As Wellington Firebirds seamer Hamish Bennett sits on his throne, watching over the kingdom he rules as Aotearoa's best domestic seamer, he sees a trio of young Otago seamers making waves in the slums of the city. Jacob Duffy, Nathan Smith and Mathew Bacon haven't just been given a fabulous opportunity with the minor re-set of Otago Volts cricket, they are thriving with such opportunity and along Auckland's Danru Ferns and Canterbury's Will Williams, they form a group of fresh seamers hunting for Bennett's Ford Trophy throne.

Williams was again in the wickets as Canterbury defeated Auckland with 2w @ 5.60rpo, taking him to 8w @ 23.25/4.74rpo via his lovely right-arm-in-duckers. Ferns enjoyed a break out game, taking 4w @ 3.50rpo with fairly slick movement away from right-handers at a decent clip and awkward bounce. What did Bennett do? 4w @ 4.34rpo in just 7.5ov and he's now averaging 13 through 4inns in Wellington's win over Central Districts.

What I'm enticed by though, is this Volts trio who have each taken 7w and all average between 20-25. To fully understand why this is so funky, we have to factor in Otago's predicament after last summer and the changes that have taken place as the Volts try to re-build their system. Straight up; the Volts weren't very good last summer, in any format.

Neil Wagner left for Northern Districts, leaving a big hole in Otago's bowling line up but also presenting an opportunity for a lad like Duffy to stand up and lead the attack. Last season's Ford Trophy also saw seamer Jack Hunter finish 4th in wickets, an almighty effort considering that he took 12w and the next best Otago bowler was Duffy on 6w (in just 4 games). So, Hunter was the Volts' best seamer last summer and was apparently not given a contract for this season.

No Wagner, no Hunter and also no Rob Nicol who was Otago's 3rd best bowler in the Ford Trophy last season with his offies. Otago had one bowler take 10+ wickets in the entire Ford Trophy last summer (Hunter) and after just 4inns, they have three seamers on 7w this time around, none of which took more than 4w in the previous season.

That's kinda bonkers and has obviously been a huge factor in the Volts being 2-2 after 4 games, the same as Canterbuy but the Cantabs have a better net-run-rate. Hamish Rutherford has hit a century, Neil Broom's doubled up on 50+ scores and Josh Finnie hit a swashbucklin' 63 to start the campaign, before settling back down to scores of 4 and 7; four 50+ innings after four rounds, suggests that the bulk of the dirty work is being down by the bowlers.

What's weird is that they are all rather similar in what they do as right-arm seamers. Duffy looks to be the tallest and gets lovely out-swing, Smith doesn't appear to offer much based solely on appearance but hustles in and nibbles the ball around while Bacon looks to be the 'hit the deck' guy. Bacon is the oldest at 25yrs, Duffy is 24yrs and Smith is just 20yrs, with Smith edging out Duffy for the best career List-A averag of the three; 24.14 vs 24.52.

Correct, them Volts have two seamers under 25yrs who average 24 with the ball in List-A cricket. That's bloody impressive and while we've seen plenty of Duffy over the years, Smith could be the most interesting of the three as he's not only the youngest, or the most intriguing given his size (compared to the other two and burly kiwi seamers in general), but he is also the only one of the three to take a wicket in every Ford Trophy game thus far.

Smith: 2w, 1, 2, 2.

Duffy: 0, 4, 2, 1.

Bacon: 2, 2, 0, 3.

None of them did much of note in the two rounds of Plunket Shield cricket prior to Ford Trophy. They all took wickets with Bacon and Smith taking 5w, while Duffy took 2w and all three averaged over 30 as they all bowled over 50ov. That's because Otago lost both their Plunket Shield games, now though they are performing nicely in the coloured clothing they are the only team with three bowlers taking 7+ wickets.

In Christi Viljoen, Mark Craig Michael Rippon and Anaru Kitchen, Duffy the Volts skipper (usually Craig) has a few experienced bowlers to lean on and at this stage, Duffy's experienced plenty at this level as well. Viljoen and Rippon have been in and out of the Volts line up through the four Ford Trophy games, Craig has played three and missed the last game while Kitchen has played all four but without a wicket and conceding 6.05rpo.

Rippon is especially threatening with his lefty-leggies taking 5w @ 19.20/5.64rpo and if Otago can get some consistency in selection, steadily rolling out their three seamers and Rippon, they could settle into a groove. Warren Barnes is in the mix as well as a young Otago seamer, however he's not quite as efficient as the others with 3w @ 38avg/6rpo.

The main thing for Otago, appears to be sussing out their best bowling attack and granted, injury may play a role there. With Rippon and Kitchen offering spin, Craig may be surplus to Ford Trophy requirements and then it becomes a battle between the all-round ability of Viljoen vs Barnes for the remaining spot. At least Otago can bank on their three seamers who have played all four games and each taken 7w, three lads who are providing plenty of good vibes after a rough 2017/18 summer and start to the Plunket Shield this season.

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