Building 2021 Plunket Shield Fizz: Notable Youngins (Will O'Donnell, Luke Georgeson, Fraser Sheat)
We are building Plunket Shield buzz here so kick back, spark it up and start to meditate on Aotearoa cricketing funk. The first buzz-builder touched on Ross Taylor, Finn Allen and Jacob Duffy who all have some kind of Blackcaps context boosting their intrigue. Here the focus is on three lads who are more of the deep cut variety, three lads who are trending in the right direction and might burst through this summer; Will O'Donnell, Luke Georgeson and Fraser Sheat.
Auckland Aces batsman Will O'Donnell was a low key monster last summer - well as low key as one can get when finishing as the only bloke with 500+ Ford Trophy runs. Let's refer to CricHQ first though where O'Donnell batted in 5inns (two-dayers and one-day) for Takapuna with four scores over 50, which is to be expected when the best underground domestic cricket batsman dips back into the local scene.
O'Donnell wasn't just the only batsman to score 500+ Ford Trophy runs, he was the only Auckland batsman to score over 300 runs. In the Plunket Shield, O'Donnell was equally effective despite playing just four games...
Ford Trophy: 10inns, 537 runs @ 53.70avg, 1 x 100, 6 x 50.
Plunket Shield: 7inns, 375 runs @ 75avg, 2 x 100, 2 x 50.
That's 17inns for O'Donnell across both formats with 11 scores over 50.
O'Donnell has been slowly building and this sets up an intriguing summer. Having made his List-A debut in 2018, O'Donnell then made his First-Class debut in 2019 before his T20 debut in 2020. Expect 24-year-old O'Donnell to feature in more this summer and that starts with Plunket Shield where he is likely to play more than his four games from last summer.
Wellington Firebirds will roll out another slick youngster this summer in all-rounder Luke Georgeson. Keen observers will already know about Georgeson as he made his LA debut in early 2020 before his FC debut last summer, however his talents have been overshadowed by the likes of Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra and Ben Sears. Here's what Georgeson did in his first summer of Plunket Shield cricket...
Bat: 7inns, 193 runs @ 27.57avg, 2 x 50.
Ball: 4inns, 5w @ 16.60avg/3.32rpo.
A few more runs and Georgeson would already be at that over/under 30avg all-rounder mark. Georgeson only played one Ford Trophy game and his white-ball career has recently been bolstered with a stint in Ireland where he showed his all-round talents once again. Playing in the Ireland one-day and T20 competitions, Georgeson was fantastic with the bat in the one-dayers and slick with the ball in the T20 comp.
One-day Batting: 5inns, 317 runs @ 63.40avg, 1 x 100, 2 x 50.
T20 Bowling: 8ov, 5w @ 12.40avg/7.75rpo.
Georgeson took one-day wickets and had a 50+ knock in the T20s as well. This gives Georgeson a nice development journey as he showcased his Plunket Shield all-round prowess last summer, before having nice moments over in Ireland this winter in the two limited overs formats. Now the 22-year-old lefty bat and righty seamer will probably start the Plunket Shield as a 1st 11 cricketer for Wellington and if Georgeson continues along this route of all-round excellence, he will be a key player for Wellington moving forward.
Canterbury's 23-year-old seamer Fraser Sheat has a fairly obvious Plunket Shield trend to tap into...
2017/18: 26th - 7inns, 13w @ 24.30avg/3.90rpo.
2018/19: 36th - 3inns, 5w @ 36.20avg/4.02rpo
2019/20: 5th - 8inns, 18w @ 20.39avg/3.19rpo
2020/21: 3rd - 14inns, 27w @ 20.92avg/2.77rpo
Early impact, then a tougher season before showing blatant progression up the Plunket Shield wicket-taking charts. Sheat is part of a Canterbury seam bowling unit that I reckon is the best in Aotearoa wth Sheat joined by last summer's leading Plunket Shield bowler Will Williams as well as Ed Nuttall, Sean Davey and Matt Henry - who will likely lace up alongside Tom Latham and Henry Nicholls for round tahi.
Sheat intrigues me because of his development journey and his consistent mahi, along with his scope as a fairly typical kiwi seamer. Sheat could be the type of kiwi seamer who is fantastic in juicy Aotearoa conditions so there is that cautionary veil of kiwi condition illusion. Sheat also has a splash of zip to his work. Sheat swings the ball, nips the ball off the pitch and seems to bowl with decent pace.
After four seasons, Sheat will be eager to add to his record of 63w @ 22.68avg/3.21rpo in 17 games. This feels like the juncture where domestic batsmen start to even things up against Sheat or Sheat has been in the lab working on his bowling. With a tremendous Plunket Shield career already laid out, any nek-level leap for Sheat will command further attention.
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