The opening weekend of Aotearoa's Hallyburton Johnstone Shield competition saw Central Hinds, Canterbury Magicians and Northern Districts all grab two wins as women's cricket in Aotearoa appears to be in the midst of the same youngster takeover that has been happening in the men's game. Central Hinds were the destructive in their first two games, rolling Auckland Hearts for 49 and 86 as Monique Rees and Claudia Green took 6w each over the weekend, combining for 12 of the 20 wickets taken.

20-year-old Rees took 3w in both games, while 22-year-old Green took 4w and 2w. Both are righty seamers and they lead a group of young bowlers who started strongly with the ball. Canterbury's Sarah Asmussen is a 20-year-old leggy who took 1w and 4w in her two games vs Otago, Charlotte Sarsfield is the oldest of this group at 27-years-old and she took 3w and 2w for ND in their wins over Wellington Blaze, then we have Otago's Emma Black who is 19-years-old and took 1w and 2w in the Sparks' losses to Canterbury.

Here's how the leading bowlers look

Monique Rees: 6w @ 5avg/3.75rpo in 8ov - 20yrs.

Claudia Green: 6w @ 6.50avg/2.43rpo in 16ov - 22yrs.

Sarah Asmussen: 5w @ 8avg/3.63rpo in 11ov - 20yrs.

Charlotte Sarsfield: 5w @ 12.60avg/3.31rpo in 19ov - 27yrs.

Emma Black: 4w @ 28avg/5.89rpo in 19ov - 19yrs.

None of these bowlers were in the NZC Development Contract group and this is a quiet idea to keep tabs on as it's too early to dive deep into this, although I am intrigued as to player development/scouting with NZC given the wider landscape. I'll keep that in mind as we venture through the HBJ Shield competition and at the very least, the more young players who perform strongly outside of the NZC Development group, the better and this is a key sign of Aotearoa women's cricket health.

There is a very different yarn when checking in with the batswomen as Canterbury stalwarts Kate Ebrahim and Frances Mackay both hit centuries, as did Jess McFadyen for Wellington; all of whom are 29/30 years and do this rather consistently. Northern Districts' Brooke Halliday also hit a century and she is 25-years-old, plus her comrade and the underground queen of Aotearoa cricket Caitlin Gurrey continues her compelling case for more White Ferns action.

Gurrey and CD's Jess Watkin both have NZC Development Contracts and they both snuck a half-century into their opening weekend, while 24-year-old Otago Sparks batswoman Caitlin Blakely was the other player to pass 50 across the HBJ Shield's first round.

Mackay finished her campaign last summer with a century, then started this summer with a century and this flows into Ebrahim's form even though Ebrahim didn't play last summer. Ebrahim finished second in runs back in the 2018/19 season and that presents a string of scores that looks bonkers, even more bonkers considering there is a hefty break between seasons; 77*, 20, 38, 52, 17, 94, 88* (2018/19), 106*, 62 (2020/21).

Last summer, Gurrey finished first in runs, Mackay was second and McFadyen fourth. All three hit centuries last summer in the HBJ Shield and have already backed that up with centuries this time around, while Watkin is also someone to keep tabs on as she finished in the top-five for runs last season with a strike-rate of 102.66. Watkin hit 22* and 68* this weekend, with an overall strike-rate of 204.54.

Other than Halliday, the leading run-scorers after the first weekend of games immediately resembles the best batswomen available in Aotearoa right now. Mackay, Ebrahim, Gurrey, Watkin and McFadyen could become White Ferns factors this summer if they want to given there is already the absence of Suzie Bates, plus there are a number of White Ferns batswomen who haven't done much to keep players who are stacking up big runs out of the Ferns squads.

Halliday's century is a bit crazy as this appears to be her second 50+ score in List-A cricket since making her debut back of 2012/13 and there has been little to suggest that Halliday should be making HBJ Shield hundies. Opening alongside Gurrey though, Halliday did what those young bowlers did in showcasing the layers of women's talent coming through and this sets up some funky weekends of cricket coming up as players return from WBBL with the HBJ Shield settling into a groove.

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Peace and love.