Ford Trophy cricket got underway with wins for Auckland, Northern Districts and Otago, with all three teams chasing down their respective targets in the second innings. I'm not sure how I'm going to roll through FT content in terms of structure etc as there's plenty of funk to explore, far too much to cram into one wrap up; youz deserve better than that.

So, stay on your toes and know that in-between FT rounds, I'll pump out the content and each piece will have a slightly different angle for your please. I run off the same scorecards that youz can look at, all my information comes from ESPNCricinfo stats and when NZC sort their shit out I'm able to watch a minuscule amount of FT cricket, which you can watch as well. I say that because if you're wanting the basic run-down of what happened in these games, you can view scorecards yourself or head over to the lazy mainstream media.

I'm here to dig deeper and offer context, along with my insights. If that's your buzz and you enjoy the yarns, all you need to do is hit an ad on the page and you'll be making a donation to the cause, without having to do anything. We're always looking for ways to fund our Niche Cache craft, so if you've got a small kiwi business and want to sponsor domestic cricket content, hit us up.

The first-up theme is how the FT teams looked for the opening round with a few positional changes, job changes and fresh faces popping in for limited-overs cricket. There's no other place to start than the kiwi cuzzie Ben Stokes, who was given an almighty responsibility for Canterbury in batting #4 and opening the bowling.

This is a direct reflection of just how talented Stokes is as a cricketer and before this game, I wrote how I didn't think Stokes would lack contribution with both bat and ball. Which is exactly what happened against Otago as he was bowled by Otago spinner Anaru Kitchen for 4 and conceded 5.44rpo off 9 overs without a wicket. I can't really find fault in giving Stokes such dominant roles, although it's a bit weird given the fuss that Stokes' arrival created, to then amp up the pressure and give him the new-ball after he failed with the bat, for example.

Ben Stokes made an eventful return to cricket in NZ this morning 😬 pic.twitter.com/3PR4q0gDtE
— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) December 3, 2017

Canterbury's seam stocks are depleted however, hence Stokes will be a key player for Canterbury and with Kitchen doing a fine job with his tweakers early in the Canterbury innings (3.40rpo off 10ov), Canterbury could have opted for one of their four spinners (Jeremy Benton, Tim Johnston, Cole McConchie or Todd Astle) to do the work up front and ease pressure on Stokes. Especially when Will Williams was the sixth bowler used and only bowled 2ov (1w @4.50rpo); Canterbury's two non-Stokes seamers (Williams and Fraser Sheat) bowled a total of 6 overs.

I still doubt we'll see Stokes fail with both bat and ball again and I'd suggest that it's probably good that Stokes got that game out of his system.

Jeremy Benton wasn't used in Plunket Shield, but rolled through 10 overs with a wicket @ 4.50rpo. The variety Canterbury have at their disposal is nek-level as Benton's a lefty-tweaker, Johnston's an offie, Astle's a leggy and Blake Coburn is a lefty-leggy.

Otago rolled out a fairly settled team with a seamer's spot opened up by Neil Wagner's departure and I'm low key interested in Mark Craig's situation. Otago have no shortage of spin options without Craig va Kitchen, Rob Nicol and Michael Rippon, all of whom bowled 10 overs and took 1+ wicket/s. Rippon is effectively playing in Craig's spot as he batted down the order and offers some funk with his lefty-leggies (former Dutch international Mr Rippon), plus Nicol and Kitchen both bowl offies so with Craig there they would have three offies.

Nicol and Kitchen are batsmen first and foremost, yet they're very handy tweakers. To include Craig, Otago would most likely have to drop a seamer and I can't really see that happening. Jack Hunter is the latest young Otago summer to be used this summer (we saw him last season) and was the pick of the Otago bowlers with 3w @ 4.75rpo off just 4ov. Joining Hunter in this game were Jacob Duffy (2w @ 5rpo) and Warren Barnes, while Nathan Smith and Michael Rae are also in the Otago stable; talk about competition for spots.

I'll go into more depth about such funk tomorrow, but for now it's important to note that Nicol opened the batting with Hamish Rutherford. That's after a lean PS for Nicol in the middle order and both went 50+ in this game.

