2021/22 Plunket Shield: Canterbury Are Still Really Good
Last summer Canterbury were a dominant force in Aotearoa cricket, including a Plunket Shield championship where Canterbury were the only team to register more than three wins and 70 points. Canterbury finished with five wins and three draws from their eight games which bumped them up to 109 points while Northern Districts were next best with three wins, two losses, three draws and 69 points. Emphatic.
ND and Auckland are yet to enter the Plunket Shield arena, although there are plenty of signs pointing towards another strong campaign for the Cantabs. Canterbury grabbed their first win of the season against Wellington Firebirds in Plunket Shield round two, while the first two rounds can be easily split between Central Districts playing out two draws and Wellington producing a win first up before losing to Canterbury. CD love a draw, Wellington love a result and Canterbury has done that double.
This whips up the first notable sign of a steady Canterbury start. Canterbury are on top of the PS ladder with a win and a draw on 24 points, while next best is Wellington who they just beat - on 19 points. We've only seen four teams play so far and Canterbury feel like the best team, which stems from their bowling attack.
Cameron Fletcher was the best Canterbury batsman last season and he was ranked 8th in PS runs, giving Canterbury just one batter in the top-10 for PS runs. Compare this to Canterbury's bowling attack where Will Williams finished 1st in PS wickets, Fraser Sheat was 2nd and Canterbury finished with three seamers in the top-10 as well as five seamers in the top-20 for wickets.
Canterbury benefitted greatly from Daryl Mitchell's presence (48avg with the bat, 17avg with the ball) last summer and were graced with immensely efficient mahi from Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls and Matt Henry. Henry averaged 21 with the ball, Nicholls averaged 57 with the bat and Latham averaged 52.
Mitchell is now with Blackcaps at the T20 World Cup and that has had no impact on Canterbury's winning DNA. Mitchell had the best bowling strike-rate and average of Canterbury's bowlers, so don't overlook his absence with the ball, while Ed Nuttall and Sean Davey were part of that top-20 bowling crew last summer with Davey yet to play and Nuttall unable to fire in the first game of this season. How have Canterbury dealt with those absences?
Matt Henry: 2nd - 9w @ 20.88avg/2.43rpo.
Will Williams: 3rd - 8w @ 20.87avg/2.22rpo.
Fraser Sheat: 5th - 7w @ 24avg/2.57rpo.
Henry Shipley: 7th - 6w @ 11.50avg/2.07rpo.
Sure, none of these lads have have the headline funk like Wellington's Nathan Smith (1st - 14w @ 12.35avg) but Wellington only has one bowler in the top-10 for wickets. Like his Blackcaps comrades, Henry is genuinely excellent in PS although I reckon many kiwi cricket fans don't know how consistent Henry, Latham and Nicholls are in their mahi. Williams and Sheat are the two undercover lads, even though they are repeating their dominance from last summer and both have healthy records to start their careers; Williams averages 23 after 35 games, Sheat averages 22.8 after 19 games.
Shipley is the fresh wrinkle to Canterbury and old yarn (from 2016) lists Shipley as 1.96m tall, nudging Kyle Jamieson's 2.03m. Shipley played his first game of the summer and like Jamieson he hit tough lengths against Wellington to snare 3w and 2w, while also chipping in with a knock of 59. Shipley is only 25-years-old but made his FC debut in 2016 and is yet to really settle into domestic cricket. Shipley has the opposite of my slick all-rounder record as he averages 30+ with the ball in all three formats and 20 or below in all formats with the bat. Talent is present though and his mahi vs Wellington was a wee taste of Shipley's skillset.
Two games, two centuries for Tom Latham. Latham is 2nd for runs (4 runs behind Greg Hay), while Cameron Fletcher is 6th with a century and half-century. Nicholls is 9th for runs and Chad Bowes had a knock of 95 vs Wellington as well. Shipley has shown his batting prowess, Cole McConchie is yet to fire after his Blackcaps call up and Ken McClure played his first game vs Wellington without a big score but he cruises around with a First-Class average of 37 after 42 games.
Canterbury have the best seam attack in Aotearoa for the second season in a row, while Latham and Nicholls are the best batters currently in Aotearoa. Fletcher is the most productive batting wicket-keeper in PS for the second season in a row and within the development of Sheat, McConchie getting a Blackcaps sniff or Daryl Mitchell flourishing since moving to Canterbury there are ample signs of growth from an already dominant starting point.
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Peace and love.