Having been named in Aotearoa's T20 squad to face West Indies at the same time as they continue their dominance of kiwi cricket, it's fair to say that Kyle Jamieon and Devon Conway are the darlings of kiwi cricket right now. I'll quickly touch on these Blackcaps squads and lead into more Jamieson and Conway stuff as the layers of funk run deep with how these two appear to be ushering in a new era of Aotearoa cricket.

The Test squad to face West Indies is stock-standard and although I'm of the view that this summer will see plenty of moving parts in the Test group, building on last summer's low key transformation, right now everything is exactly the same. There are injuries and a lack of cricket for Ajaz Patel and Colin de Grandhomme could be notable, yet there is also plenty of water to flow through the estuary before we need to worry about that.

I went fairly deep into Aotearoa T20 matters yesterday and now there are further developments from this squad announcement to keep tabs on. First and foremost is trying to figure out how NZC and the Blackcaps view the T20I team. Like the Super Smash, there is a headline status to the Blackcaps T20I team in the kiwi summer and while this is awesome to see a priority placed on Test cricket for Kane Williamson and Trent Boult, it hints at a bit of confusion.

On the schedule, T20I and Super Smash cricket is the priority.

In the playing group it feels as though longer form cricket is the priority.

From the outside, there doesn't appear to be clarity in building the best possible T20I team vs easing younger players into the Blackcaps set up. With Tim Southee, Ross Taylor and Kyle Jamieson to leave after game two, replaced by Doug Bracewell, Scott Kuggeleijn and Mark Chapman, along with Conway getting his first crack, this still seems to be a stomping ground for fringe Blackcaps to get a taste. That's all good and I'd love for that to be the case, as long as there is clarity and transparency.

For Glenn Phillips fans, this paragraph is a bit funny considering Phillips was 2nd in Caribbean Premier League runs back in 2018, then 4th in 2019 and 2nd in 2020. Across the CPL's lifetime, Phillips is ranked 14th in total CPL runs despite only playing since 2017 (most others ranked ahead of Phillips started in 2013) and Colin Munro is the only kiwi with more CPL runs than Phillips overall.

I view Phillips as definitely being among Aotearoa's best T20 batsmen, same with Colin Munro who got his own special shout out...

The thing to watch out for now is whether Munro's decision to play Big Bash League instead of Blackcaps T20I and Super Smash has some sort of negative impact on his Blackcaps future; does Munro stroll back into the Blackcaps T20I group after BBL or is he punted? Maybe that depends on Munro's BBL performances, maybe not. Just a thing to keep tabs on.

Based on what I wrote about Hamish Rutherford yesterday and his work in the T20 Blast, plus Super Smash cricket, that's also something to ponder. Scott Kuggeleijn had his best T20 campaign in the CPL this year and for blokes like Rutherford, then Kuggeleijn there is a vibe of performing well in T20 tournaments around the world, while being overlooked for Aotearoa T20. This reinforces the lack of clarity in what the Blackcaps T20I team is and if we're dealing strictly in the best T20 performers from Aotearoa, this squad would look a little different.

Meanwhile, in the Plunket Shield...

Kyle Jamieson took 5w @ 2.74rpo in 31 overs for Auckland Aces, with wickets coming before and after Devon Conway's 157 for Wellington Firebirds alongside skipper Michael Bracewell's 142. Jamieson snared both Firebirds openers and then bullied Wellington's lower order with Wagner-styles...

We are entering the final day of round four, so keep an open mind with these stats as they'll change throughout today. Jamieson currently has 20w @ 10.85avg/2.49rpo and he's level with Will Williams (20w @ 12.50avg/2.12rpo) and this is the fourth season of Jamieson's career (seven seasons) in which he is averaging below 25.

This season Jamieson has wicket-hauls of 5w, 3w, 5w, 2w and this round's 5-for. To go with a First Class career average that is likely to stay below 25 (23.85 right now) after this round of games, Jamieson also averages 18.80 in T20 cricket and the fact that Aotearoa has two dominant forces in operation right now is rather fun. While Jamieson hasn't quite hit the Conway level of disgusting dominance, he has nifty Blackcaps performances to throw into this equation and that leaves me comfortable in viewing them together.

Everyone knows about Conway and his run-scoring abilities. It's been plastered all over the Niche Cache for a couple years now and there's no need to regurgitate those notes, other than highlighting that Conway currently leads all Plunket Shield run-scorers as the only player with over 400 runs - averaging a cheeky 58.57. Conway averages 39.66 in T20 cricket, 44.98 in List-A cricket and 46.80 in First-Class cricket. Monster.

It's easy to say that Conway fits into the kiwi-African bucket where we've all been around lads or wahine from Africa (South Africa, Zimbabwe or anywhere else in Africa) who come to Aotearoa and as soon as they play sport at school, it is clear they play that sport to a different level. Maybe it's just an Auckland thing, I don't know but I'm sure folks can relate and the way Conway has blasted through domestic cricket in Aotearoa hints at this on an adult level.

Other than his height and stature, Jamieson's sitting on similar dominance but without the rhyme or reason. When I take a geeze at the best performers in the Plunket Shield this summer, I am graced with a fresh layer of nuance as Jamieson and Conway are leaders of a young-ish wave that has already taken over as far as playing numbers go and is now taking over with their performances.

Here's a breakdown of that as of Tuesday morning...

Batsmen

Devon Conway: 29 years - 58.57avg.

Joe Carter: 27 years - 57.50avg.

Ben Horne: 26 years - 62.25avg.

Ken McClure: 26 years - 61.50avg.

Nick Kelly: 27 years - 37.83avg.

Bowlers

Kyle Jamieson: 25 years - 10.85avg.

Will Williams: 28 years - 12.50avg.

Jacob Duffy: 26 years - 19.26avg.

Fraser Sheat: 22 years - 12.38avg.

Daryl Mitchell: 29 years - 15.07avg.

Other notable mentions are Henry Cooper (27 years) and Leo Carter (25 years) who are both in the top-10 for runs, as well as Ed Nuttall (27 years), Michael Rae (25 years) and Ray Toole (23 years) with the ball. Slide up a level and Mark Chapman's only 26 years, Glenn Phillips is 23 years, Tim Seifert is 25 years and the likes of Ish Sodhi, Mitchell Santner, Scott Kuggeleijn and Matt Henry are 27-28 years.

Jamieson and Conway are locked in as Aotearoa's cricket darlings right now, understandably so. Based on a deeper squiz, I'm more intrigued by what Jamieson and Conway represent as kiwi cricket is being elevated by this swell of young players who have played a lot of domestic cricket and as a collective they are entering their prime years. It's easy to celebrate Jamieson and Conway, it's a little less easy to see through the mangroves and understand that there is rather immense change happening in kiwi cricket.

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Peace and love.