Auckland Aces have sealed the top spot of the Ford Trophy ladder heading into tomorrow's final round before Thursday's elimination final. Finishing first has the Aces straight into the grand final on Sunday and via some favourable results elsewhere, the Aces strolled into the grand final with a loss to Northern Districts Knights. With no Aces batsman passed 50 in trying to chase down the Knights' 237, Ben Lister was again the most notable Aces player with his 6w @ 5.37rpo in 9.3ov.

Lister is chillin' at the top of the wicket-taking charts, having taken 21w @ 17.61avg/5.23rpo and for those popping up on to the Ford Trophy radar this summer, one may view this as a breakout campaign for the Auckland lefty. This is however a continuation of Lister's nifty work last summer in taking 7w @ 24avg/4.80rpo (Ford Trophy), which now sees Lister averaging under 25 across all three different formats.

First-Class: 21.83avg.

List-A: 23.90avg.

T20: 24.38avg.

As a lefty, Lister's ability to move the ball into lefty batsman and away from right-handers caught my eye when he appeared on the scene last summer. This is the opposite to what most lefties do naturally; Trent Boult moves the ball into righties, then his variation is to push the ball across righties. Being different is always all good, yet Lister took a few wickets in this haul vs the Knights that showcased a twist on this...

That's BJ Watling, getting a first-ball peach. Lister had dismissed Joe Carter the ball before, getting his natural seam across the righty to hit his pads in front of middle/off, then Lister changed the angle to start super wide, angle the ball into Watling and then that seam movement away. I love this because I'm struggling to think of other lefties on the domestic circuit who naturally seam the ball away from righties - domestic cricket nerds feel free to chuck a name or two into the mix here.

In an Aces group that also features two of the hottest bowlers in Aotearoa right now in Lockie Ferguson and Kyle Jamieson, Lister is a low key factor to pay attention to. I'd be eager to see a Ferguson/Jamieson/Lister attack working together but until then, Lister's currently the best bowler in the Ford Trophy; Lister (17.61avg) and Wellington's Ollie Newton (17) are the only notable bowlers who are averaging less than 20 and Newton hasn't played a domestic game since the Super Smash ended, so I'm happy to roll with Lister right now.

Also in this game, Jake Gibson made his Knights debut with a cheeky 5-for. Gibson is the cousin of fellow Knights seamer Zak Gibson and played for the Aotearoa 11 vs England 11 back in early November, without taking wicket. We'll see how Gibson progresses through the summer and if he can settle into the Knights line up, perhaps further benefiting from some odd batting like this which clattered into Ben Horne's stumps...

Katene Clarke hit 69 and Brett Hampton smacked 57 for the Knights - Clarke's knock offers the funk. I was a bit miffed when Clarke didn't make a Super Smash appearance as his style is suited to that format, then the Knights only had two batsmen in the top-20 for Super Smash runs as the Knights finished last. Even more so considering that leading into the Super Smash, Clarke had five-straight Ford Trophy scores of 20+ and was clearly showing promising signs.

Clarke now has 280 runs @ 35/93.02sr in the Ford Trophy and joins with Knights comrade Henry Cooper, Canterbury's Jack Boyle, Otago's Nick Kelly and Dean Foxcroft as intriguing young batsmen in domestic cricket right now.

Clarke's back foot punch:

Clarke's pull shot:

Jacob Duffy returned to Otago Volts after spending time with Aotearoa 'A' to lead the Volts to victory over Canterbuy. After 51 from Neil Broom and 72 from Dean Foxcroft, Duffy then took 5w @ 3.93rpo in 9.4ov to ensure victory and this takes Duffy to 11w @ 25avg/4.93rpo overall in the Ford Trophy. Duffy has consistently been one of the best Ford Trophy seamers and with a career average of 24.36.

Foxcroft is sitting on 308 runs @ 51.33avg/87.25 and that's freakishly in tune with Foxcroft's career List-A average of 51.54. With a T20 average of 41.46, Foxcroft continues to be someone to keep a close eye on in the coming seasons and since wrapping up the Super Smash, Foxcroft has jacked up scores of 35*, 138 and 72 in the Ford Trophy.

Andrew Fletcher hit 70 and Fraser Colson whacked 59 off 25 balls, but Wellington Firebirds win over Central Districts Stags was all about Devon Conway's 112 ... off just 89 balls. Not much more needs to be said about Conway, who is definitely the best domestic batsman in Aotearoa and first, remember that Conway is the leading run-scorer in Plunket Shield this summer and was the leading Super Smash run-scorer.

Then, take note of Conway's current Ford Trophy stats: 9ins, 552 runs @ 61.33avg/100sr, 2 x 100, 4 x 50.

Conway's career List-A average is 45.63.

One little bonus looksie I've been pondering is the work of Central Districts Stags wicket-keeper Dane Cleaver. Aotearoa's wicket-keeping situation has been nothing but glorious over the past five years and Cleaver has been the low key presence, lurking while the likes of Tom Blundell and Tim Seifert get the shine. For some context, here's how Cleaver's First-Class record stacks up to the others in this mix...

Tom Latham: 43.13.

Dane Cleaver: 40.52.

BJ Watling: 39.13.

Tim Seifert: 37.97.

Tom Blundell: 37.46.

Cleaver's white ball antics haven't been as good, however there are some promising signs here as Cleaver finished 9th in Super Smash runs with 27.80avg/139sr. That's a lovely strike-rate and this came after Cleaver hit 308 runs @ 51.33avg/90.58sr in the five Ford Trophy games before the Super Smash (one game after Super Smash in which cleaver hit 40).

DaneCleaver #INDvsNZ Dane Cleaver batting, Dane Cleaver batting vs India A, dane cleaver 100 vs India, Dane Cleaver 196 vs INDA 2020 Highlights, India A tou...

Post Super Smash, Cleaver wiggled his way into Aotearoa A cricket and put up solid knocks of 33 and 43* in two one-dayers vs India A. Then came a knock of 196 in the first four-dayer vs India A and at the time of writing this (Sat'dee morning), Cleaver is 46* vs India A in the second four-dayer.

One more interesting note about Cleaver is that in both four-dayers, Cleaver is listed as being the wicket-keeper. That's understandable when it's just Cleaver and Glenn Phillips (who I know longer consider a wickie - have you seen him in the field!?) as was the case for the first game and this second game features those two and Seifert. Maybe it's nothing, but this could also signal that Cleaver's making a few waves with steady runs across all formats.

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Peace and love 27.