notable score of the season (97) and we can't pretend like Bracewell isn't 6th (equal with Dane Cleaver) in Plunket Shield runs, like Bracewell isn't out here averaging 91 with a lovely strike-rate of 59.28.

Players who have played two games and have scored less runs than Bracewell: Hamish Rutherford, Michael Guptill-Bunce, Jeet Raval, Cole McConchie, Dean Brownlie, Rob Nicol, Tom Blundell, Will Young, Mitch Renwick, Craig Cachopa.

I'm going to save the yarns about Dane Cleaver for the video and Blackcaps mixer, so I won't go into any depth here. Cleaver hit 56 and 88 against Auckland, he's a wicket-keeper and he's good. He did get dismissed by Jeet Raval though, having a swing.

Bracewell and Cleaver were joined in the first innings by Bevan Small as notable run-scorers with Small cracking 64 off 61 and they then went on to do the business with the ball in as a bowling unit. Not quite as well-rounded as Wellington's bowling unit, but CD aren't too far behind (they're without Ben Wheeler) and had Bracewell, Seth Rance and Blair Tickner taking 3 wickets each, with Ajaz Patel taking a mandatory wicket in the first dig. To seal the win over Auckland, they skittled the Aces for 169 with Ticker and Small taking a wicket each, Rance and Bracewell taking 2 each and Patel taking 3.

CD have four seamers and a spinner, via Bracewell and Small being decent batsmen (Bracewell's a fantastic batsman!) and Wellington do exactly the same, only better.

Wellington steam-rolled Auckland last week and backed that up against Otago Volts, in a far more interesting performance as Otago are simply a lot better than Auckland - not if you ask Wellington though. The Firebirds only scored 369 in their only batting innings and even this was funky as they flexed their grizzly batting muscle with Stephen Murdcoh scoring 112 at No.3; if Michael Papps and Luke Woodcock don't do it, Murdoch might and if these three don't, Michael Bracewell or Tom Blundell might.

They then went only to dismiss Otago for 184 and 142 to win by an innings and in both innings, five different bowlers took wickets. Again, this is built on a four seamer/one spinner foundation and Luke Woodcock chipped in with 2 overs in either innings. Hamish Bennett took 7 wickets (3, 4) and is the best seamer in Aotearoa right now, however I'm not keen on celebrating one Wellington bowler as it's all about the group and everyone else plays their part.

Ollie Newton (1, 1) only conceded 0.92rpo and 2.90rpo. Logan van Been also conceded less than 3rpo in both innings and finished with 5 wickets (3, 2). Iain McPeake only took 2 second innings wickets, he snared the key wicket of Brad Wilson though and picked up Josh Finnie on a pair. Jeetan Patel took 3 wickets (2, 1) and his lone second innings wicket was Jimmy Neesham on 38, Jeetz was happy about that:

Patel only conceded 1.60rpo in the second innings as well and also hit 64. Kiwi County Tour homies will know that Lord Jeetz is a batting phenom, so nothing new here. Like Bracewell and Small for CD though, Wellington get strong contributions from their bowlers with the bat and this allows them to play with a stocked bowling unit.

All of Wellington's seamers are averaging under 20, they all have 6+ wickets and all concede less than 3.50rpo. Team effort jah.

Spare a though for Josh Finnie, he not only of a pair of duckies, he got his soul snatched by in-swing/seam on both occassions:

Let ya boy go hard and fast through Canterbury vs Northern Districts, which Canterbury won.

Andrew Ellis played, didn't bowl and batted No.11 in both innings and took the piss:

Canterbury may not have an abundance of seamers but their spinners are dominating. Tim Johnston took 5 in the first innings @ 2.89rpo and lefty-leggy Blake Coburn tore through ND in the second, taking 7 wickets @ 2.34rpo to lead Canterbury to victory. Key wickets as well, making Bharat Popli, Dean Brownlie and Tim Seifert look a bit foolish.

Brett Hampton went back to ND and was replaced by Aussie Daniel Sams. Sams is from Sydney and moved from Sydney Sixers to Sydney Thunder for this season's BBL, with the Thunder x Canterbury link likely to have led to Sams making the move. Sams is a lefty and took 3 first innings wickets @ 1.92rpo before cracking 88 off 74 balls in Canterbury's first innings with the bat, he hit 6 sixes and Anton Devcich wasn't happy with the first one: 

Devcich changed his tune after Sams hit a few more off his tweakers and Devcich was coming fresh off 116 for ND, off just 112 balls batting at No.7. 

Scott Kuggeleijn keeps on taking wickets: 3 in each innings here.

Shout out to Chad Bowes (65) and Cole McConchie (85), my focus is on the No.3s though and Ken McClure stormed back into the Canterbury team with 79. Bharat Popli had his second notable score in two games batting No.3 and these two are low key talented batsmen that you need to pay attention to. Popli has started this season on fire and with a second innings 42, he's 4th in run-scoring, averaging 56.25 and he's the only batsman in that top-four to score his runs over two games; Papps, Ryder and Schmulian have scored big runs in one of the first two games.

McClure missed the first game and may be in for an extended stint at No.3 for Canterbury. Getting his season off to a great start could see McClure emerge as a gun batsman and he's already worked his way to a First-Class average of 40.07 in 18 games. There's plenty of funk in this Canterbury team - from Bowes opening to their absent seamers to their destructive spinners - but I'm most interested in McClure's scoring in the hole left by Peter Fulton's retirement.

Peace and love 27.

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