2020/21 Aotearoa Super Smash All Stars
All that's left for the Aotearoa Super Smash is finals cricket, leaving three teams chillin' and three teams having a cheeky net or two in the coming days. To take stock of what's gone down in the Super Smash for the blokes, there is no better task than assembling the Niche Cache All Stars to do battle with anyone who wants the T20 niggle.
2020/21 Super Smash All Stars:
Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Tim Seifert, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Josh Clarkson, Jimmy Neesham, Doug Bracewell, Will Somerville, Hamish Bennett, Blair Tickner.
Wellington Firebirds get the opening combination after Finn Allen exploded with Super Smash runs at the top of the Firebirds line up. In three Plunket Shield games and two Ford Trophy game, Allen scored a combined 76 runs this summer prior to the Super Smash and took that to 496 runs with a chance to crack Devon Conway's mark of 543 runs last summer.
CD Stags veteran George Worker sits 2nd in runs ahead of the finals and like Conway, Worker is a lefty which would keep that righty/lefty opening combo in tact if I partnered Allen with Worker. Conway is 3rd in runs and I really enjoy watching Conway bat, so I had to roll with Conway in this Firebirds opening pair. Plus, Conway is unlikely to finish 1st in Super Smash runs for the third season in a row but he's right there at the top once again and that deserves some aroha.
Tim Seifert wasn't as destructive as one would like and his strike-rate of 115.63 is the lowest of the 20 batsmen who scored 200+ runs. Seifert stacked up runs though and was often in a tricky spot with Northern Districts Knights lacking the batting contributions of other teams. With Seifert, we know what we'll get and I'm excited to have Auckland's Mark Chapman in that top-four behind Seifert as there are four batsmen here who can literally score boundaries all around the park. Chapman played the fewest games of this group, yet he did score 20+ for four straight games and scored his runs @ 162.22sr
I love legit all-rounders and this summer's Super Smash had them in abundance. Daryl Mitchell was typically solid with bat and ball, there is a decent case on offer for Jimmy Neesham being the best Super Smash bowler and Doug Bracewell's has the second-highest strike-rate of batsmen with 100+ runs. 13 bowlers have 10+ wickets, including Neesham and Bracewell while Mitchell chimed in with 8 wickets.
Central Districts Stags slugger Josh Clarkson is perhaps the wildcard of selection. Clarkson has a strike-rate of 166.06 heading into the finals and in 10inns he only passed 50 once, alluding to what Clarkson does best in scoring 27 off 19 balls as he did vs Wellington at the Basin Reserve. Overall, Clarkson has a T20 strike-rate of 144.32sr across 59 games.
The only point of selection that is spitting out of the rough at my front dawg, are the righty-seamers. Four of the five best bowlers in the Super Smash are righty-seamers with a heavy ball style and I've gone with the leading wicket-taker Blair Tickner, along with Hamish Bennett who is in 2nd and loves Super Smash bowling. It's niggly to have three all-rounders who bowl righty-seam as well as these frontline seamers as I love the funk, however all of these seamers go about their work in slightly different ways; Mitchell's slower, Neesham hits a length with variation, Bracewell's lovely out-sting and accuracy, Tickner steams in and Bennett's ... is Bennett a mystery seamer?
The spinner? Auckland Aces tweaker Will Somerville.
Somerville is ranked 4th for bowlers and the leading spin wicket-taker. 10 bowlers conceded less than 7rpo in the Super Smash and eight of them are spinners. None of them are Somerville and none of those economical spinners took wickets like Somerville, which when combined with this All Stars bowling unit has me confident that Somerville can snare wickets as others build pressure.
Finn Allen
10inns, 496 runs @ 62avg/196.04sr, 6 x 50.
Devon Conway
9inns, 362 runs @ 51.71avg/133.08sr, 4 x 50.
Tim Seifert
10inns, 281 runs @ 28.10avg/115.63sr, 2 x 50.
Mark Chapman
5inns, 219 runs @ 43.80avg/162.22sr, 2 x 50.
Daryl Mitchell
8inns, 251 runs @ 31.37avg/128.71sr, 2 x 50.
25.4ov, 8w @ 29.25avg/9.11rpo/19.2sr.
Josh Clarkson
10inns, 274 runs @ 30.44avg/166.06sr, 1 x 50
Jimmy Neesham
5inns, 71 runs @ 17.75avg/109.23sr.
22.4ov, 11w @ 15.54avg/7.54rpo/12.3sr.
Doug Bracewell
10inns, 210 runs @ 52.50avg/190.90sr, 2 x 50.
35ov, 10w @ 29.70avg/8.48rpo/21sr.
Will Somerville
31ov, 12w @ 24.83avg/9.61rpo/15.5sr.
Hamish Bennett
38.2ov, 13w @ 22avg/7.46rpo/17.6sr.
Blair Tickner
38ov, 15w @ 20.73avg/8.18rpo/15.2sr.
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Peace and love.