2020/21 Aotearoa Super Smash: Update #3
As Aotearoa's Blackcaps stack up records on records in Christchurch, the Super Smash is on pause for a couple of days ahead of what will be a splash of T20 mayhem to take us deeper into 2021. With a barrage of games to come from Friday onwards, there will hopefully be a bunch of Blackcaps Test players filtering back down to their respective teams and perhaps reminding folks of their Blackcaps T20I credentials.
At the other end of the T20 scale, an Aotearoa 11 has played two games against Pakistan Shaheens and while Jeet Raval made a decent T20 case with 10 runs @ 83.33sr and then 25 runs @ 208.33sr (!!), the youngins are a wee bit more interesting. Canterbury's Rhys Mariu cracked 48 @ 137.14sr opening the batting alongside Raval in the first game as a 19-year-old, while Wellington's Jakob Bhula put up scores of 19 (@ 158.33sr) and 25 (@ 125sr) with 3w @ 4.50rpo in the second game.
Bhula is 21-years-old and is yet to play a Super Smash game, but he does have a bunch of First-Class and List-A games for the Firebirds. Northern Districts Knights' Joe Carter can't be too far off Super Smash selection and he chimed in with 81* @ 155.77sr in the second game vs Shaheens, capping off a hefty stint of Aotearoa A/11 cricket for Carter after the Plunket Shield first stanza; Carter played three A games vs West Indians, then three games vs Shaheens.
The women's Super Smash is being dominated by Wellington's Amelia Kerr. Kerr is 1st in runs with 138 runs @ 138avg/155.05sr, as well as being 2nd in wickets with 5w @ 9.80avg/4.08rpo and apart from Lea Tahuhu's small sample size of 4 overs (3w @ 2.75rpo), Kerr has the lowest economy rate in the Super Smash.
In the Women's Big Bash League a few months ago, Kerr finished 6th in wicket with 17w @ 15.76avg/5.32rpo and that was also the most economical bowling of the best WBBL bowlers. Last summer in the Super Smash, Kerr was 2nd in wickets with 18w @ 12.61avg/5.40rpo and again, that was the most economical of the best bowlers last summer. Kerr has three 50+ scores in her T20 career over 125 games, two of which have come this season.
Central Districts Hinds' Natalie Dodd is having a strong summer. Dodd is 3rd in Hallyburton-Johnstone Shield runs with 248 runs @ 124avg/68.50sr and in six games, Dodd has four not-outs to boost that average up. Carry that over to the Super Smash and Dod has 135 runs @ 45avg/108sr and although Dodd hasn't put up any 50+ scores for the Hinds, she has four consecutive scores of 20+.
Unfortunately for Dodd, CD have lost all four of their games. The Hinds have two White Ferns bowlers and Rosemary Mair was the low key funkiest WBBL kiwi recently, although Mair has taken 1w @ 82avg/6.83rpo and fellow seamer Hannah Rowe has 1w @ 87avg/8.03rpo. Jess Watkin continues to put her hand up for White Ferns duties and while she has 4w @ 20.50avg/6.83rpo, no other Hinds bowler has more than 2 wickets.
Northern Districts Spirit's Caitlin Gurrey hasn't kicked on this summer as much as she would have liked, yet she is simmering away. Gurrey is 3rd in runs with 116 runs @ 8.66avg/131.81sr via scores of 57, 13, 22 and 24, coming after a solid HBJ Shield in which she had three 40+ scores in 6inns.
For both the men and women, Canterbury have played very little cricket and this adds another bit of funk to the next few weeks. Both Canterbury teams have played two games and that is already behind all the other teams, then we have the women having their recent game vs Auckland Hearts rubbed out due to rain and the lads had their corresponding game fizzled down to 5 overs - which Canterbury won.
That makes it niggly to suss out any Cantab matters right now and puts them in a interesting position moving forward as both teams could make some moves in both competitions as the games gather momentum. Apart from Kerr who will live at the top of the Super Smash rankings, I'm generally fascinated to see which bowlers in both competitions step up along with that Cantab factor in the next week or so. There is a hearty crop of women bowlers who have 3+ wickets (14 bowlers) and it's tricky to gauge who is the most notable.
For the lads, 20 different bowlers have 3+ wickets and everyone from Glenn Phillips to Kieran Noema-Barnett to Blair Tickner and Ed Nuttall's 4w in 5ov has done something with the ball. How these bowlers perform against what I suspect will be stronger batting line ups coming soon will be enticing as there will be plenty of sorting done.
After 215 runs @ 43avg/110.82 in the Ford Trophy, George Worker is 1st in Super Smash runs via two 50+ scores in 4inns. Worker's grooving along @ 143.88sr and along with Wellington's Finn Allen they are the only players with two 50+ scores thus far. Both of Workers big knocks came in CD Stags wins at New Plymouth and the Stags have lost their other two games that weren't played at New Plymouth.
Allen is the surprise package of the Super Smash early on and Wellington Firebirds are 3-0 to start their campaign. Allen has 155 runs @ 191.35sr and Allen is the only bloke with 50+ runs and 180sr, which gets more interesting as Allen had one 20+ score in five games prior to the Super Smash. Playing three Plunket Shield games (6inns) and then two Ford Trophy games, Allen did manage a 30 in the FT before starting the Super Smash with scores of 53, 11 and 91*.
How Allen progresses through the rest of the Super Smash will be rather insightful as to where Allen sits in the domestic cricket landscape. In 12 FC games, Allen averages 19.05 and in 15 LA games, Allen averages 19.73 with neither reflecting the talent that Allen clearly has. We've seen a sharp sample in three Super Smash games and Allen's in a lovely position playing for a good Wellington outfit, in a batting line up with Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Michael Bracewell and Jimmy Neesham.
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Peace and love.