Three teams are left in the 2019/20 Super Smash, meaning three teams are kickin' back bypassing recreational drug tests. Whether you like it or not, there's a massive focus on T20 cricket at the moment (see my weird Game of Thrones/Crossroads Inn thing) and with Central Districts Stags, Northern Districts Knights and Canterbury Kings not competing in finals cricket, I'm going to suss out a few key folk from these teams.

Chad Bowes (Canterbury), Tim Seifert (ND) and Dane Cleaver (CD) were the best batsmen from the teams knocked out. Cleaver's presence is closely followed by Tom Bruce and George Worker, with only 20 runs and a few points in the average/strike-rate come separating the Stags smackers. Both Cleaver and Bruce are in the top-10, while Bowes and Seifert are the only batsmen from their respective teams in the top-10 for runs.

Bowes: 2nd, 258 runs @ 39.77avg/169.66sr.

Seifert: 5th, 323 runs @ 40.37avg/143.55sr.

Cleaver: 9th, 278 runs @ 27.80avg/139sr.

The most interesting bloke in that group (even including Bruce and Worker) is Seifert, who has doubled-down on his Blackcaps T20I spot. A few different blokes struggled in the five-game series vs England and Seifert was one of them, which placed greater importance on his performances in the Super Smash - then amplified by the rise of Glenn Phillips into the Blackcaps Test team.

An interesting thought here is to ponder a Blackcaps T20I team with Seifert and Phillips. I won't go team into Auckland Aces stuff, but for context around Seifert, I was an intrigued observer to see Phillips return to the Aces team and explode as an excessively dynamic fielder, while Ben Horne chatted away behind the stumps. If Seifert and Phillips are both viewed as being part of Aotearoa's top-10 T20 batsmen, they should both be in the squad and the Blackcaps can quite easily operate with Seifert as keeper, Phillips as Mr Athletics champ in the field.

Seifert had to command that perspective though via his Super Smash work and he's done exactly that. Seifert's skipper, Daryl Mitchell also churned out a decent campaign and was a mid-season flip into the skipper role - wee bit weird but whatever. With a batting record of 31.28avg/146.97sr, Mitchell didn't quite dominate, although he did put up those batting numbers in conjunction with 10w @ 19avg/9.50rpo as bowler.

All of which is nice enough for Mitchell to re-up with the Blackcaps and compete for a rather competitive middle-order/all-rounder role in the Blackcaps T20I team. Not so competitive in terms of Super Smash troopers as this depth sits in how the Blackcaps balance their T20I team with batting and bowling from their top-tier Blackcaps group; Jimmy Neesham is the lad to watch out for if he plays the final, otherwise in the series vs India.

Sticking with the Knights and Ish Sodhi's Super Smash campaign was rather under-whelming, outside of a strong finish. Sodhi played all 10 games for ND and went wicket-less in four and took 1w in three games, resulting in Sodhi taking 1w or less in seven of the 10 games. Part of this may have been due to a high level of respect shown to Sodhi's leggies/doosras/flippers as he only conceded 7.57rpo and of the 13 bowlers who took 10w, Sodhi was one of six of those bowlers to concede less than 8rpo.

Smacking Sodhi around the park isn't easy for domestic batsmen thanks to the variety on offer from Sodhi's fingers and if Sodhi is taking 2-3 wickets every game, opposition teams will be struggling. Hence, perhaps opposition teams zoned in on restricting the damage and sitting on a bad ball ... Sodhi's bad balls often take wickets due to accumulated pressure so meh.

There has to be a focus on Sodhi, because he's known as one of the best T20I spinners in the world. Sodhi's last two games felt like a return to that as he eventually dismissed Colin Munro vs Auckland, then snared more key wickets vs Canterbury as he dismissed Leo Carter and Andrew Ellis in the space of 5 overs @ 6.50rpo.

Competition could come from Todd Astle and I'd personally opt for Sodhi, ahead of Astle every day of the week. Remember that you can make a case for any of the Aotearoa's major spinners to be selected for the Blackcaps in any format, it's not something to get caught in the weeds about as these spinner stats can be flipped in favour of this joker, or that joker; who you want as your spinners is completely up to you.

