Despite playing just one game over the past 11 days, Wellington Firebirds are still leading the Aotearoa Men's Super Smash as the only undefeated team. They are tied on points Central Districts Stags and the Firebirds have a hefty net-run-rate advantage to put them in the top spot, plus the Stags have already got through six games and the Firebirds have won all of their four games. Here's a quick squiz at how the competition looks...

Wellington Firebirds: 4 games, 4-0.

CD Stags: 6 games, 4-2.

Canterbury: 4 games, 3-1.

Otago Volts: 4 games, 2-2.

ND Knights: 5 games, 1-4.

Auckland Aces: 5 games, 0-5.

Canterbury and CD played two games each in the last little four-game window. The Stags snared two wins and they won't play again until next Monday, while Canterbury, Wellington and Northern Districts each have two games coming up in the next four-game window. With games scattered across the schedule, ND and Auckland could make some kind of push in the next week of games, but right now they are the two worst teams - Auckland being 0-5 is pretty hectic.

The best bowler for the Knights is Scott Kuggeleijn, who is ranked 11th with 6w @ 29avg/9.66rpo. The Knights do have Tim Seifert in 3rd for runs with 206 runs @ 41.20avg/111.35sr and also Anton Devcich who scored is 6th in runs and 102 of his 168 runs in one innings with a strike-rate of 175. The next best Knights batsman is Katene Clarke down in 24th which is the issue for the Knights as apart from Seifert and Devcich, they don't have any other lads in the top-10 for runs or wickets.

Auckland on the other hand, have lost all their games yet they have Sean Solia 5th in runs and Will O'Donnell 7th in runs. I've yarned about O'Donnell a fair bit as he churned out runs in the Ford Trophy and that's flowed into the Super Smash as his five consecutive 50+ scores in Ford Trophy then became four consecutive 20+ scores in the Super Smash including a 50* yesterday vs Canterbury. Solia has two 50+ scores in his 5inns.

The issue there is that O'Donnell is scoring @ 115.04sr and Solia is slightly more exciting with 127.20sr. Peep Seifert's 111.35sr and the trend starts to become clear as these two teams don't have many top run-scorers and those that they do have aren't scoring at the same rate as the other notable batsmen.

Danru Ferns is the best bowler for Auckland, ranked 5th with 7w @ 26avg/11.03rpo and while Ferns' bowling strike-rate is nifty (14.1sr) he is the only bowler with 5+ wickets (13 bowlers) who is conceding more than 10rpo. Auckland's Will Somerville is the leading spinner of the Super Smash with 6w @ 26.83avg/9.47rpo and he is also more expensive than most of the top bowlers; Auckland have two of the three most expensive bowlers with 5+ wickets.

Why are Auckland struggling? They can't contain opposition batting units and can't score runs quickly enough. The easiest comparison is directly against the best team so far in the Firebirds and while they don't have a bowler in the top-5 for wickets, Jimmy Neesham is 6th and Hamish Bennett is 9th. Neesham and Bennett are the only bowlers in the top-10 who are conceding less than 7rpo.

Not only does Wellington have the two most effective-economical bowlers, they have Finn Allen in 2nd for runs with the highest strike-rate of the 15 batsmen with 100+ runs. Allen has three 50+ scores in his 4inns, with a strike-rate of 191.66 and the next best strike-rate is Doug Bracewell's 187.69sr. Bracewell is having a jolly ol' all-rounder time for CD Stags in the Super Smash:

Allen has the highest strike-rate, while hitting 28 fours and 8 sixes. Compare that to George Worker who is 1st in runs with 148.24sr and has 15 sixes, or Josh Clarkson who is 4th in runs with 172.97sr and has 12 sixes or Devcich who has 175sr with 13 sixes. Worker and Allen are the only two batsmen who have cracked 20+ fours. Wellington are 1st overall, with two of the most economical bowlers and the swiftest batsman.

CD Stags have Worker, Clarkson and Bracewell in the top-10 for runs. All have strike-rates of 140+ and to keep it a full steak and cheese, the Stags have only played two of their six game in New Plymouth at Pukekura Park. The Stags did score 200+ runs in their two games at Pukekura Park, they have also scored 186 at Hagley Park and 223 at University oval.

