With Aotearoa baking in sun, there were plenty of runs on offer in the Ford Trophy's return as all teams scored 250+ runs featuring Auckland Aces and Canterbury both scored 300+ and Otago Volts blasting 400+. These scores came via big knocks from a bunch of notable batsmen with Henry Nicholls, Ben Horne, Devon Conway and Hamish Rutherford all hitting centuries.

The return of Nicholls to domestic cricket has seen him hit 39 @ 139.28sr in a Super Smash game, then 120 @ 96.77sr in Canterbury's win over Auckland. Not required for Blackcaps T20I duty, Nicholls didn't put up a 50+ score in the two Tests vs Sri Lanka, the two Tests vs England and then the three Tests vs Australia. Sliding back into Ford Trophy cricket where Nicholls has a List-A average of 41.98 and immediately putting up a hefty score is precisely what Nicholls needs at the moment - his next Blackcaps involvement will be in the ODIs vs India.

While Colin Munro battles away with the Blackcaps as the Ford Trophy leading run-scorer, he will soon be passed by Conway who is just 2 runs behind Munro as of Wednesday morning. Conway's knock of 138 @ 122.12sr in Wellington's loss to Northern Districts was his third 50+ score in 6inns of Ford Trophy cricket and on top of that, this is Conway's current run-scoring streak stretching back into Super Smash: 101*, 51, 69, 49, 138.

OMG Devon Conway update...

Plunket Shield: 1st, 562 runs @ 140.50avg.

Super Smash: 1st, 543 runs @ 67.87avg.

Ford Trophy: 2nd, 326 runs @ 54avg.

For Rutherford and Horne, these were their first 50+ scores of the Ford Trophy this summer. Horne almost guided Auckland home to a win over Canterbury with his 101 @ 138.35sr and Rutherford smacked the Central Districts Stags bowlers to all parts with 155 @ 149.03sr. Rutherford has only played three games of Ford Trophy cricket after a decent Super Smash campaign and if he can rack up a few more notable knocks, he may squeeze into a Blackcaps squad in the coming weeks.

Centuries catch the attention, yet the work of some other batsmen is where the juice really sits for me. Henry Cooper hit 83 for ND batting in the middle order, Nick Kelly did a fine job alongside Rutherford for Otago with 79 @ 141.07sr and Will Young returned to domestic cricket with 62 @ 114.81sr at #3 for Central Districts Stags.

Cooper continues to impress even more so considering that he started the season as an intriguing four-day opening prospect. After 22 First-Class games, Cooper has an average of 37.91 primarily as an opener and perhaps my funkiest yarn of this summer is how Cooper is performing in the Ford Trophy, having been unwanted in the Super Smash despite ND struggling.

After six games, Cooper is 3rd in Ford Trophy runs behind Munro and Conway. Three 50+ scores in 6inns and what is most enticing is a strike-rate of 95.97, which is a considerable jump up from his Plunket Shield strike-rate of 47.61 this summer. Fluid strike-rates are always a sign of a classy batsmen as they can move through the formats easily and adapt their game to what the format requires, so for Cooper to catch my eye via steady four-day work and then elevate into slick one-day antics has me doubling-down on his ability and potential.

Kelly was one of the low key stars of the Super Smash and like Cooper, Kelly is doing a nice job across formats. While his Plunket Shield stuff isn't amazing (29avg after 3inns), the fact that Kelly was playing Plunket Shield cricket for Otago is the key idea as he was stuck as a white-baller with ND Knights prior to moving south.

Then we have Kelly's Super Smash where he finished 3rd in runs behind Conway and Martin Guptill with 398 runs @ 44.22avg/139.64sr and that's flowed into the Ford Trophy where Kelly had two 50+ scores before this century. Sitting 5th in Ford Trophy runs, Kelly's averaging 50.66 with a strike-rate of 87.60 and again, despite cracking 79 @ 141.07sr, Kelly's overall Ford Trophy strike-rate represents a classy all-round batsman who deals with the variety of situations that one-day cricket throws up.

Here are the bowlers who took 3+ wickets in Ford Trophy round six...

Andrew Ellis: 3w @ 5.88rpo vs Auckland.

Anurag Verma: 4w @ 6.20rpo vs Wellington.

Iain McPeake: 4w @ 5.10rpo vs ND.

Anaru Kitchen: 4w @ 5.23rpo vs CD.

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Peace and love 27.