The main event of the kiwi cricketing summer that is the Plunket Shield is only a matter of weeks away and while there's always Plunket Shield hype permeating from the lands of Aotearoa, don't ask NZC because they can't bother to serve up a Plunket Shield schedule. We keep on wiggling forward though and front of the noggin' coming into Plunket Shield cricket is the long list of cricketers who currently sit on the fringes of Blackcaps business across the formats.

Wiggle forward, after rewinding back to last summer when there were many wrinkles of change in the Blackcaps Test group as we finally enjoyed more than four Tests in a summer. Daryl Mitchell got a crack early against England, Glenn Phillips and Lockie Ferguson grabbed debuts in Australia and then Kyle Jamieson dominated in the back end of the summer against India. We saw Mitchell Santner drop out of the Test team, Jeet Raval lost his opening spot and now Devon Conway is officially official as a Blackcap candidate, along with Will Young who has been on a journey of patience after the stars aligned to stop his Test debut almost two years ago.

That's almost a team of lads mentioned and sorting through this group is what intrigues me the most about the early Plunket Shield rounds. With so many moving pieces to ponder, there should be plenty of competition for game time with the Blackcaps and it comes from all angles; blokes with a small taste, blokes looking to get a taste, blokes who vanished from the cricket scene and will now bounce back.

Central Districts Stags have steadily had the most dangerous domestic cricket group as they have had the most players on the Blackcaps fringes for a number of seasons, without having too many players consistently in Blackcaps squads. While we have seen Jamieson and Ferguson step up at international level, plus the OG Hamish Bennett popped up to contribute to Blackcaps wins last summer, the Stags have Doug Bracewell, Adam Milne, Seth Rance and Ben Wheeler who have all played Blackcaps cricket at some point.

Bracewell and Milne are the most notable there, although Rance and Wheeler shouldn't be slept on as they could very easily jack up enough wickets to set up shop on the cusp of Blackcaps matters. Bracewell played one Plunket Shield game and one Ford Trophy game last summer as he battled injury and Milne hasn't played anything substantial since the T20 Blast in England last winter. Both Bracewell and Milne have the talent to slide into the Blackcaps mix, yet they need to be fit and healthy, then performing at their best to challenge the likes of Jamieson and Ferguson.

Scott Kuggeleijn's work in the Caribbean Premier League where he and CPL wizard Phillips were among the top-three bowlers and batsmen respectively, adds a slice of funk here. Kuggeleijn did average 38.36 in First Class cricket last summer though and I view that as perfectly encapsulating this whole yarn as we all know that a year ago in reality feels like a decade ago given the 2020 vibe and thus, within the context of Blackcaps fringe business; less what you've done and more what you're doing now.

It's going to be tricky for someone to pull a Jamieson this summer and move from young prospect to Blackcap as there's a hefty group of seamers with Blackcaps experience, along with lofty ambitions moving forward. Of the younger group, someone like Jacob Duffy has earned his stripes in domestic cricket and then there are low key prospects such as Ben Sears for Wellington and Ben Lister for Auckland who have impressed in recent seasons.

Holy guacamole - Matt Henry will be lurking as well.

Henry was a victim of the Aussie tour and while regular readers know Test cricket isn't quite Henry's best format, the Cantab consistently performs strongly in Plunket Shield cricket. Henry's 17w @ 29avg/3.25rpo in the Plunket Shield last summer wasn't as good as CD Stags seamer Blair Tickner, who appears to have over-taken that group I listed above and he's coming off 18w @ 25.22avg/3.20rpo last summer in the format that is currently his worst by bowling averages.

Writing this has put my own cricketing brain in a spin as there are so many angles to explore and it only makes sense that the spins continue in the spin department where Ajaz Patel finished the summer as the Test tweaker. Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi should be eager to prove themselves more than coloured clothing spinners, Todd Astle's out of the frame now and domestic cricket freaks will be aware of Louis Delport - most kiwi cricket folks will have no idea who Delport is.

Delport just happened to finish with the most spinning wickets in the Plunket Shield for Auckland and he was the only bowler to take 16+ wickets in three games. Delport finished with 17w @ 24.11avg/2.63rpo and if there is any continuation of this throughout the summer, then we'll have a fresh layer to the spin funk.

Mitchell, Phillips, Conway and Young lead the fringe Blackcaps batsmen group. Everyone's frothing at the chance of Conway making his Blackcaps debut and while Conway clearly oozes class with his willow, everyone saw Mitchell and Phillips score runs on Test debut and Young was robbed of a Test debut. To ask where Conway fits into the three Blackacps team is a fair question and it's lovely to debate who Conway will replace, although there's no reason why the same attention and brainstorming shouldn't apply to Mitchell, Phillips and Young.

Raval's moved to Northern Districts Knights, effectively replacing Mitchell who has moved to Canterbury and it's wait and see mode with regards to Raval's general vibe. In making the move, Raval has at least offered a signal that he believes he has more to offer as he could have stayed in his comfort zone while the Blackcaps moved forward with Tom Blundell. Raval's instead outlined his hunger to develop, progress and keep himself in the mix.

Mark Chapman deserves a mention here as he has also played for the Blackcaps and casually scored 432 runs @ 61.71avg in the Plunket Shield last summer, finishing 5th in total runs. Maybe Tom Bruce will want his Blackcaps mix spot back and Tim Seifert has a FC average of 36.29 which is his best format, so Seifert may be preparing for an epic Plunket Shield campaign to ensure he's not pigeon-holed as a slugger.

Don't hold too tightly to any of this batting stuff because I reckon there could be an immense shake up of the batting landscape via the youngins on the rise. The best way I can slice this is that 12 batsmen scored 300+ runs and there's plenty of prospects in this group; Conway (1st in runs), Henry Cooper (ND - 2nd), Joe Carter (ND - 4th), Chapman (Auckland - 5th), Dane Cleaver (CD - 6th), Brad Schmulian (CD - 7th), Rachin Ravindra (Wellington - 8th), Nathan Smith (Otago - 10th), Ken McClure (Canterbury - 11th).

Cooper, Ravindra and McClure are the most notable prospects there, while Cleaver should always be mentioned in any possible Blackcaps wicket-keeper conversation based purely on his weight of runs. Canterbury's Cole McConchie has been among Canterbury's best batsmen for a consistent period and Otago's Nick Kelly snuck over to play in the CPL, plus Kelly's Volts comrade Dean Foxcroft has shown nifty signs of batting promise.

I'm fairly confident that someone, or numerous lads will emerge from this group and offer fresh vibes to the fringe Blackcaps group. Keep in mind that if someone from the young prospect group rises up, then it makes sense for someone from the wider Blackcaps mix group to slide down and thus drifting away from Blackcaps cricket. The glory of 2020 will have everyone approaching the Plunket Shield from a similar starting point as instead of a winter where various lads are in a Blackcaps squad, playing T20 leagues or for the younger lads playing village/club cricket in England, everyone (most) have been in Aotearoa where there should be a similar level of preparation.

Soon enough, with the start of Plunket Shield cricket we will find out which lads went to a nek level with their training and work ethic over the winter. From there, we will learn about who has the skills and hunger to dominate, thus laying down foundations on the Blackcaps fringe.

Hit an ad to support the Niche Cache’s domestic cricket smorgasbord. Or jump on Patreon and join the whanau.

Peace and love.