2020/21 Aotearoa Women's Super Smash All Stars
On the back of the Aotearoa Super Smash All Star blokes, now it's time to deliver the women's All Star Super Smash outfit. Enjoying women’s Super Smash cricket first requires a slightly different perspective as there are different elements in women’s T20 cricket to men’s cricket; different skills have different value. One of these elements I’ve pondered is scoring runs of slower bowlers, where there is minimal pace on the delivery. Who can crack those for six and who can still score runs quickly without big sixes? Maybe it’s more bowlers who naturally move the ball into righties than out-swing? Perhaps it’s the plethora of spinners that makes women’s Super Smash so fun.
A key factor in building my Super Smash wahine All Stars is experience. This is amplified when pondering how Super Smash players would transition into international cricket and as we've seen over the past few years, the gap between Aotearoa domestic cricket and international cricket is considerable. My Super Smash All Stars team strongly resembles a White Ferns T20I 1st 11 and that's due to how these women have performed in the Super Smash, along with me designing a team that can go head to head with the best T20I teams in the world.
2020/21 Super Smash Wahine All Stars:
Sophie Devine, Frances Mackay, Amy Satterthwaite, Katie Perkins, Katey Martin, Anna Peterson, Amelia Kerr, Leigh Kasperek, Lea Tahuhu, Holly Huddleston, Jess Kerr.
Sophie Devine and Amy Satterthwaite are easy selections. For all the buzz around Devine, Satterthwaite has snuck into the leading Super Smash run-scoring spot (three more innings, 10 more runs than Devine) and the dominance of these two world-class cricketers bodes well for Aotearoa's cluster of internationals coming up. The presence of Devine and Satterthwaite allows for Frances Mackay to open with Devine, with Mackay able to bat freely and add value with her offies.
Mackay is the leading wicket-taker and while she doesn't have a 50+ score in her 10inns, Mackay does have a couple knocks in the 40s and enough runs generally to warrant selection. In the middle order, Katie Perkins and Katey Martin hold it down with their consistency and low key; Mackay, Perkins and Martin all have strike-rates over 100.
Obviously Satterthwaite and Devine are scoring swiftly and there are some big hitters down the order. For Martin and Perkins, this was a key factor. Perkins has eight 20+ scores in her 10inns and Martin has five 20+ scores in 10inns with her last 6inns producing all five of those scores, capped off with knocks of 42, 44 and 85 in the last three games. Consider that reliability in the middle order and both have 100+ strike-rates overall.
At this level, I need players who can deal with the best bowlers in the world and if those bowlers can dismiss Devine and Satterthwaite, there is comfort in having the grizzly duo of Perkins and Martin coming in next. Aotearoa women's cricket is flush with spinners and this is a funky pocket to watch out for as various White Ferns teams could tap into the abundance of spinners to deliver interesting team selections. Here, it's all about the Mackay, Amelia Kerr, Anna Peterson and Leigh Kasperek.
Mackay's the leading wicket-taker, while Kerr, Peterson and Kasperek all have cases for being among the best spinners in the world. Kerr also happens to be 4th in runs with a strike-rate of 138.69, Peterson has 171 runs @ 132.55sr which is the 4th highest strike-rate for batswomen with 100+ runs and Kasperek scored 102 runs in 5inns @ 110.86sr.
Four very legit spinners and all four have batting strike-rates of 100+. Peterson and Kerr are the key figures in finishing an innings, batting below the steady Martin/Perkins combo and if required, Jess Kerr, Lea Tahuhu and Holly Huddleston are all capable of scoring runs. With the ball, Huddleston is the leading seamer, 2nd overall with 15w and while there are some impressive young seamers emerging in this Super Smash (Arlene Kelly, Jesse Prasad, Gabby Sullivan), Jess Kerr and Tahuhu have once again been impressive.
Jess has been slightly better with the ball than her sister Amelia, currently sitting as the second best Wellington bowler behind Kasperek. Tahuhu is the most economical of the 16 bowlers with 8+ wickets and it's a race between Tahuhu and Kasperek for the most wickets in fewest deliveries bowled; Kasperek has 13w in 23.2ov, Tahuhu has 8w in 24ov.
This is a fun team. Big hitters, experience and different ways of scoring runs Three seamers, four spinners reflects a key trend in Aotearoa women's cricket with the abundance of spin and all these bowlers can hit a ball. Plus, even Devine and Satterthwaite can bowl. Rather skillful bunch.
Sophie Devine
6inns, 354 runs @ 70.80avg/187.30sr, 1 x 100, 3 x 50.
8ov, 5w @ 9.80avg/6.12rpo/9.6sr.
Frances Mackay
10inns, 184 runs @ 23avg/106.35sr.
35.4ov, 19w @ 9.15avg/4.87rpo/11.2sr.
Amy Satterthwaite
9inns, 364 runs @ 60.66avg/134.31sr, 3 x 50.
19ov, 5w @ 25.60avg/6.73rpo/22.8sr.
Katie Perkins
9inns, 244 runs @ 30.50avg/103.82sr, 1 x 50.
Katey Martin
10inns, 265 runs @ 29.44avg/116.74sr, 1 x 50.
Amelia Kerr
9inns, 276 runs @ 46avg/138.69sr, 3 x 50.
36ov, 9w @ 19.77avg/4.94rpo/24sr.
Anna Peterson
8inns, 171 runs @ 21.37avg/132.55sr, 1 x 50.
27ov, 8w @ 16.75avg/4.96rpo/20.2sr.
Holly Huddleston
7inns, 152 runs @ 38avg/94.90sr.
30.4ov, 15w @ 10.93avg/5.34rpo/12.2sr.
Leigh Kasperek
5inns, 102 runs @ 51avg/110.86sr.
23.2ov, 13w @ 10avg/5.57rpo/10.7sr.
Lea Tahuhu
24ov, 8w @ 13.62avg/4.54rpo/18sr.
Jess Kerr
5inns, 35 runs @ 17.50avg/129.62sr.
36ov, 10w @ 19.40avg/5.38rpo/21.6sr.
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Peace and love.