Domestic Cricket Daily: Jimmy Neesham's On, Devon Conway's On the Nek Nek Level
With seven games rolled up, Devon Conway has cruised into 1st spot for Ford Trophy runs and that means that right now, Conway is the leading run-scorer in each of the Ford Trophy, Plunket Shield and Super Smash. Obviously, that's rather bonkers and Conway has doubled-down on his status as the best batsman in Aotearoa not in the Blackcaps through his work across all formats.
All those Super Smash runs helped Wellington Firebirds win the T20 title, which is a wee bit different to their Ford Trophy work as they are currently posted in 4th (3-4) after their win over Canterbury. The Cantabs are 2nd (4-2) despite that loss and Canterbury have their own run-scoring monster in Henry Nicholls who has slid back into domestic cricket with the knock of 120 earlier in the week and 62 vs Wellington.
Hitting 62 @ 91.17 and taking his two-game tally to 182 runs @ 91avg/94.79sr, Nicholls helped steer Canterbury through the opening stanza of this game before another intriguing character in Jimmy Neesham commanded the stage. Neesham took 5w @ 2.90rpo and while Neesham has a tendency to pick up niggly wickets (lots of catches around the park), wickets like these caught my attention...
Neesham had Jack Boyle and Todd Astle caught behind, neither opted for any foot movement other than shuffling backwards and then fiddling at the ball. Whether it's Neesham's low key splash of extra pace and bounce in this deliveries, or the threat of such on either side of these wicket-taking deliveries, or whatever other insights you can pick up; these deliveries and wickets simply feel good.
With Neesham also hitting 37* @ 115.62sr, this is a good time to dive a bit deeper into what Neesham has been up to in domestic cricket while he's been strangely overlooked by the Blackcaps. This specific game for Neesham is in alignment with his Ford Trophy campaign thus far as his bowling has been among the best in the competition with 6w @ 14.83avg/4.94rpo.
Neesham's only bowled 18 overs, so there is a slight lack of work compared to other frontline bowlers but this ensures that Neesham is one of four bowlers in the Ford Trophy who has 6+ wickets and an average below 20. Neesham is joined by Lockie Ferguson, Brett Randell and Ollie Newton in that group, none of whom do anything with the willow.
While his batting hasn't 'been over the top Conway status', Neesham has racked up 122 runs @ 30.50avg/91.04 and considering that five Firebirds batsmen have more runs than Neesham, he's just doing his job.
Chuck in Neesham's Super Smash and suddenly Neesham is looking like the best white-ball all-rounder not currently in the Blackcaps...
Ford Trophy
Bat: 122 runs @ 30.50avg/91.04sr.
Ball: 6w @ 14.83avg/4.94rpo.
Super Smash
Bat: 229 runs @ 45.80avg/134.70sr.
Ball: 9w @ 19avg/8.47rpo.
Also in this game there were runs from Canterbury's wicket-keeper Cameron Fletcher as he hit 73 @ 125.86sr, to rectify the damage down by Neesham's bowling. Then Wellington's Andrew Fletcher hit 71 opening for the Firebirds and Conway cruised his way to 59, while skipper Michael Bracewell finished the run-chase with Neesham on 81*.
Conway's current run-scoring streak: 101*, 51, 69, 49 (SS), 138, 59 (FT).
There were two centuries and a 99 in Central Districts Stags win over Otago Volts, as well as Kieran Noema-Barnett having a decent whack. The Stags batted first and George Worker hit 99, while skipper Ben Smith went large with 149. These two have been strange ol' cricketers in recent times as the Stags are going through a tough summer with a bunch of players unavailable and with Aotearoa 'A' cricket getting a bit too busy, the Stags are rolling through a variety of different combinations.
This was Smith's second century of the summer in the Ford Trophy and Smith joins Colin Munro as the only players to hit two centuries in this campaign. Smith's got a healthy overall strike-rate of 87.03sr and while Smith didn't feature in the Super Smash, he's posted in 5th for Plunket Shield runs with two 50+ scores in 6inns.
Worker has also settled into a lovely patch of form as he grabbed 135 for Aotearoa A in their 50-over series vs India A and came back into the Ford Trophy wiht this 99. Prior to the Super Smash, Worker hit a century and a 50+ score, which now puts Worker 3rd in Ford Torphy runs with 335 runs @ 55.83avg/88.15sr.
As for Noema-Barnett, he cracked 81 @ 231.42sr which takes up to 213 runs @ 121.71sr in just 4inns and that's a bit crazy.
Worker and Noema-Barnett also grabbed 3w each as Otago fell short in their run-chase. We were however served up 138 from Dean Foxcroft and this is funky because it feels like Foxcroft's announcement of his potential with Otago, after watching fellow new recruit Nick Kelly shine throughout the summer. This was Foxcroft's first 50+ score of the Ford Trophy and via one not-out innings, Foxcroft has 236 runs @ 47.20avg/88.72sr.
Like Neesham, Foxcroft's batting comes in conjunction with his bowling - only that Foxcroft's a tweaker. Quietly grabbing 9w @ 31.55avg/5.07rpo in a hefty 56 overs, Foxcroft has not only been the numero tahi spinner for the Volts in this format, Foxcroft has been the busiest of all the Volts bowlers.
It's tricky to compare workloads across different teams as there are numerous variables involved, but for some context; Seth Rance leads all wicket-takers with 14w @ 21.64avg/5.30 and Rance is the busiest bowler with 57.1ov. Foxcroft is right there with Rance in terms of churning out overs and combining this with his run-scoring continues to have me intrigued as to how Foxcroft develops.
Ford Trophy swings back around on Saturday and I'll touch the Auckland Aces vs Northern Districts Knights game, along with any other random notes tomorrow.
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Peace and love 27.