Summer is coming. Domestic cricket is on its way back into the stratosphere and I can sniff the funky smell of hours spent scouring scorecards and trawling Cricinfo. Tickling my fancy recently, in the deep, dark depths of winter were the Blackcaps squads to tour United Arab Emirates and from those squads - including Aotearoa 'A' - I've pondered a bunch of cricketers who I deem to be the most interesting cricketers on the domestic circuit ahead of the summer.

This isn't about the best prospects, or those who you need to watch out for. This is simply a few cricketers that I am most interested in, as of August 7th and below I suss out five batsmen who will have my glorious domestic cricket antenna perked and ready for observation.

Glenn Phillips - Auckland Aces

While this idea did initially stem from those squads to go to UAE, the issue with those squads is that the Blackcaps T20 and ODI squads aren't complete. Phillips is not named in either Blackcaps squad, but is named in the A squad and could be one of two players added to either squad whenever that happens. Hence, I'm not overly fussed with those Blackcaps squads and move towards a heavy focus on general domestic cricket antics.

Phillips is most interesting to me in the ODI realm. As always, I hate to pigeon-hole cricketers and it's important to point out that Phillips is a steady Plunket Shield batsmen (33.41avg) and despite playing just 6 (of 10) games last summer, still scored 350 runs which was good enough to rank him 30th in runs. Most interestingly, Phillips scored those runs at a 57.66sr and like many of Aotearoa's best young batsmen, Phillips has shown the ability to adjust his perceived game, to suit the format.

But, Phillips isn't really in the Test batting mixer right now. He is, or could be in the ODI mixer though and Phillips is coming of a Ford Trophy championship campaign in which he was 4th in runs and Mark Chapman was the only Auckland batsman better than Phillips. Phillips did play all 10 games, which slightly skews his numbers though as he only hit one half-century and averaged 33.50.

Averaging over 30 in both Plunket Shield and Ford Trophy ain't easy though and that's a solid base from which Phillips could blossom this summer. He'll need to go up a few levels to demand attention, if he can do that and become a dominant force in 50-over and four-day cricket, there could be an opening for him in the ODI group. Maybe Colin Munro can't take his chances, or there is a lack of form and injury to the likes of Tim Seifert, Tom Latham, Tom Blundell and BJ Watling in the wicket-keeping department; Phillips has to handle his domestic business to first and foremost get himself in the discussion.

And right now, no one is really talking about Phillips. He's dropped behind Seifert and Blundell as wicket-keeping options and Chapman's the hottest Auckland batsman. Leaving Phillips in need of runs and plenty of 'em.

Tim Seifert - Northern Districts Knights

The Northern Districts Knights wicket-keeper/batsman interests me because of how he has been pigeon-holed, in a similar instance to Phillips but different. Because of Seifert's Super Smash hundy and his attacking play, Seifert appears to only be viewed as a coloured clothing Blackcap contender, which completely ignores his Plunket Shield work last summer; 703runs @ 50.21avg/60.08sr, 2 hundies, 3 half-hundies.

I'm thoroughly of the belief that Seifert could make an enticing case to be the next Test wicket-keeper after Watling retires, although right now Seifert is behind Blundell. Seifert has a career average of 39.09 in FC cricket, which is far superior to his List-A average of 22.33 and T20 average of 22.56. Last season he was the most dominant young batsman in Aotearoa, only bettered by grizzly veterans like Michael Papps, Greg Hay and Jesse Ryder.

In doing so, Seifert led the wicket-keeping pack, with Central District's Dane Cleaver not too far behind him (560runs @ 46.66avg/68.04sr). For some context, Watling averaged 26.88 and Blundell 25.11, which is why I'm eager to see what Seifert can dish up in the season that follows his breakout campaign and where that puts Seifert as a Test wicket-keeper possibility.

Henry Cooper - Northern Districts Knights

Seifert's ND comrade Cooper doesn't get much attention and like me you may not have heard too much about the Knights opening batsman. With 12 FC games to his name and an average of 35.60 does the batting thing well and he's coming off a Plunket Shield season which saw him average 40.90 with 1 hundie and 3 half-hundies in 11inns.

