Only two games of Ford Trophy cricket were played over the weekend with Otago Volts vs Northern Districts Knights scratched, while Central Districts Stags got up over Auckland Aces and Wellington Firebirds defeated Canterbury. I'm finding the batting things far more interesting compared to the bowling department and that may be due to a lack of funky, intriguing bowlers in the Ford Trophy, then flowing into the amount of runs being scored.

I'll have to wait until the competition finishes to dive deeper into that assessment, with an even number of games to compare between last summer and this summer. Conditions obviously have a hefty impact and most of Aotearoa has been enjoying the fruits of summer, making life tricky for our lovely medium-pacers. There are a few points of intrigue with someone like Auckland's Ben Lister who has 15w @ 21.26avg/5.21rpo and also averages under 30 in all formats to start his career, Seth Rance's still dominating and Ollie Netwon can't do wrong.

Nothing super-duper funky at this juncture though, other than Jimmy Neesham's continued all-round extravaganza. Wellington batted first vs Canterbury, with Devon Conway hitting 57, Tom Blundell 97 and Neesham 70, followed by Neesham taking 2w @ 6.11rpo in his 9 overs.

This was Neesham's first 50+ score of the Ford Trophy, with 192 runs @ 38.40avg/98.96sr and it comes after Neesham averaged 45.80/134.70sr in the Super Smash. The bowling is what is perking up my antenna with Neesham as his form is undeniable with the white ball having averaged 19/8.47rpo in the Super Smash and now averaging 18/5.33rpo in the Ford Trophy.

I'll stretch this into Aotearoa 'A' cricket as well, where Neesham was Aotearoa's most efficient bowler with 14w @ 12.25avg/3.92rpo. Neesham has taken a wicket in each of his past nine games he's bowled in and taken 2+ wickets in each of his last four games - two one-dayers vs India A, then two Ford Trophy games. The averages are so low for Neesham via his light workload, which is an obvious example of Neesham's potency and this is best shown in Neesham being the only bowler of the 18 lads who have taken 8+ wickets in the Ford Trophy, who has bowled less than 35 overs (27ov).

Ponder the secret sauce in Wellington that has Hamish Bennett back in the Blackcaps, Ollie Newton being a factor in domestic cricket and Neesham currently sitting as the most effective bowler around Aotearoa. Such sauce doesn't flow throughout the Firebirds batting line up, although Devon Conway ain't slowing down his run-production any time soon.

Conway knocked his fifth 50+ score in 8inns, taking him to 55avg/95.03sr and the following streak of runs:

101*, 51, 69, 49 (SS), 138, 59, 57 (FT).

Blundell didn't have an amazing series vs India A (53 runs @ 17.66avg/69.73sr) and that came while George Worker, Mark Chapman and Cole McConchie were all rockin' with run. In returning to Ford Trophy for a brief stint prior to Blackcaps ODI duty, Blundell got back on track with this 97 and the class of Blundell has been on display in how he has dealt with the challenges of different formats; gritty in Tests vs Australia, back into Super Smash for two games with strike-rates of 116 and 119 then a two game Ford Trophy strike-rate of 96.07.

Canterbury can call on their own in-form Blackcap with Henry Nicholls putting up 55 in the loss to Wellington and that's his third 50+ score in as many games. Nicholls has first crack at the Blackcaps ODI opening job vs India and since returning from Australia, Nicholls has a Super Smash 39 @ 139sr, then scores of 120, 62 and 55 in the Ford Trophy with a strike-rate of 90.11.

CD Stags unleashed wicket-keeper Bayley Wiggins on to Auckland Aces for his second List-A game, first List-A innings and Wiggins cruised to 98 against two of the best white-ball bowlers in domestic cricket right now Kyle Jamieson and Ben Lister. That Wiggins opened alongside George Worker is notable as Wiggins' previous outings with the Stags saw him bat further down the order in one Super Smash game and one Ford Trophy game.

The Stags middle-order is back to being stacked with Doug Bracewell returning to the 1st 11 and with Dane Cleaver smacking 196 for Aotearoa A in their four-dayer, Wiggins dominated his opportunity up the top. Wiggins was however out done by Auckland's Jeet Raval, who hit 118 to lay the foundations for an Auckland win and Raval's low key been rather steady in the one-day format.

Shunned as the Blackcaps Test opener, Raval's cruising with a Ford Trophy strike-rate of 100.97 and scores of 60, 30 and this 118. What many folks didn't note about Raval's slump, was that it slipped into his Plunket Shield work earlier this summer and Raval wasn't merely struggling in Test cricket as he wobbled to 24 runs in 3inns prior to the Test series vs England. Raval didn't pass 40 for 10inns, then his saviour the Ford Trophy came along.

I've mentioned the A series going down at the moment, so I'll quickly offer a few notes on that...

Mark Chapman hit a century (2inns) in the one-day series, followed by a century in the four-dayer.

Cole McConchie's also loving the series as he's got a 50+ score in either format.

Kyle Jamieson took 6w @ 29.66avg/6.93 in the one-dayers, going nicely with his 9w @ 32.77vg/5.17rpo in the Ford Trophy.

Two surprises...

Ajaz Patel was the best spinner of either team in the one-dayers with 4w @ 22.25avg/7.41rpo.

Michael Rae the best bowler from the first four-dayer with 5w @ 29.80avg/4.13rpo.

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Peace and love 27.