Domestic Cricket Daily: The Niggly Second Tier Of Kiwi Seamers
There is a bit of a weird situation in domestic cricket right now where the tier of seam bowlers below Blackcaps level, have been busy with Aoteartoa A duties and ain't been playing Ford Trophy cricket. Even with those bowlers, there is a high chance that Wellington Firebirds skipper Hamish Bennett would still be leading all wicket-takers in Ford Trophy, averaging 13.82 and Otago Volts skipper Jacob Duffy would be close behind. However in assessing the seam depth of Aotearoa, we need to factor in the Aotearoa A performances which is an exercise of niggle.
Niggly because it's largely based on opinion given that Aotearoa A has played in two extremes recently; United Arab Emirates and Aotearoa. The A tour vs Pakistan saw Scott Kuggeleijn finish as the leading wicket-taker from either team with 6 wickets @ 3.06rpo in the four-dayers, while Lockie Ferguson was 3rd in one-day wickets with 5w @ 5.05rpo. Come back to Aotearoa and Blair Tickner - who didn't take a wicket in the one-dayers vs Pakistan and took 4w in 53ov in the four-dayers - exploded with 5w in 33.1ov vs India A in Aotearoa.
Neither Kuggeleijn nor Ferguson played in the first four-dayer vs India A, instead playing Ford Trophy where Ferguson didn't take a wicket and Kuggeleijn took 2w. Not only was there plenty of rotation with the bowlers in UAE, amping up the niggle all the bowlers had varying work loads, but we now have a case where the bowling attack vs India A has a different look to it compared to the group used vs Pakistan A.
And I'm only talking about seamers here. Rachin Ravindra has been used in both series and was the primary spinner in UAE, before being joined by Canterbury's Theo van Woerkom in Aotearoa. The variance in seamers used is hefty, which then combined with those who have performed consistently in domestic cricket, culminates in a polluted river at the back of a kiwi farm.
Seamers used in UAE (both formats) who aren't in Blackcaps Test squad
Scott Kuggeleijn
Blair Tickner
Kyle Jamieson
Logan van Beek
Lockie Ferguson
Corey Anderson
Seamers used in first game vs India A
Blair Tickner
Doug Bracewell
Kyle Jamieson
Seth Rance
That gives us a group of Kuggeleijn, Tickner, Jamieson, van Beek, Ferguson, Rance and Bracewell that appears to from the next tier. I haven't included Anderson because he's in the next tier of all-rounders with his usual comrade Jimmy Neesham and then we have to factor the domestic performances from those not in the A squads.
Bennett is highly unlikely to play for the Blackcaps again, despite his domestic dominance. He is 1st in Ford Trophy wickets and 4th in Plunket Shield wickets (behind Blackcaps Neil Wagner and Ish Sodhi), which is all just a repeat of the previous season. Rance is 2nd in Plunket Shield wickets and to round out the top-five, Auckland Aces seamer Matt McEwan is 5th and he isn't quite on the Blackcaps crust. Matt Henry's 6th in the Plunket Shield rankings, so keep him in mind throughout all of this discussion.
In the Ford Trophy, Duffy sits in 2nd and feels like the only genuine contender to join the next tier. His Otago homie Mathew Bacon is 3rd, but a few strong seasons away from cracking the crust, then Mitchell McClenaghan is 4th and his time is done, with Wellington's Ollie Newton in 5th - also a few dominant seasons away.
The curveball in Ford Trophy is Ben Wheeler, who wasn't part of any A cricket and has taken 10w in 4inns @ 14.30avg for Central Districts Stags. Wheeler has sporadically featured for the Blackcaps in a similar style to Lockie Ferguson and Seth Rance, which gives him a minor boost, but Wheeler still has to tick the 'dominate domestic cricket' box and appears to be doing so.
Another curveball, is Adam Milne. Milne's only involvement in UAE was a T20 vs UAE and then two T20I vs Pakistan, no A cricket and no domestic cricket thus far. I'm not as high on Milne as others and the emergence of Ferguson, along with Milne's steady injury issues has seen Ferguson's fill Aotearoa's fetish for a sizzling seamer.
Hopefully youz can all see how niggly it is to come to some sort of conclusion about who is the best of this next tier. Different blokes and have had different workloads, bowled in different conditions and against different levels of opposition; even the level of batting talent in India's A team for example varies between Test troopers and their next tier of batsmen.
Offering further intrigue is that this is a unique start to the summer, mainly because we haven't seen his much A cricket recently. Usually, the only major impact on domestic involvement is a Blackcaps series with the different formats impacting ins/outs for the domestic clubs. To start this season, we've had a Blackcaps tour and an A tour ... well, two A series and this has had a huge impact on which bowlers are front and centre.
My gut feel, based loosely on all that niggly information is that Ferguson, Rance, Bracewell and Wheeler are munching on the Blackcaps crust and Matt Henry is giving them the crust. I won't be surprised if all four taste Blackcaps cricket this summer in Aotearoa, outside of Ferguson continuing to build his World Cup case. Milne is hunting around this group as well, then we have Kuggeleijn, van Beek, Jamieson and as Duffy has been fantastic in Ford Trophy, he's worked into that tier below the second tier.
Of the third tier, Jamieson is the one to watch if/when he gets back into the domestic circuit. Of the second tier, excluding Ferguson who is already kinda alongside Henry in the ODI group, which of the Stags trio can demand attention is perhaps the funkiest narrative to follow this summer. Rance, Bracewell and Wheeler have all been in the Blackcaps mix and they could all bust down the door this summer, which is a scary prospect for opposition batsmen on the domestic circuit.
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