Also low key intrigued in the performances of Otago all-rounder Shawn Hicks, who got some recent game time in the last few rounds of PS. Hicks joined a growing number of cricketers who have left Auckland to further their development and he chimed in with a solid 14* to get his FT underway, batting #5 (didn't bowl).

The only real splash of funk in CD's team came with Dane Cleaver also being promoted up the order to open the batting, likely a product of CD's immense batting depth. Josh Clarkson came into the middle order and it's always good to acquaint yourself with Clarkson early in the limited overs season as he'll explode at some stage (11 off 18 suggests he didn't vs Auckland). CD also rolled out the all-round talents of Doug Bracewell, Ben Wheeler and Bevan Small down the order.

Cleaver effectively replaced Greg Hay, who now seems to be solely a PS batsman (and a legendary one at that). CD also have Brad Schmulian up their sleeve if they need a batsman.

https://t.co/JvxlMmlQH8
— Tarun Nethula (@TbagNethula) December 3, 2017

Tarun Nethula was kicked to the curb during Auckland's PS first stanza, with the Aces instead opting to play an extra seamer rely on the tweakers of Mark Chapman and Rob O'Donnell ... and Jeet Raval. That was fair enough as well as Nethula appeared to lose his mojo, so it was lovely to see him back in action for Auckland - who also had Mitchell McClenaghan back.

There was also the omission of Craig Cachopa during PS, who is now the captain of their FT team. Auckland used Michael Guptill-Bunce as their PS skipper and are making the wise move of spreading the leadership load within such a young roster, especially when senior players like Colin Munro could be in and out of the Aces set up during the season. Cachopa did skipper Auckland's 2nd XI during their North Island T20 and how Cachopa leads in terms of his run-scoring will be an interesting narrative to keep tabs over the summer.

Another bloke who caught my attention during that 2nd XI T20 tournament was Devon Conway, who stepped up to take Tom Blundell's place vs ND. Stepping up doesn't quite do Conway justice though as he's been a domestic cricket beast in South Africa and is one of many South Africans to make the move to Aotearoa in search of cricketing utopia.

This lad is legit capable of playing solely as a batsman for Wellington, so Blundell's return won't have any dramatic impact on his place in Wellington's team. The Firebirds had Conway batting #5 and Malcom Nofal was the other noteworthy selection, opening the batting while Luke Woodcock made his annual migration south of his PS opening spot and Michael Papps seems to be a PS unit.

Here's the full gang of Kiwi-Africans who played in Ford Trophy round one:

Malcom Nofal, Devon Conway, Peter Younghusband, BJ Watling, Warren Barnes, Shawn Hicks, Chad Bowes, Colin Munro, Glenn Phillips, Craig Cachopa.

Guess who we also saw at the North Island T20 tournament? ND batsman Nick Kelly and he slotted in at #3 for the Knights, hitting 56 and reminding everyone that he can do this domestic cricket thing. Kelly's mainly received limited-overs opportunities thus far and it'll be very interesting to see what he can do if given a consistent batting spot.

Tim Southee did make an appearance for ND, taking 3w @5rpo and there was also BJ Watling casually hitting 115 opening for ND. Ummm and Tim Seifert hit 51* off 54 balls as the wicket-keeper (batting #5). Given how closely I've followed this wicket-keeper yarn over the past few seasons and where we are at right now, I'll leave youz with this;

If you thought Tom Blundell's century on Test debut offered some clarity around the Aotearoa wicket-keeper batsman situation, please stay woke. Watling and Seifert just scored runs for ND and Watling wasn't even keeping, plus there's a new kid on the block in Conway who took Blundell's spot in the Wellington line up. Cleaver could do some things if he's going to open the batting consistently as well, which basically means that these wicket-keeping waters are murky as Aotearoa's polluted rivers and as I alluded to after the last PS round; these blokes deserve to be given their props solely as batsmen. I mean, what happens if Seifert, Watling, Blundell, Conway and Cleaver are the best batsmen in the country? For now I'll keep my domestic cricket goggles on and enjoy the battle that has already got off to a brutal start in the FT. Those of you who only care about the Blackcaps should however keep incredibly open minds as to how these lads are viewed in terms of their batting ability over the next two years or so.

Peace and love 27.