Domestic Cricket Daily: Ford Trophy #6 (Seam Sorcerers)
Tickner brings the thickner. Sauce.
The best thing about following domestic cricket so closely is know when cricket experts in the mainstream media - ya know, people who actually get paid for their cricketing views - showcase their limited spectrum when talking about Blackcaps contenders. When discussing the Blackcaps Battlers, domestic form seems to only apply when players have knocked the door down with wickets or runs and only those who have had some sort of previous relationship with the Blackaps are mentioned.
I myself make mention of that because we are currently operating in a glorious time when the domestic sorcerers are leading the way, while those who should in theory, be dominating the second stanza of Ford Trophy cricket. Matt Henry is the only Blackcap who has done anything of note over the last week or two (1w, 2w, 1w), while Doug Bracewell hasn't been sighted so far in the second stanza and Aotearoa's nek-level pace duo of Adam Milne and Lockie Ferguson have a combined 3w in 5inns; all 3w are Milne's.
Ferguson and Milne both went wicket-less in round 6 and Ferguson is yet to take a wicket in the second stanza so far. They have both proven to be economical, suggesting that they aren't bowling poorly, they just aren't doing what they are best at in taking wickets and considering that they are routinely thought of as wider-Blackcaps squad members, not taking too many wickets is less than ideal.
Chuck in Scott Kuggeleijn as well, who has seasons of domestic dominance to his name and has flirted with Blackcaps selection to various extents in recent times. Kuggeleijn's knocking around at 52avg/5.41rpo and has taken 1w in 3inns of the second stanza, which when packaged alongside Milne's 34.66avg/4.95rpo and Ferguson's 42.33avg/3.88rpo, as well as Henry's 27.42avg/5.18rpo leaves us with a scenario where the blokes who should be putting pressure on the settled ODI bowlers, are not doing that.
Other lads are dominating right now and this is led by the 4w-hauls of Blair Tickner and Jamie Brown in round 6 of Ford Trophy. Tickner has been a beast all season long for Central Districts and took 4w in 10overs @ 4.30rpo vs Otago, with all 4w coming in Otago's top-order as Tickner dismissed Rob Nicol, Shawn Hicks, Neil Broom and Derek de Boorder.
With 7w in his last 3inns, Tickner as set up shop near the top of the wicket-taking rankings and the OG Brent Arnel is the only seamer running hotter than Tickner right now.
Auckland unleashed Brown when the Ford Trophy sparked up again and after taking 2w in his debut followed by a wicket-less game, Brown rolled through Wellington's batting line up by dismissing 4 of Wellington's top-6. These aren't batting plebs either and like Tickner's effort vs Otago, Brown notched some names; Hamish Marshall, Stephen Murdoch, Devon Conway and Luke Woodcock.
Also worthy of note is that Brown skittled the stumps of Marshall, Conway and Woodcock, even in dismissing Murdoch caught-behind, Brown tickled the outside edge with a delivery just outside off-stump. This is a classic case of attacking the stumps and both Tickner and Brown have a very ... flow-y bowling style which lends itself to generating out-swing to righties and generally looking as natural as possible.
Both are tall bowlers and along with their big leap to get to the bowling crease, peep how the ball is above their eye-line in their build up:
Tickner's action is nek-level crazy, but nonetheless, both build up with the ball high in their action instead of around their chest or neck (which I imagine most other bowlers default to - try it yourself). I don't exactly know what this results in or why it's important, but when you ponder their height, their rather high jumps to the crease and tall bowling actions; they both have actions that domestic batsmen won't have seen too much before.
They both appear to bowl quick enough and their body types and actions make them look like stereotypical seam bowlers, which may sound silly but roll through notable Blackcaps bowlers in the past five years and many of them are shorter, or have actions that look over-coached.
This is merely an introduction, especially to Brown as he needs to stack up consistent game time and solid performances. Tickner's been doing this in all formats so you should all be well aware of him and youz know how I like Canterbury's Kyle Jamieson, so I'll finish that by highlighting the fact that these three are all tall, athletic bowlers who can move the ball.
Last and least is Michael Barry, who has settled into Auckland's team as an all-rounder along with Sean Solia and Barry has low key been a slick wicket-taker for Auckland in his last 2inns; 4w and 2w. The reason Barry gets a special mention is because of his similarity to another young Auckland seamer Ben Lister, who I've spun numerous yarns about with his left-arm in-movement to lefties/moving it away from righties.
Barry does exactly that and while he's not as quick or true-blue bowlery as Lister, he moves the ball into lefties. He did it to snap up 4w in round 5 and against Wellington he repeated the dose, skittling the stumps of Michael Bracewell and Malcolm Nofal - two lefties. We can't see the exact movement thanks to the budget single-camera from NZC, however we can observe how wicket-keeper Glenn Phillips is sliding to the right in either instance:
This has worked wonders for Lister in his debut season and Barry could nail this, especially given his part-time role. Barry's got 6w in 3inns @ 12.50avg/4.20rpo and Auckland are loving their medium-pacers at the moment; Sean Solia's also got 6w in 3inns @ 20.50avg/5.34rpo.
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Peace and love 27.