Plunket Shield cricket is coming. There could be some fixture niggle as all sports within Aotearoa are wiggling through, but we should at least get a taste of Aotearoa's greatest cricket competition. You probably don't need to try and build a fizz, you probably get that fizz going with the summer stench in the air. Whatever amount of help you need to build the Plunket Shield fizz, fizz on up...

Ross Taylor is an easy bloke to start with for Central Districts Stags. No matter how cool you think the next young batting chap is, Taylor doesn't seem to be going anywhere and all Taylor has to do is keep scoring enough runs. There is enough Rossco mana that unless the Blackcaps selectors poo their pants, Taylor only has to score enough runs and he isn't required to dominate his way into the mix.

We last saw Taylor in the World Test Championship Fina where he put up scores of 11 and 47*, capping off a fairly solid Test campaign in England for Taylor. Taylor had scores of 14 and 33 in the first Test vs England with the 33 coming as Taylor put the team first and played aggressively to push the Test along. Taylor then hit 80 and 0* in the second Test against England, while his final Plunket Shield game of last summer had scores of 4 and 50 from Taylor.

There were a lot of single-digit scores mixed into Taylor's summer, yet splitting this up to focus on longform cricket makes for intriguing reading. Three Tests and one Plunket Shield game for two half-centuries, a pure team-first knock and 47* in winning the WTC.

Cricket fans have a few chances to see Taylor play Plunket Shield cricket live and Taylor is making a hearty push late in his career to further his greatness. While that revolves around his Blackcaps mahi and how long Taylor can perform at the highest level, it's these pockets of domestic cricket that form the building blocks for Taylor's twilight push. Plunket Shield will be where Taylor enjoys the vibe, builds confidence and refreshes on his path through unexplored territory.

Finn Allen is Aotearoa's best slugger. Allen isn't good enough for T20 World Cup selection though and we should get a glimpse of Allen in the Plunket Shield for Wellington Firebirds. I have a good hunch about what Allen is as a white-ball slugger while I'm still trying to suss out what Allen is capable in the longer formats. We have all heard about Allen's century in a warm up game vs England's touring group a few summers ago which hasn't amounted to much; First-Class average of 19.05.

Allen had a strike-rate of 140.93 in seven Ford Trophy games and it felt like any big Allen knock outside Super Smash last summer came with Allen smacking it to all parts. Allen could prove himself to be a batting alien who is so superior at slugging that he takes this into Plunket Shield. Alternatively this could be a weakness in Allen's game where he can't find a bridge between white-ball slugging and the mahi required to deal with kiwi seamers on spring pitches.

Otago Volts young veteran Jacob Duffy finally got a taste of Blackcap selection last summer after making his FC debut in 2012. Along with the likes of Will Young, Tom Blundell and Daryl Mitchell, Duffy is a slow-cooked Blackcap who has toiled away on the domestic circuit. This provides an interesting battle between the slow-cooked lads and those who are enjoying swift zaps in the Blackcaps microwave like Rachin Ravindra.

For Duffy specifically, there is a route available for him as the prototypical kiwi swinger. Aotearoa is now graced with various types of seam bowlers and Duffy is the bloke who bowls full, swings the ball away from right-handers and is hopefully emulating Tim Southee's skill to nip the ball both ways. Duffy finished 1st for Plunket Shield bowlers in 2019/20 and 5th last summer, averaging 22 in both campaigns and a hot start to Plunket Shield will put Duffy in an enticing spot just after he's cracked Blackcaps T20I squads.

Duffy is 27-years-old and has been on the scene for a long time. His last two summers have been the best back-to-back FC summers of his career - the only time Duffy has averaged below 25 for consecutive summers. If Duffy wants to bump himself up a level, he's got some momentum to work with.

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