I'd rock with Sodhi and Santner for this series vs India, letting them to suss things out as they have earned this via their T20I work. Same yarn for Ajaz Patel (CD), who dominated with his lefty-tweakers to jack up 15w @ 17.20avg/7.40rpo and as I've alluded to throughout the Super Smash, Patel's is a low key T20 shooter.

That probably puts Patel ahead of Astle, maybe Astle's batting has him ahead? See the issue here, it's completely up to you and what your personal bias is. Sodhi and Santner, then if shit hits the fan vs India, switch things up and see what Patel and/or Astle can do.

Bowling yorkers tends to work rather nicely when blokes are trying to smack you around and that's what caught the eye about Canterbury's Will Williams. Williams finished with 12w @ 21.91avg/9.33rpo, 5w coming in an innings and Williams joins Anurga Verma (ND) as slick operators who are probably too far outside the Blackcaps bubble right now from the three teams knocked out.

Verma took 14w @ 23.64avg/8.48rpo and enjoyed a breakout campaign. With CD's Blair Tickner putting up a solid Super Smash (11w @ 26avg/9.86rpo) and various Blackcaps seamers in the mix though, the likes of Williams and Verma need more racks to their stacks.

Apparently Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson are likely to miss the series vs India, which opens spots up for others but I suspect the Blackcaps will lean towards lads like Blair Tickner (CD) and Kyle Jamieson (Auckland). There will be interest in whether the Blackcaps give Scott Kuggeleijn (ND) another crack, otherwise it's hard to see another seamer being promoted based off of this Super Smash.

Bruce is the only other batsmen from the three teams now chillin' who is in the Blackcaps T20I frame, yet his campaign featuring 273 runs @ 27.30avg/135.82sr may not have been enough to blow away the competition. I kinda have Bruce in a similar bucket to an interesting bloke to ponder with regards to T20I cricket - Henry Nicholls.

There are differences in how these two reached this similar level; Bruce is on the up from domestic cricket, while Nicholls slides from Blackcaps Test/ODI cricket. They end up in the same spot for Blackcaps T20I cricket where they could definitely be options but need a few gifts from the universe to make that happen.

Nicholls, for example has a T20I average of 4.75/67.85sr in his five games - which is weirdly a lot less than Bruce who has 15 T20I games. Remember that Nicholls is one of the few kiwis to play Big Bash League cricket and has been in the unfortunate spot where his Blackcaps duties take him away from showing any Super Smash credentials; Nicholls played two games last season, one game this season.

And yet, Nicholls has done well in those limited opportunities. In 2inns last season Nicholls put up 60 runs @ 133.33sr, then yesterday in his only crack of tournament, Nicholls hit 39 @ 139.28sr. Both Nicholls and Bruce could be given opportunities, depending on how the stars align, although neither has established themselves as legit 1st 11 batsmen as of now.

For the lols, here is a T20 team featuring Canterbury, ND and CD players...

Chad Bowes: 10inns, 358 runs @ 39.77avg/169.66sr.

Tim Seifert: 8inns, 323 run @ 40.37avg/143.24sr.

Henry Nicholls: 1inns, 39 runs @ 139.28sr.

Tom Bruce: 10inns, 273 runs @ 27.30avg/135.82sr.

Daryl Mitchell: 8inns, 219 runs @ 31.28avg/146.97sr | 8inns, 10w @ 19avg/9.50rpo.

Josh Clarkson: 10inns, 212 runs @ 26.50avg/131.67sr.

Anton Devcich: 9inns, 208 runs @ 23.11avg/148.57sr | 9inns, 4w @ 66avg/9.42rpo.

Ish Sodhi: 10inns, 10w @ 29.40avg/7.57rpo.

Ajaz Patel: 9inns, 15w @ 17.20avg/7.40rpo.

Will Williams: 9inns, 12w @ 21.91avg/9.33rpo.

Anurag Verma: 10inns, 14w @ 23.64avg/8.48rpo.

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Peace and love 27.