We have only just started the summer of cricket in Aotearoa and already, at various stages Jimmy Neesham has shown that he's on the right track via a change of scenery in moving up to Wellington. The important note here is that Neesham had a fairly solid second half of the season last summer, after a brief sabbatical from cricket and so this isn't a case of Neesham exploding with runs due to the change of scenery, more of Neesham doubling down after sussing himself out.

Neesham hit 100 off 105 balls as Wellington came bloody close in chasing Otago Volts' 219 to win, falling for 211 in the 47th over. Hitting 8 fours and 5 sixes, Neesham only had support from Michael Bracewell's 45 and along with Lachie Johns (14) they were the three Wellington batsmen who hit double figures.

This takes Neesham into rare air, not because he's now 3rd in Ford Trophy runs but because he has passed 50+ in 4 of 6inns. Prior to this century, Neesham had a trio of half-centuries and of the 2inns in which Neesham hasn't gone 50+, one was a 29* and the other a duck. That kinda rolls into a nice little wrap of Neesham failing just once, during the Ford Trophy thus far.

Even better; Neesham has gone 50+ three games in a row.

Oh and even better; Neesham is the only Ford Trophy batsman who has passed 50 four times. His Wellington comrades Andrew Fletcher and Devon Conway are the only other batsmen to pass 50 three times, with Conway hitting a trio of 50+ scores an Fletcher splitting his with a century and two halfies.

Neesham told to score runs in domestic cricket to put himself back in the Blackcaps mix and this season in 8inns (2inns Plunket Shield, 6inns Ford Trophy), Neesham has passed 50 five times as well as that 29*.

While Neesham has been steadily putting up runs, this Dean Foxcroft lad from Central Districts Stags is making it look just as easy. Foxcroft though, is only three games into his domestic cricket career here in Aotearoa and is also just 20-years-old. After a century last round, Foxcroft hit 90 off 98 balls alongside 85 off 97 from opener Greg Hay to lay the foundations for a total of 295 against Auckland Aces.

The Aucklanders could only manage 125 in reply, featuring the return of Seth Rance and some domination from Ben Wheeler - I'll write about the bowlers tomorrow. This revolves around Foxcroft and how quickly he has wiggled his way into domestic cricket, with 223 runs in 3inns, via a strike-rate of 99.55. Of the 12 batsmen who have scored 200+ runs in the Ford Trophy, Foxcroft's strike-rate is the third highest.

Neesham is second in the strike-rates with 11.38 and Northern Districts Knights slugger Brett Hampton is first with 124.63sr. One is a fringe Blackcap, the other is a slugger and then we have Foxcroft in his third game of Ford Trophy cricket. The weird thing here is that Foxcroft's homie Willem Ludick has only scored 40 runs from 5inns, although Ludick is 3rd in Plunket Shield runs.

The Ford Trophy stuff is weird because at some stage, Will Young and Tom Bruce will return to the Stags one-day line up and either both Foxcroft and Ludick will have to make way, or one of them will make way. Foxcroft's making it near-impossible to drop him, putting Ludick in the firing line, otherwise the likes of Josh Clarkson and Christian Leopard will make way.

Ludick has been able to take 6w in 30ov, enabling him to contribute without the runs he would want. That won't be enough to keep his spot though as the Stags aren't short on bowling options either, given that Rance and Wheeler have returned to join Doug Bracewell. Foxcroft's arrival has caused a bit of a ruckus and coincides with Ludick not scoring runs, so as long as Foxcroft continues to make this run-scoring thing look easy, Ludick will likely be forced out when the OGs return.

We need to appreciate the work of Greg Hay as well, who was kinda pigeon-holed as a longform opener but is now flexing in the Ford Trophy. Hay even hit 3 sixes in his 85 vs Auckland and in 5inns, Hay has 3inns of 40+ runs along with a 29 which has him 9th in Ford Trophy runs, although signs of his Plunket Shield dominance are evident as Hay has the lowest strike-rate of all Ford Trophy batsmen with 200+ runs (70.28sr).

Hay had a rough start to the summer in the Plunket Shield after an almighty Shield campaign last summer, as he's scored just 37 runs from 3inns. Given a crack in one-day cricket, Hay has found some form again and this is probably a nice time to note that Hay has a First Class average of 41.84 and List-A average of 45.

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