Women's cricket in Aotearoa is settling down after the domestic season and a White Ferns T20 World Cup excursion, leaving me pondering about the state of women's cricket in Aotearoa. When I'm in that kinda mode, I lean into the depth of women's cricket and enjoy the process of laying out how the tier below international cricket looks and especially when folks seem to know little about the White Ferns and even less about what sits beneath the surface.

To help suss all of that out, I've put together a Niche Cache White Ferns 2nd 11 team. This team excludes players from the White Ferns T20 World Cup squad and skews towards younger players, or those who could push for future White Ferns selection with an objective of better preparing these players to contribute to the White Ferns. There are players like Frances Mackay, Natalie Dodd and Hannah Rowe who could very easily be in any White Ferns squad, but for whatever reason sit outside that bubble and obviously deserve a 2nd 11 nod.

With each player, I've included their stats from the Hallyburton-Johnstone Shield (one-day) and Super Smash (T20) from this season. I've tried to put this together in some kind of order, although keep in mind that the main idea here is to put together a group of 12 cricketers sitting in the tier below the White Ferns. This is less about a competitive team and more about the group of 2nd 11 cricketers.

There are two wicket-keepers in Natalie Dodd and Jess McFadyen, both of whom primarily batted in the top-order for the respective teams. Dodd was in the top-10 for runs in both the HB-J Shield and Super Smash, while McFadyen didn't play much Super Smash as Wellington Blaze relied on Rachel Priest to handle the top-order/wicket-keeping duties. Dodd's a senior player in this 2nd 11, so Dodd can chill with her batting and maybe roll the arm over while McFadyen handles the wicket-keeping duties. As always, a 12th-woman is required and I've picked Jacinta Savage in that spot. Savage could very easily be in the team of 11 and deserves to be part of this group via her all-round performances this summer.

Caitlin Gurrey

24yrs, Northern Districts.

Bat

One-day: 1st, 576 runs @ 72avg/82.40sr, 2 x 100, 4 x 50.

T20: 3rd, 416 runs @ 52avg/133.33sr, 1 x 100, 3 x 50.

Frances Mackay

29yrs, Canterbury, offies.

Bat

One-day: 2nd, 569 runs @ 94.83avg/77.10sr, 4 x 100, 1 x 50.

T20: 6th, 298 runs @ 37.25avg/76.21sr, 1 x 50.

Ball

One-day: 3rd, 13w @ 16.69avg/2.93rpo.

T20: 19th, 7w @ 28.71avg/6.21rpo.

Felicity Leydon-Davis

25yrs, Northern Districts, seam.

Bat

One-day: 3rd, 421 runs @ 52.62avg/68.45sr, 1 x 100, 2 x 50.

T20: 14th, 186 runs @ 23.25avg/101.63sr, 1 x 50.

Ball

One-day: 24th, 6w @ 40avg/4.55rpo.

T20: 30th, 4w @ 67.75avg/7.29rpo.

Natalie Dodd

27yrs, Central Districts, offies.

Bat

One-day: 5th, 385 runs @ 48.12avg/56.95sr, 3 x 50.

T20: 8th, 273 runs @ 30.33avg/98.55sr.

Jess Watkin

21yrs, Central Districts, offies.

Bat

One-day: 6th, 385 runs @ 42.77avg/102.66sr, 1 x 100, 2 x 50.

T20: 7th, 275 runs @ 27.50avg/152.77sr, 2 x 50.

Ball

One-day: 24th, 6w @ 47avg/3.71rpo.

T20: 19th, 7w @ 36.42avg/6.89rpo.

Jess McFadyen (wk)

28yrs, Wellington.

Bat

One-day: 4th, 400 runs @ 66.66avg/72.72sr, 1 x 100, 2 x 50.

Kate Anderson

23yrs, Northern Districts, seam.

Bat

One-day: 11th, 258 runs @ 36.85avg/113.65sr, 1 x 100.

T20: 27th, 99 runs @ 11avg/106.45sr.

Ball

One-day: 5th, 11w @ 22.09avg/4.74rpo.

T20: 32nd, 3w @ 21avg/10.50rpo.

Eimear Richardson

33yrs, Northern Districts, offies.

Bat

One-day: 17th, 207 runs @ 29.57avg/115.64sr.

T20: 31st, 83 runs @ 10.37avg/138.33sr.

Ball

One-day: 2nd, 22w @ 19.90avg/4.92rpo.

T20: 30th, 4w @ 65avg/6.84rpo.

Hannah Rowe

23yrs, Central Districts, seam.

Bat

One-day: 14th, 228 runs @ 32.57avg/65.70sr.

T20: 36th, 68 runs @ 8.50avg/82.92sr.

Ball

One-day: 7th, 11w @ 28.63avg/4.19rpo.

T20: 17th, 8w @ 36.37avg/8.04rpo.

Bella Armstrong

20yrs, Auckland, seam.

Ball

One-day: 1st, 24w @ 14.95avg/3.93rpo.

T20: 18th, 8w @ 37.87avg/6.58rpo.

Fran Jonas

Auckland, lefty-offies.

Ball

One-day: 19th, 7w @ 21.14avg/3.81rpo.

T20: 26th, 6w @ 33.50avg/6.62rpo.

Jacinta Savage

24yrs, Canterbury, seam.

Bat

One-day: 15th, 227 runs @ 28.37avg/60.53sr.

T20: 20th, 163 runs @ 18.11avg/94.21sr.

Ball

One-day: 11th, 10w @ 31.60avg/5.06rpo.

T20: 9th, 12w @ 18.50avg/6.49rpo.

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Peace and love 27.