Since 2014/15 Wellington Firebirds have won four Aotearoa Super Smash titles, with their win over Canterbury Kings in this summer's Super Smash final giving Wellington back to back championships. The wahine couldn't quite make in four in a row as Wellington Blaze went down to Canterbury Magicians, but with Aotearoa's best T20 batsman in Devon Conway and a couple other notable T20 monsters, the Firebirds once again made the Basin Reserve their disco.

Putting 175/8 on the board, Canterbury enjoyed another solid knock from Cole McConchie after whack whack cameos from Chad Bowes (37 runs @ 160.87sr) and Daryl Mitchell (35 runs @ 145.38sr). Led by Conway's 93* @ 147.62sr, the Firebirds were able to chase down their target with a couple deliveries to spare ... I need to sit on that McConchie knock though.

Having just celebrated Kate Ebrahim's crucial innings for Canterbury Magicians, I had to note the similarities with McConchie's knock. Henry Shipley chimed in with lower order hitting to bump the tally up to the competitive 170+ range and with all this T20 cricket on our plate, I've had the importance of solid, hearty knocks laid out in front of me a few times recently. McConchie finishes the Super Smash 5th in runs with a rather low strike-rate of 120.16 and like Ebrahim, McConchie was and often is tasked with navigating the middle stages of an innings.

For most teams, whether Super Smash or Aotearoa, these are the key knocks to watch out for. They lay the platform for the hitters to score quickly around them and obviously, McConchie's knock of 44 added 40-odd important runs to the tally. Appreciate the big hitters, don't overlook the grit and class required to flip momentum after wickets fall.

When a team has Devon Conway, it's a slightly different story. We're all Kane Williamson fans and I genuinely think Williamson is the best batsman of any format in Aotearoa. Conway is right there though and the ability to score runs freely, without taking too many risks puts Conway in rare air. Conway can go up an over, all around the boundary. Most of the time, Conway cracks boundaries along the carpet and they can come from wide deliveries outside off, straight deliveries blasted through cover or any of these variations on the leg-side which quickly get dispatched.

14 batsmen hit more sixes than Conway. Finn Allen was the only Super Smash batsman to hit more fours than Conway though, hitting 56 fours to Conway's 52. In his 93* to win the final, Conway hit 11 fours and 1 six. When Conway is in such a flow, bowling to him becomes a nightmare and considering that this is a back to back Super Smash championship and that Conway has averaged 40+ in four consecutive Super Smash campaigns; Conway was still fizzed to drag his Firebirds to victory.

Notable T20 monsters and yet Wellington tapped into their role-players to help win this final. Hamish Bennett is one of four Super Smash bowlers to finish with 13+ wickets, ranked 4th overall with 13w @ 25.23avg/7.74rpo/19.5sr. Remember that last season, Bennett was 1st in wickets with 17w @ 17.17avg/7.20rpo/14.2rpo.

In this final vs Canterbury Bennett bowled 4ov @ 10.50rpo without a wicket.

15 bowlers finished with more wickets than Ben Sears, yet Sears' 6.86rpo is the most economical of all those bowlers. In the final, Sears bowled 4ov @ 8.50rpo.

Jimmy Neesham has a case for being the best Super Smash bowler with 12 w@ 17.50avg/7.87rpo/13.3sr. In the final, Neesham managed 1w @ 9.75rpo.

They are Wellington's three best bowlers and all three diverted from their strike-rates and economy rates that they had built prior to the final. Up steps Logan van Beek, the ultimate role-player for this Wellington team who is as good in the field as he is with the ball and all you need to know about LVB with the bat is that his 61 runs off 27 balls is the highest Super Smash strike-rate of the summer: 225.92sr.

Van Beek took 3w @ 7rpo off his 4ov in the final. Chuck in 2w @ 8.33rpo from leggy Peter Younghusband and Michael Bracewell's 2w @ 3rpo to give you 7 of the 8 wickets taken by Wellington's bowlers. Of the Super Smash bowlers who bowled 10+ overs, Bracewell took 8w @ 11.2sr to finish with the best bowling strike-rate. Bracewell is the only spinner who finished with a strike-rate below 15.

Apart from Conway, there is a similar vibe to the Firebirds batting unit. Finn Allen is Finn Allen and he managed 16 @ 145.45sr, Tom Blundell was out for 0, Neesham chipped in with a handy 18 runs @ 150sr and superstar bowler Michael Bracewell (also a key batsman) was dismissed for 4 with Wellington on 145/5 in the 17th over chasing 176.

Troy Johnson hit 28 @ 186 batting #4 and further down the order, Jamie Gibson finished not-out on 16 @ 160sr alongside Conway. Just like van Beek, Younghusband and Bracewell filling a void with the ball, Johnson and Gibson made up for a lack of runs elsewhere in supporting Conway.

That's handy in winning a final, also rather interesting in the context of this Wellington cricket culture. The Firebirds have been the best Super Smash team of recent years, yet Johnson made his T20 debut in January 2019 and Gibson made his debut in December 2019. These two lads may not have been playing in the final if Rachin Ravindra was healthy and Ravindra has added plenty to the Firebirds since making his T20 debut in January 2019. Ben Sears made his debut in December 2018, but he played seven of his 12 games this season.

Finn Allen wasn't really playing Super Smash last summer.

Allen did make his T20 debut back in January 2017 for Auckland, but he's played 11 of his 13 games this season after moving down to Wellington. Maybe it's how settled the rest of the Firebirds unit is and the clarity in what they do, the roles they play etc that makes it seem as though the Firebirds Super Smash dominance is about Conway and Bennett churning through their work each summer. The reality is that Wellington have eased various lads into the team and these lads help their team win ... win games and win championships.

Consider this: Wellington's second best Super Smash batsman last summer was Michael Pollard and Ollie Newton was 1 wicket behind Bennett as the best Super Smash bowlers overall.

Neither of them played a Super Smash game this summer. Two of Wellington's best players from their 2019/20 championship run didn't play a game in this season's championship run.

All of which is present in Logan van Beek, a bloke who takes me deeper into an idea about skilled role-players and crucial team members. Van Beek finishes the Super Smash tied with Bennett on 13w as the leading wicket-takers for Wellington, with van Beek and Bennett ranked 3rd and 4th respectively. Van Beek has the highest batting strike-rate and that's of immense importance when batting lower down the order.

Van Beek is also the best fielder in the Super Smash. When Wellington want to squeeze, van Beek is there at short mid-wicket. When the boundary needs protecting, it's van Beek who is flying around the park putting on a Logan van Bank show. In covering a lot of sport, the importance of a role-player who can efficiently contribute in multiple ways can never be overlooked.

This summer of men's Super Smash will be remembered for the arrival of Allen. It's another Super Smash of that Conway bloke dominating. Hamish Bennett holds the crown as the best Super Smash bowler throughout the last five years. I'll remember this Super Smash as the time when I watched and learned about a cricket team/organisation hit a peak in living out a supreme team culture. Winning the men's Super Smash final thanks to pure top-tier talent, mixed in with lads executing their undercover roles with precision and confidence.

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