Cooper is such an unknown that Cricinfo doesn't even have the deetz on him. He is of the younger vintage at 25yrs and hails from Northland and in his 7 games last summer for the Knights, he passed 30 in all 7 of those games, passing 40 in 5 of those 7 games and in the last 5 games of the season, Cooper put up; 60, 7, 136, 38, 32, 0, 52.

One of our rising stars, Henry Cooper, talks about his time in the UK, following in his dads footsteps and securing his first ND contract.

Those are fairly impressive stats for a FC opener, at 25yrs and with only 12 games experience. Take all of that and then ponder that Wellington opener Rachin Ravindra got an Aotearoa A call up, without having played any FC cricket for Wellington and, well just ponder it for a jiffy.

I'm definitely not saying that Ravindra should not have been selected and I genuinely like his selection in the A squad. This is just an example of Cooper flying under the radar and there are many examples of players failing to back up their impressive work in their first, or second full season, so I'm hugely interested in how Cooper performs now that opposition bowling attacks will have him sussed.

Devon Conway - Wellington Firebirds

I've harped on about Conway so much in the past 12 months that I won't regurtitate it all here. This is best summed up by the fact that Conway could be a serious threat to Blundell's wicket-keeping role at the Firebirds, let alone anything to do with the Blackcaps and Conway gave us all a serious dose of his potential last summer.

http://www.news24.com/Archives/Witness/A-bright-future-for-Devon-Conway-who-should-be-in-the-national-team-sooner-rather-than-later-20150430 A Bright Future for Devon Conway 06/11/2010 By Ray White IT is sad indictment of the state of South African cricket that the two most significant innings played by a young batsman since Jacques Kallis made his first class debut were watched by a pitiful crowd of less than 50 and attracted no mention at all in either the print or electronic media.

Unlike most South Africans who come to Aotearoa, Conway was a proven FC performer in South Africa and I reckon he has the legit ability to crack the Blackcaps at some stage. Conway could get plenty of opportunities as a wicket-keeper for Wellington with Blundell in and out of Blackcaps squads, but Conway's batting is the main thing here and it won't matter if Blundell's the wicket-keeper or not; Conway will score runs.

Those runs will put Conway in the spotlight and I'm extremely interested in that scenario because of how it will shake up the domestic circuit and different aspects of the Blackcaps squads. Runs from Conway will have a huge influence on so many areas of kiwi cricket and it's not crazy to wonder if Conway could make the Blackcaps World Cup squad.

Jimmy Neesham - Wellington Firebirds

Clearly out of favour with the Blackcaps heirachy, Neesham has moved from Otago Volts to Wellington Firebirds in a move that coincides with the arrival of a new Blackcaps coach. This could all work in Neesham's favour, but it starts with Neesham performing for the Firebirds and while he's a capable bowler, it just feels as though Neesham will always be judged on his batting and that's why I've got him in the batting group.

It's rough to judge Neesham on all of last summer. He struggled in the first half of the summer for whatever reason and took a break from cricket mid-season, before coming back and scoring the bulk of/all of his reason upon his return.

4 Ford Trophy games he played after his sabbatical; 69, 62, 40, 12.

5 Plunket Shield games after sabbatical; 65, 14, 93, 34, 18, 79, 42.

All 3 of Neesham's 50+ scores in his 9 Plunket Shield games last summer came in the second half of the season. Instead of falling into this narrative of Neesham having grand problems as a kiwi cricketer, this appears to be a fairly obvious case of Neesham having some sort of issue, taking a break and coming back better. It's also noteworthy to mention that the entire Volts team had some issues last summer under the guidance of new coach Rob Walter; they struggled on the field and now Neesham's gapped to Wellington, Neil Wagner's gone to ND, while Derek de Boorder and Rob Nicol have retired.

That results in a change of scenery candidate and Neesham only has to look at how Logan van Beek went bonkers last summer for Wellington after moving up from Canterbury to see the positive effect a move to Wellington can have. Following Neesham will be one of my top yarns this summer and if he can pick up where he left off from last summer, he could re-gain his place as the most dominant force in domestic cricket.

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