2020/21 Plunket Shield: The Low Key Funky Prospects
The Niche Cache has served up plenty of domestic cricket content that zones in on Blackcaps fringes and notable domestic cricket troopers who have demand attention with plenty of runs/wickets, here it's all about one up and coming prospect from each team. These are deep cuts and aren't necessarily the best young player in each team, merely the prospects that I've noted down to keep a close eye on as the kiwi summer sparks up.
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Ben Lister - 24 years - Auckland
FC: 25.32/2.81
LA: 26.50/5.64
T20: 24.90/8.17
Lefty seamer Ben Lister made his First Class debut back in late 2017 and has steadily been impressing with Auckland Aces, despite far more fancied seamers in operation. Despite an impressive FC record, Lister wasn't up to much in the Plunket Shield last summer and led all wicket-takers in the Ford Trophy with 23 wickets @ 21.78avg/5.60rpo.
Lister has played less than 20 games across all three formats and has a nifty lefty style where he can move the ball away from right-handers, as well as the natural movement into righties. Everything's fairly aligned as his averages across all formats are healthy, with balanced game time in all three formats and this summer may see Lister settle into a regular groove among the Aces first-tier seam attack.
Katene Clarke - 21 years - Northern Districts
FC: 28.20/44.62
LA: 28.70/90.82
Starting in the Ford Trophy, Katene Clarke played 9 games and then graduated to play Plunket Shield in February and while Clarke didn't jack up massive numbers, the positive signs are present. Clarke scored 286 runs @ 31.77avg/93.15sr in the Ford Trophy last summer, with two 50+ scores and despite not passing 50 in the Plunket Shield, Clarke still managed starts in all 8inns in the longer formats with two 40+ scores.
The strike-rate here is what has my antenna perked as Clarke looked like a dasher in FT cricket, effortless smacking boundaries to have a strike-rate of 93.15 and in switching formats, Clarke averaged 28.20 with 44.62sr; Clarke showed he can switch formats nicely and deal with the challenges of either format.
Bayley Wiggins - 22 years - Central Districts
LA: 68/97.14
T20: -/200
Playing four games of Ford Trophy last summer, Bayley Wiggins casually had scores of 98, 3 and 103 as a opening batsman/wicket-keeper and that saw Wiggins finish with 204 runs @ 68avg/97.14sr. Wiggins and Henry Nicholl were the only batsmen to score 200+ runs in just 3inns in the FT, putting Wiggins' efforts into context and right now, Wiggins is forecasting as a rather nifty attacking batsman who will likely earn game time as a pure batsman while Dane Cleaver maintains the wicket-keeping duties.
Wiggins has the smallest sample size of this group and thus it's important to watch out for the second-summer battle as many young batsmen burst on to the scene and then plateau, yet Wiggins' has scored with relative ease and youngsters tend to develop well in the Stags camp.
Ben Sears - 21 years - Wellington
FC: 21.43/3.37
LA: 29.57/5.18
T20: 18.16/7.26
Hostile. That's the vibe I get watching Ben Sears bowl for Wellington Firebirds and that's a beautiful thing for kiwi seamers as we get a lot more gentle mediums than hostile fire-birds. Sears debuted in all formats back in late 2018 but he played four of his five FC games last summer and five of his 10 List-A games last summer, meaning that last summer was a low key breakout party for Sears if you were paying attention. Sears took 14w @ 18.57avg/3.30rpo in the Plunket Shield last season and of the 16 bowlers who took 14+ Plunket Shield wickets last season, Sears and Willem Ludick were the only seamers to do so averaging less than 20; Ludick's left the domestic cricket circuit and it's all Sears now.
Sears was solid in the Ford Trophy with 7w @ 32avg/5.35rpo and while Lister recently dominated FT, Sears dominates in PS and Super Smash as he averages 21.43 in FC cricket and 18.16 in T20 cricket. Wellington have a grizzly seam attack led by Hamish Bennett and Logan van Beek, which sounds to be like the perfect foundation for Sears to be at his best.
Jack Boyle - 24 years - Canterbury
FC: 18.86/38.17sr
LA: 48.33/78.21
T20: 25.66/113.23
Canterbury aren't short on talented young batsmen and just like their 1st Five/loose forward production line in rugby union, Cantabs can point to Ken McClure, Cole McConchie, Chad Bowes or Leo Carter as intriguing batsmen. I'm going with Jack Boyle as he's a bit more low key and there is a weird disparity between his List-A average of 48.33 and a kinda woeful First Class average of 18.86 after 16 games, to go with a healthy T20 record of 25.66avg/113.23sr (20+ average and 100+ strike-rate is a T20 baseline).
Boyle played 11 of his 25 LA games last summer with 491 runs @ 49.10avg/81.29sr and that saw Boyle finish third in total Ford Trophy runs, then he showed promising signs in the last stanza of Plunket Shield with starts in all seven of his batting innings. Boyle has averaged 50+ in his last two summers of LA cricket and had the best Plunket Shield campaign of his career last summer, so that suggests that Boyle may be able to balance out the run-scoring across formats.
Dean Foxcroft - 22 years - Otago
FC: 26.30/47.76
LA: 51.15/90.23
T20: 41.46/129.56
As far as pure cricket talents go, Dean Foxcroft should be viewed among the best in younger lad category as the former South African Under 19 rep has had an immediate impact since moving to Aotearoa. Foxcroft leads the young Kiwi-African group after Ludick and Wellington's Malcolm Nofal departed and last summer saw Foxcroft finish with 281 runs @ 31.22avg/47.30 in the Plunket Shield along with 406 runs (7th) @ 50.75avg/87.68sr in the Ford Trophy ... and 269 runs (11th) @ 67.25avg/135.85sr in the Super Smash.
Not quite Devon Conway status in leading all run-scorers across all formats, but Foxcroft has already commanded immense attention by stacking the runs in different formats and doing so with strike-rates that reflect the formats. Foxcroft also averages 18.04/2.59rpo with his offies in FC cricket and his 9w @ 26.11avg/3.29rpo in the Plunket Shield last summer was better than Todd Astle, Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi. The bowling numbers don't quite translate to the other formats, although along with the run-scoring this is a cricketing package to keep tabs on as the summer sparks up.
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Peace and lov.