CD Stags also have Joey Field and Bracewell ranked 3rd and 4th with the ball. These are Field's first six games of Super Smash cricket and he started his T20 career with 2+ wickets in each of his first three games, then he took 1w in his next three games to currently sit with 23.14avg/7.71rpo. Bracewell is intriguing as he is having a solid summer overall, even though Bracewell didn't feature in the Ford Trophy's first stanza.

Playing three Plunket Shield games, Bracewell took 11w @ 24avg/2.58rpo to go with a century. In two games for Aotearoa A vs West Indians, Bracewell then took 9w in 4inns @ 19.55avg and that flowed into the Super Smash where Bracewell has four of six games with 1+ wicket.

Canterbury are the funkiest team to pay attention to in this next week. In their next four games they play ND and Wellington twice each, notable as they are yet to play Wellington and lost their one game vs CD Stags. Canterbury have two wins over Auckland in their first four games and a win over Otago (middle of the pack), so how Canterbury step up in the second half of the competition will be enticing.

In Matt Henry and Ed Nuttall, Canterbury have two of the four best bowling strike-rates. Otago's Mathew Bacon (2nd, 8w @ 17.87avg/9.64rpo) has a strike-rate of 11.1, while Neesham is low key the most efficient bowler in the Super Smash with the best economy rate and a strike-rate of 11 that is tied with Nuttall. Henry has a strike-rate of 11.6 and that gives Canterbury two of the best bowlers thus far...

Matt Henry: 7th, 6w @ 13.83avg/7.11rpo/11.6sr.

Ed Nuttall: 8th, 6w @ 14.66avg/8rpo/11sr.

Chad Bowes is the best batsman for Canterbury, ranked 10th with 120 runs @ 164.38sr. Daryl Mitchell bolsters the Cantabs' batting line up and I suspect we will see Henry Nicholls add his 29.63avg/126.52sr into the mix in the next few games. Don't sleep on Tom Latham either as he has a similar T20 record to Nicholls (27.53avg/132.88sr) and while neither gets Blackcaps T20I opportunities, they tend to perform strongly at the Super Smash level.

Depending on who then makes way for Nicholls and Latham, Canterbury's batting line up can also feature younger lads like Ken McClure, Leo Carer and Jack Boyle. Wicket-keeper Cameron Fletcher is slugging @ 162.50 down the order as well and I find this all notable as Canterbury could have an impressive batting unit to help out their bowling attack that hasn't had much juice other than Nuttall and Henry.

Mitchell has already made an impact with bat and ball, snaring 3w @ 21avg/9rpo in his two games. Playing four games with one five-over excursion in there, Canterbury aren't going to have numerous bowlers with big runs or wicket counts. What's crucial here is their efficiency and there isn't much efficiency in Will Williams averaging 40/27sr, along with spinners Cole McConchie (70avg/60sr) and Todd Astle (105avg/78r) both struggling.

Quick reminder of Williams' recent antics...

2019/20 Super Smash: 8th in wickets, 12w @ 21.91avg/9.33rpo/14sr.

2020/21 Punket Shield: 1st, 21w @ 13.28avg/2.18rpo.

2020/21 Ford Trophy: 2nd, 12w @ 15.08avg/3.74rpo/24.1sr.

That's a hefty drop off for Williams and whether he can flip this Super Smash start into a far more effective back end will be a key factor for Canterbury. McConchie and Astle have both bowled 10+ overs each and McConchie is suffering the same dip as Williams considering that McConchie was ranked one spot ahead of Williams in last summer's Super Smash; 7th, 12w @ 19.66avg/6.74rpo/17.5sr.

Where's the spin in this Super Smash? Last summer, McConchie was ranked 7th for bowlers and was behind Ajaz Patel and Ronnie Hira for the best spinners. That's three spinners in the top-10. This summer, Somerville is the best spinner in 10th. While Williams and McConchie have struggled to back up last summer's Super Smash, Astle's doing much of the same. In two games last summer, Astle took 1w @ 48avg/6rpo/48sr and this summer he has 1w in four games @ 105avg/8.07rpo/78sr.

Canterbury play their next two games at Hagley Park, first vs ND Knights and then vs Wellington Firebirds. Their batting line up could be a bit crazy if Nicholls returns, double that up if Latham slides back into Super Smash cricket as well. The most important factor though will be their bowling unit and as these next two games are both in Christchurch, the fact that Canterbury have taken a combined 11w in their two home games so far suggests that they'll need to slice and dice more wickets to step into that Wellington and CD Stags realm.

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Peace and love.