After a double-double dose of Wellington Firebirds and Blaze to start Aotearoa's Super Smash, the next cluster of games saw Otago Volts and Sparks play a couple of games each. Auckland Aces and Hearts faced their Otago counterparts, then Canterbury Kings and Magicians made the trip down to Alexander for their games vs Otago. Unfortunately for Otago, across the four games they could only snare one win with the Volts defeating Auckland Aces.

Let's start with how not to run between the wickets...

Rather horrible ain't it? Lost of ball watching and very little communication.

Who is Llew Johnson?

The 20-year-old Otago Volts batsman hit 72 @ 163.64sr with 2 fours and 7 sixes in the Volts' win over Auckland, batting #4. Johnson could only manage 6 runs in the next innings vs Canterbury, although the damage was already done as far as funky players emerging in the Super Smash with Johnson adding to his three T20 games that he played back in early 2018 for Otago. As a teenager, Johnson put up scores of 7, 6 and 5 before dropping out of the Volts mix and there is some decent form in the local scene that has me intrigued as to how Johnson moves through the Super Smash.

Johnson smacked 256* for North East Valley in the Dunedin 50-over competition, after 104 for Otago A vs Canterbury A in a three-day game and then 96 for in a 50-over game between the same teams. Johnson also hit 69 for North Otago in a Hawke Cup game vs Otago Country, all of which suggests that Johnson has found a slice of form that has seen him command opportunities with the Volts.

Here are Johnson's sixes hit vs Auckland and also note that both of his fours were hit off full tossess...

Johnson looks like a fun younger player to keep tabs on, I also want to note that the Auckland bowling didn't appear to be too flash - not Johnson's problem. The Aces bowling attack itself won't scare other teams and as we are seeing already, that may not be an issue as different players drop down from Blackcaps cricket etc. Against Otago, the only bowler of their six bowlers used to concede less than 10rpo for Auckland was Glenn Phillips and he snared an impressive 2w @ 5.50rpo in his 4 overs.

Danru Ferns leads all wicket-takers with 5w @ 16.40avg/10.25rpo, yet with Phillips and Rob O'Donnell getting through overs and a fairly standard seam attack, I'm intrigued as to how this bowling group performs. Lots of full bangers and good length balls got whacked by Otago, none of which will help the Aces win games. After two Auckland games, Phillips is the only bloke who is going at less than 9rpo for the Aces.

Hamish Rutherford hasn't done anything amazing, although as I've thrown up Rutherford as a deep-cut Blackcaps T20 option, I am going to stay tuned into Rutherford's antics. After two games, Rutherford has 38 runs @ 180.25sr and this comes after Rutherford hit 167 runs @ 181.52sr in three Ford Trophy games. As I've noted many times already, the only kiwi in England's T20 Blast this year was Rutherford and he finished 9th in total runs with 352 runs @ 160sr.

If 20+ different players are being given a chance at Blackcaps T20I cricket, Rutherford is as deserving as anyone else.

Otago lost to Canterbury with Chad Bowes hitting 72 @ 150sr and Ken McClure hitting 40 @ 153.84sr. McClure is the bloke I'm most interested in as he is having a tremendous summer that started with 165 in the Plunket Shield, then back to back Ford Trophy centuries and a 61* in his third FT innings before this 40 in his fifth game to Super Smash cricket.

McClure averages 39.34 in FC, 47.77 in LA and all that is missing is T20 experience. As McClure plays more T20 cricket at this level, I'm fairly certain he will continue to jack up big runs.

Otago's Mathew Bacon took 3w vs Auckland, while Canterbury's Ed Nuttall and Matt Henry both took 3w vs Otago. Henry's form is the most notable given the wider implications and his last three games have seen Henry take 3w in the Ford Trophy, then 7w vs Pakistan Shaheens (four-dayer) and 3w in the Super Smash. Three games, three different formats and 13w for Henry.

In the first wrap I highlighted Tim Seifert's knock of 99* vs Pakistan A in the T20 tour games and the second of these games saw Wellington take on Pakistan A. As Seifert scored the runs for Northern Districts, obviously Devon Conway was going to continue to chow through runs and he finished with 48* in what ended up as a rather easy win for the Firebirds.

Conway's last six T20 innings: 41, 65*, 5, 63, 67, 48*.

Auckland Hearts enjoyed a knock of 68 from Anna Peterson up the top in their win over Otago, with Arlene Kelly leading the Hearts bowlers with 3w @ 6.78rpo. For Auckland though, Jesse Prasad is shaping up as a young bowler to watch out for as she took 9w @ 8.88avg/2.87rpo/18.5sr in the Hallyburton-Johnstone Shield, followed by a nice Super Smash start with 2w @ 13.50avg/7.36rpo/11sr.

Otago batswoman Polly Inglis hit 62 vs Auckland and sits on top of the run-scoring charts, with the 24-year-old hitting 83 runs @ 100sr. Inglis also had a 50+ score in the HBJ Shield and the Sparks may struggle to keep up with the other teams, they do seem to have a younger group and no shortage of funky players to keep tabs on.

In the Sparks' loss to Canterbury, Lea Tahuhu and Amy Satterthwaite dominated with Tahuhu taking 3w @ 2.75rpo in her 4 overs and Satterthwaite hitting 56* @ 140sr. Two of Aotearoa's best female cricketers stepping back into the Super Smash with runs and wickets is no surprise and whether it's these two, the Wellington Blaze White Ferns or Auckland's Peterson; stay tuned as to which White Ferns stamp their mark all over this Super Smash.

The flipside to that are the younger players like Prasad, Inglis and Canterbury's Gabby Sullivan who also took 3w with her seam bowling. Sullivan took 4w @ 32.75avg/4.67rpo/42sr in the HBJ Shield and a good Super Smash start is notable for Sullivan because I noted that the leading HBJ Shield bowlers were all youngsters (seam and spin) and Sullivan didn't feature in that group; there's plenty of young talent in all aspects of women's cricket.

The next cluster of games will zone in on Central Districts as the Hinds and Stags host their Northern Districts rivals, then Auckland make the trip down to New Plymouth.

Hit an ad to support the Niche Cache.

Peace and love.