Today, the Ford Trophy elimination final goes down between Canterbury and Otago Volts as Auckland Aces wait for the winner up north at Eden Park. That leaves us with Northern Districts and Wellington Firebirds who were on the cusp of cracking the top-three, then Central Districts finished well behind the pack in last spot. Today, I'm going to zone in on the best performers for those three teams and any other funky notes with regards to the Stags, Firebirds and Knights.

The two leading run-scorers prior to this elimination final are Devon Conway (Wellington) and Henry Cooper (ND), which could make one wonder how their teams haven't slid into finals cricket. They are however, the only two lads from their teams in the top-10 for runs and we have to go down to Katene Clarke (ND) in 17th and Andrew Fletcher (Wellington) in 18th for the next best.

Everyone knows what Conway has been up to and he moves into the second stanza of Plunket Shield as the leading run-scorer in all three formats. I've noted Conway's domestic cricket stats many times this summer, so here I'll note his career List-A numbers of 44.98avg/85.86sr and the fact that Conway averages over 40 in First Class and List-A, while an extremely healthy 39.66avg in T20 cricket.

Also important for someone like Conway who dominates all formats are his strike-rates across the formats and perhaps the most important sign of Conway's class is the variance in his strike-rates. Conway has a FC strike-rate of 57.03, which rises through the white ball formats to 85.86 in LA and then 124.84 in T20. This makes it impossible to pigeon-hole Conway into one format and is the best indicator that this dude is a monster.

Cooper has also commanded plenty of my attention and while celebrating Conway is the easiest thing to do in kiwi cricket, celebrating Cooper's rise is more of a low key domestic cricket nerd activity. I may even go as far as crowning Cooper underground king status as he feels like the best cricketer no one is talking about and Cooper currently 2nd in Ford Trophy runs and 4th in Plunket Shield runs.

Getting through two Plunket Shield games earlier in the summer with 220 runs @ 55avg, Cooper settled into a FC career average of 37.91. That had me leaning into Cooper being an interesting long-form opening prospect and there was little to suggest that Cooper would soon explode with runs in the one-day format. Despite not hitting a century, Cooper did manage to hit four 50+ scores in 9inns and finished with 52.12avg/92.05sr.

Again, that strike-rate is notable not only because it showcases the ability to slide between formats but it's also a significant leap up from his career LA strike-rate of 75.85. Cooper's joined by another youngster in Katene Clarke as the Knights' best batsmen and while Clarke wasn't quite as productive as Cooper, there were more than enough signs of Clarke being an intriguing prospect with his 286 runs @ 31.77avg/93.15sr as a 20-year-old.

What a moment for Katene Clarke as he is handed his cap on his ND debut 👏👏👏#ndtogether #FordTrophy #cricketnation pic.twitter.com/oM6pNqcbiC
— Northern Districts (@ndcricket) November 17, 2019

The Knights haven't been so good this summer in white ball cricket and in the Cooper/Clarke duo, ND have reason to not be so down as they integrate fresh players into their group and others get more opportunities. Joe Carter was just behind Clarke in terms of runs and he has started to become settled selection in the Knights 11, while the two best bowlers for ND were Anurag Verma with 15w @ 25.40avg/5.60ro and Brett Randell with 9w @ 19.77avg/4.94rpo.

Verma has previously been in and out of the domestic circuit, before becoming a permanent fixture in the Knights white ball stuff this summer and Randell's a 24-year-old seamer settling into the line up. That's more than enough reason to take this season's results on the chin with the knowledge that the Knights' best performers have been younger player or in Verma's case, someone who hasn't quite wiggled into a comfy domestic spot.

Central Districts were led by Seth Rance's 16w @ 29.83avg/5.50rpo, with Rance appearing to slide out of Blackcaps white ball antics and this saw him play a whole of of Stags cricket. The issue for CD was that no one else really came close to matching Rance and while Willem Ludick is a fine prospect, that Ludick was the next best with 10w @ 41.90avg/5.98rpo is not the best sign.

That's because Ben Wheeler took 4w @ 45avg/5.45rpo and Ajaz Patel took 3w @ 63.66avg/5.16rpo. In all fairness though, the Stags were steadily ravaged by injury and consistent ins/out with all sorts of 'A' cricket mixed in this summer. This could be a lovely summer for Ludick to grow from a greater workload as he bowled 70 overs in the Ford Trophy which has him in the higher bracket of busiest bowlers and ideally Ludick can use this as a foundation from which to build upon.

Dane Cleaver continues to be the most interesting Stags batsman right now and after jacking up 308 runs @ 51.33avg/90.58sr in the Ford Trophy, Cleaver then put up scores of 196 and 53 in the Aotearoa A four-dayer vs India A. The Stags also unleashed another wicket-keeper/batsman in Bayley Wiggins, who at 21-years-old grabbed 204 runs @ 68avg/97.14sr in his first four games of Ford Trophy cricket.

Here are some snaps from Wiggins' last innings - his first century on the domestic circuit...

I'd also like to point out Brad Schmulian's super duper low key numbers. Schmulian is 3rd in Plunket Shield runs with 256 runs @ 51.20avg/54.58sr and that became 177 runs @ 59avg/105.98sr in the Ford Trophy (couple not-outs in there). Consistent selection isn't something Schmulian has enjoyed in a stacked Stags group for the past few summers, making his career numbers even more impressive; FC average of 39.90, LA average of 59.

Here’s a 1st 11 from the Firebirds, Knights and Stags, excluding those who have been in Blackcaps squads this summer…

Devon Conway: Wellington, 55.30avg/99.46sr.

George Worker: CD, 46.37avg/87.29sr | 35.87avg/5.77rpo.

Ben Smith: CD, 39.55avg/80.18sr.

Michael Bracewell: Wellington, 39.50avg/77.26sr | 32.30avg/4.27rpo.

Henry Cooper: ND, 52.12avg/92.05sr.

Dane Cleaver (wk): CD, 51.33avg/90.58sr.

Kieran Noema-Barnett: CD, 54.33avg/101.24sr | 35.20avg/8.44rpo.

Anurag Verma: ND, 25.40avg/5.60rpo.

Brett Randell: ND, 19.77avg/4.94rpo.

Ian McPeake: Wellington, 16.64avg/4.42rpo.

Seth Rance: CD, 28.93avg/5.50rpo.