2021/22 Women's Super Smash: Bouncing Back With Suzie Bates and Amelia Kerr
Wellington and Otago started the Women's Super Smash with wins this weekend as Amelia Kerr and Suzie Bates continue to bounce back from a tricky starts to 2021. Wellington defeated Canterbury on Friday afternoon with Kerr's 71 runs @ 129sr taking the Blaze to 145/6 before Kerr's 4w @ 3rpo led the way in dismissing Canterbury for 101 in reply.
Wellington also had scores from Georgia Plimmer (34 @ 136sr) and Leigh Kasperek (28 @ 107sr), which throws up an early spotlight on 17-year-old Plimmer. Plimmer popped up in patches last summer for Wellington and starts this Super Smash in the opener's slot. Stretching back to the last game of the previous summer, Plimmer has four consecutive scores of 20+ and her knock this weekend is the peak.
Here are Kerr's last three games, including two Hallyburton Johnston Shield games...
For a player of Kerr's ability, domestic domination is to be expected. The key here is looking back to the period of cricket that was part of Kerr taking a break from cricket and how Kerr hit pause, did the mahi and appears to have emerged as a better cricketer. Early in 2021, Kerr played England and Australia in Aotearoa which amounted to her worst year of ODI and T20I bowling where Kerr averaged 40+ in both formats for the first time. 12 innings with the bat generated one 50+ score.
This was such a drop in Kerr's all-round production that it was a key note from last summer, hence it wasn't a surprise when Kerr took a break. Since returning to cricket in Aotearoa, Kerr has been a force with the ball taking 14w in three games and her knock this weekend caught the eye as Kerr looked relaxed, classy and confident. A weapon in the field, there is a brewing aura to Kerr the cricketer and you'd be wise to catch her in action as she is often the best player in a game with the ability to impact a game with bat, ball and in the field.
Frances Mackay started in typically solid fashion for Canterbury with 3w @ 5.75rpo and 41* @ 91sr. With Mackay, Amy Satterthwaite and Lea Tahuhu in their team, Canterbury can compete with any opponent but didn't get the wide range of contributions for a win against Wellington. One thing to keep tabs on with Canterbury is Sarah Asmussen after grabbing a NZC Women's Development Contract as her excellent work in commanding that contract has drifted away to start this summer.
Asmussen led all wicket-takers in last season's HBJ Shield with 19w @ 18.84avg, while also taking 5w @ 23.20 in the Super Smash. This season, Asmussen has 1w @ 152avg after four HBJ Shield games and while she took 1w @ 7.33rpo vs Wellington, Asmussen's wicket came from skewed full-toss.
Jess Watkin couldn't lead Central Districts to victory over Otago, although she is an intriguing cricketer given that she has dipped out of various NZC squads and lists. Watkin took 2w @ 5.50rpo as CD restricted Otago to 134/6 and then hit 32 runs @ 133sr opening the batting as CD fell short to finish on 126.
Watkin has taken 13w in her last four games (three HBJ Shield games) and is CD's leading HBJ Shield bowler with 11w @ 15.81avg. Watkin was also the only CD batter with a strike-rate over 100, although that's not the case in Super Smash as 21-year-old Georgia Atkinson cracked 37 runs @ 154sr. Like Watkin, Atkinson has found a steady amount of runs to start this summer with three consecutive 20+ scores and the x-factor to ponder moving forward is Hannah Rowe.
Rowe didn't take a wicket in her first three HBJ Shield games, before 2w and 61 runs in CD's last HBJ Shield outing. Rowe took 1w @ 7rpo before being dismissed for a duck and as Rowe impressed in the ODI portion of the tour to England, while taking 2w in 9ov in the T20I series vs England; I'm curious about the impact of Rowe in this Super Smash.
Suzie Bates hit 64 @ 123sr to lead Otago's batting innings, before Hayley Jensen took 4w @ 5rpo, Kate Ebrahim took 2w @ 6.50rpo and Sophie Oldershaw took 3w @ 4rpo. Oldershaw is a 23-year-old leggy and that's notable given that Kerr, Asmussen and Atkinson are all leggies as well. Oldershaw has taken 2+ wickets in three consecutive games and took 10w @ 18.90avg in last summer's Super Smash.
Jensen and Ebrahim are hunting World Cup spots. Jensen should continue to shine with a focus on her bowling, while batting in the middle order and Ebrahim's impact on games should not be under-estimated; if Ebrahim isn't scoring runs, she will probably take wickets. As for Bates, her vibe is similar to Kerr in the sense that Bates is bouncing back from a tough 12 months.
In three T20Is and five ODIs vs England, Bates had two scores over 20 and a highest score of 34. Bates hit 62 in the last HBJ Shield game before slugging 64 this weekend, which will hopefully see Bates find a groove as the competition rolls on.
This is the joy of the Super Smash as each of these teams need their best players performing well to win games. Kerr was dominant for Wellington in their win, Bates and Jensen were dominant in Otago's win while their opponents didn't enjoy the same contributions from their best players. At the same time, there is plenty of funk in which young players/fringe White Ferns contribute to wins and all of this frames how I'll be breaking down the summer of women's cricket ahead of the home World Cup.
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Peace and love.