Each round of Hallyburton Johnstone Shield cricket is introducing something new whether it’s Northern Districts breaking out of northern restrictions to play their first games of the summer, or Abby Gerken scoring big runs for the first time with Canterbury. Canterbury and Otago had a win each in their double-header, while Central Districts were too good for Northern Districts winning both games by a decent margin.

Let's start with Gerken. The 19-year-old Cantab hit 50 on Saturday in the loss to Otago, before a knock of 108 helped Canterbury set a hefty target in a win thanks to the bros Duckworth and Lewis. In a game featuring Amy Satterthwaite, Suzie Bates and Kate Ebrahim, Gerken was the only player with two 50+ scores in this match up and she bounced back nicely from an opening series vs Wellington in which she had scores of 14 and 0.

Gerken is one of many Aotearoa Under 19 players from last summer’s games against Aotearoa Police who has settled into wahine domestic cricket. Three games were played between U19 and Police with Gerken hitting scores of 3 and 13 while not playing the second game. Gerken struggled in this series and was over-shadowed by others, however Georgia Plimmer and Molly Loe are the only players from that U19 team who have had notable starts to this summer - most aren’t playing HBJ Shield.

Gerken went from not many runs while batting #4 for U19s, to opening for Canterbury in HBJ Shield with scores of 50 and 108. That’s rather impressive, especially against an Otago bowling attack that has experienced campaigners like Hayley Jensen and Kate Ebrahim alongside some of Aotearoa’s best young bowlers.

Canterbury also enjoyed the mahi of 26-year-old Jacinta Savage with bat and ball. Savage took 2w in the first game, 1w in the Sunday game and after a knock of 6 runs she went large with 61. Savage offers all-round talent and ahead of a home World Cup there is a lack of input from the supporting cast which could see Savage come into contention if she continues to build.

Another player who has already put a heap of pressure on White Ferns despite not getting a fair crack is Kate Ebrahim. Ebrahim had scores of 96* and 22 in the first weekend of her Otago career and now she has backed that up with 66 and 56 vs Canterbury. Ebrahim is the only player with three 50+ scores so far, after being the only player with two centuries in last summer's HBJ Shield.

I view Ebrahim as a perfect World Cup squad member. There is a strong case to be made that she should be in the White Ferns 1st 11 ahead of younger players, at the very least she is someone who can play any role for Aotearoa during a tournament. Ebrahim has started this summer in the same dominant fashion as her last four summers of cricket and common sense suggests that this should lead to more than two T20I games last summer for a struggling Ferns outfit.

Caitlin Blakely hit 63 on Saturday, then Suzie Bates hit 62 along with 76 from Hayley Jensen and 60* from Katey Martin on Sunday.

Bates didn't score over 40 in England and started HBJ Shield with scores of 12, 6 and 0.

Jensen couldn't snap up her chance to open for Aotearoa last summer in Bates' absence and has been a steady 1st 11 player despite averaging 12.89 in ODI and 8.88 in T20I with the bat. Jensen does have 6w @ 18.66 so far in HBJ Shield though and a hefty knock yesterday (76 @ 104.10sr) is a boosted early in the summer.

Martin is yet to be dismissed while cruising along @ 118.81sr in four games.

Otago continue to impress with their youngsters. 25-year-old Blakely hit her first 50+ score of the summer, while 20-year-old Emma Black is 3rd for wickets with 9w @ 15.22avg and 20-year-old Eden Carson is 5th with 7w @ 16.28avg.

What did the first sighting of ND produce?

Kayley Knight took 3w on Saturday, while no ND batter passed 30 runs. Then Kate Anderson hit 54 and Sam Barriball hit 55 on Sunday.

Knight played for Aotearoa Under 19s earlier this year and while I'm hopeful that the World Cup squad will consist purely of Aotearoa's best cricketers, the domestic stuff is all about the young wave. Knight was joined by ND’s other Aotearoa U19 reps Nensi Patel and Lucy Boucher for the first games of their season.

Jess Watkin was the star for CD as she hit 23 runs with 4w on Saturday, then smacked 87 runs @ 140.32sr with 3w on Sunday. Watkin is trying to get back into the White Ferns mix and after not taking a wicket in the first game, Watkin has taken 4w, 4w and 3w to go with the highest batting strike-rate in the HBJ Shield (124.27sr). Of the 17 players who scored 200+ runs last season, Watkin had the highest strike-rate and she's repeating the dose this summer.

CD had runs from Emily Cunningham (58) and Mikaela Greig (65) on Saturday, while Hannah Rowe hit 61 @ 108.92sr on Sunday. Cunningham is 24-years-old and Greig is 26-years-old, with Greig scoring 20+ in four consecutive games to be ranked 5th for HBJ Shield runs.

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Peace and love.