Aotearoa's Super Smash for the lads gets underway tonight and with World T20 lurking on the horizon, this summer's Super Smash holds a wee bit more weight for those trying to wiggle their way into the Blackcaps T20I team. There are always a few who emerge from the shadows, otherwise unknown to casual fans and a wider audience who shine in the T20 format as well like Dean Foxcroft or Kyle Jamieson did last summer.

Having moved down from Central Districts Stags to Otago Volts for this season, Foxcroft could be the focal point of Otago's T20 unit despite playing in just his second season of domestic cricket. As part of the champion Stags team, Foxcroft finished 6th in runs with 30avg/123.85sr and had the most 50+ scores of any batsmen with four. Things get funky though when pondering how Foxcroft has performed with the Volts; 15.75avg after five games in Ford Trophy and 33.66avg in two Plunket Shield games.

The list of blokes who scored more runs than Foxcroft last summer in Super Smash cricket is an almighty list of Aotearoa's best domestic batsmen; Devon Conway, Tom Bruce, Daryl Mitchel and Will Young. Young may not play much as he has missed the start of the summer via injury and with Mitchell working his way into Blackcaps squads as an all-rounder, it's not quite a specific battle with Conway and Bruce but an interesting campaign for one of these three to amplify their case for a consistent nod.

Bruce had the highest strike-rate of the four batsmen who scored 300+ runs last season and strolls into Super Smash with all sorts of form, perhaps slightly ahead of Conway as the best right now across all three formats. Averaging 41.60 after five Ford Trophy games and 55.66 after two Plunket Shield games, Bruce has batted in 9inns and has five 50+ scores. Pile that up with a slick T20 record of 28.13avg/146.30sr and Bruce has not only performed strongly over a decent period of time, he's sizzling right now.

Colin Munro hit two centuries in his last three Ford Trophy games leading into Super Smash, which smells like dash of form to me. There are some sneaky Blackcaps narratives to keep a close eye on and Munro's dip in T20I run-scoring is a major one; after averaging 30+ in T20I in each of the last three years, 2019 now has Munro averaging 22.41 in 12 games.

The ODI format is thin ice for Munro right now, where he desperately needs a flow of runs to come his way and yet the format that everyone views as Munro's specialty has endured a decline as well. If there is anything we know for certain about Munro's batting, it's that he absolutely loves beating up on domestic bowlers in all formats and this means we should expect Munro to dominate the Super Smash. Should Munro's Super Smash be a continuation of his Blackcaps plateau, then we may have a serious issue.

Outside of Conway, Bruce and Mitchell as that top-tier from last summer, Glenn Phillips will feature as part of a bonkers Auckland Aces batting line up and one of my low key lads to watch. The Aces will have Munro, Martin Guptill, Mark Chapman and Phillips in their top-four/five and while there will be obvious attention given to Munro and Guptiill, Phillips has racked some underground T20 franchise experience via Caribbean Premier League.

Phillips sits 2nd behind Munro in Ford Trophy runs, scoring a century and half-century in his 4inns. Last season's Super Smash though, saw Phillips average 21.88/125.47sr with just one 50+ in 10inn and this saw him slip out of Blackcaps T20I discussion, especially given the presence of Bruce and Mitchell, then Conway's run-scoring feast last season. Phillips owns an extremely healthy T20 record (31.52avg/134.73sr) after 69 games and Phillips is a likely contender to be a dominant force this season.

Like Foxcroft, Jamieson has shifted teams for this season moving from Canterbury to Auckland and he'll be eager to back up last season's effort of 22w @ 12.77avg/7.33rpo. With his height and skill, trying to attack Jamieson isn't the easiest thing to do and Jamieson faces stiff opposition for fringe Blackcaps seamer spots from Blair Tickner, Scott Kuggeleijn and Seth Rance. Tickner and Kuggeleijn got the most recent opportunities and will have to defend their standing, especially as Rance is coming in hot off of 11w @ 16.90avg/4.74 in the Ford Trophy and 11w @ 25.09avg/3.03rpo in Plunket Shield.

That feels like the group to be watching out for, perhaps adding in Wellington's Logan van Beek who is a steady performer across all formats. The CD Stags have an abundance of fringe Blackcaps seamers on the sidelines, opening an avenue for the group of Jamieson, Tickner, Kuggeleijn, Rance and van Beek to either reinforce their case for selection or blow everyone else away.

Everything seems rather settled for the Blackcaps T20I spin crew with Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi getting the bulk of recent opportunities. Dig deeper and there is a similar trend at play for Sodhi as there is with Munro, considering that Sodhi's performances in what is deemed to be his best format have slid backwards and then, this may be impacting his other formats as well.

Earning his way to be known as one of the best T20I bowlers in the world via three years averaging under 20 in each year, Sodhi has now ballooned out to average 37.40 in 2018 and 35 in 2019. Sodhi's economy rate follows that pattern and after jumping up to 8.31rpo last year, Sodhi is conceding 10.04rpo this year; 35avg/10.04rpo isn't flash.

Everything seems rather settled for the Blackcaps T20I spin crew with Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi getting the bulk of recent opportunities. Dig deeper and there is a similar trend at play for Sodhi as there is with Munro, considering that Sodhi's performances in what is deemed to be his best format have slid backwards and then, this may be impacting his other formats as well.

Earning his way to be known as one of the best T20I bowlers in the world via three years averaging under 20 in each year, Sodhi has now ballooned out to average 37.40 in 2018 and 35 in 2019. Sodhi's economy rate follows that pattern and after jumping up to 8.31rpo last year, Sodhi is conceding 10.04rpo this year; 35avg/10.04rpo isn't flash.

Compounding matters has been Sodhi's work in Plunket Shield and Ford Trophy this summer. Sodhi comes into Super Smash after taking 4w @ 58.75avg/4.70rpo in Ford Trophy, but was a nifty performer in last summer's Super Smash where he took 9w @ 20.55avg/7.70rpo and this whole package puts Sodhi in an interesting spot. Right now, I don't have Sodhi as a certainty for the World T20 simply based on his Blackcaps T20I performances and the journey to rectify that starts with Super Smash stuff.

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Peace and love 27.