Sometimes a game of cricket can boil down to the best player doing what they do best and for Canterbury's Ford Trophy final win over Northern Districts, it was Henry Nicholls who led Canterbury to victory. An almighty summer for Canterbury continues as they made the Super Smash final, won the Ford Trophy and head into the Plunket Shield second stanza at the top of the ladder.

ND did a fine job putting a competitive target on the board batting first, especially as Canterbury's bowlers tapped into some pitch juice. There's more on the Knights below and while 289/7 from 50 overs was solid, it felt as though Canterbury could chase down anything with Nicholls opening, Ken McClure in the midst of a low key delightful summer and Tom Latham holding it down at #4. Chuck in Chad Bowes' 42 @ 105sr early in the innings to snap momentum in favour of Canterbury, plus Daryl Mitchell waiting in the middle order and Canterbury were stacked with batting prowess.

Nicholls finished on 127* and for all the noise about Blackcaps batting positions, this summer has been all about Nicholls doubling down on his status as one of Aotearoa's best. Here's how the summer of 2020/21 looks for Nicholls...

Plunket Shield: 1inns, 87 runs.

vs West Indians: 1inns, 76 runs.

Ford Trophy: 5inns, 365 runs @ 121.66avg/91.93sr, 2 x 100.

Tests vs WI/Pakstan: 5inns, 405 runs @ 81avg, 2 x 100, 1 x 50.

Since the start of the Test series, Nicholls has batted in 7inns (Test and FT) and scored four centuries. Nicholls didn't play any Super Smash cricket and has stacked runs up in the two longer formats, all of which amounts to Canterbury having the best player in this Ford Trophy final. It's far more fun to talk about other batsmen at the moment, so keep in mind that Nicholls has been doing the job for the Blackcaps and behind the domestic cricket veil he has asserted himself as a run-scoring monster.

Canterbury have four of the top-five Ford Trophy batting averages this summer. This would be niggly if lads were ranked via one or two innings played, but the top of these rankings feature decent sample size and the fact that most were Cantabs proved an interesting note. Here's the top-five...

Henry Nicholls: 365 runs @ 121.66avg.

Cameron Fletcher: 156 runs @ 78avg.

Tom Latham: 280 runs @ 70avg.

Tom Blundell: 278 runs @ 69.50avg.

Ken McClure: 480 runs @ 68.57avg.

Fletcher batted down the order for Canterbury and was often finishing off innings, while the Nicholls/Latham/Blundell combo is enticing for Blackcaps fans as these lads dropped down to FT and flexed. Then we have McClure and while it's hard to connect with how easy Nicholls makes batting look, there is hearty vibe with what McClure is doing this summer. Having made his FC debut back in 2015, McClure was clearly a talented batting prospect who then encountered a niggly patch and kept on grinding.

Here at The Niche Cache, we've gone through views falling off a cliff and money slip away. We've had the high moments of increased mana and buzz, then it dips back into the shadows. You've experienced it as well, whether you're an athlete on the rise dealing with all sorts of setbacks or a joker who can't seem to catch a break or some good vibes. Keep grinding, work hard to get better and time will sort it out.

McClure had his rough patch and after scoring 314 runs @ 62.80avg in the Plunket Shield last summer, he started this summer with a big ol' 165 in the Plunket Shield (312 runs @ 44.57avg). In this summer's FT, McClure has enjoyed five 50+ scores in 8inns and 480 runs @ 68.57avg/93.75sr. McClure has been there all season for Canterbury, which is evident in only he and Nichols being in the top-10 for FT runs from Canterbury.

Averaging 45.50 in List-A cricket and 39.34 in First Class, I've got McClure in a funky group of Aotearoa 'up and coming' batsmen. This was mainly sparked by what went down in the Knights innings though as Katene Clarke hit 82 and Joe Carter hit 70, two batsmen who along with Henry Cooper (20 runs) simply look like quality batsmen and have the records to back it up.

To lay this out, I broke it down by teams...

Auckland: Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman.

ND: Henry Cooper, Joe Carter, Katene Clarke

CD: Will Young.

Wellington: Rachin Ravindra, Finn Allen.

Canterbury: Ken McClure

There are the top-end lads, peaking with Will Young who is already sniffing around the Test team and then the Auckland duo who are a step behind for Test selection. Otago have batsmen like Nick Kelly and Dean Foxcroft (who still appears stuck in South Africa) who are on the cusp of the group above, but don't quite have the cross-format domination to be thrown in here. I'm fairly confident that the next few Blackcaps Test and ODI batsmen will come from the group above.

The Knights trio of Cooper, Carter and Clarke are interesting because they have shown impressive signs of development with Northern Districts. Who has been the best White Ferns player as the get smoked by England? Northern Districts' Brooke Halliday and she wasn't part of any NZC development contract list.

The White Ferns are an easy comparison here as players don't feel like they get better in the White Ferns set up and this is manifested in the White Ferns performances. Whether it's Halliday or the trio of blokes, maybe even spinner Joe Walker who has had to fit around Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner - Northern Districts genuinely improve their players.

Here's the Knights trio in FT this summer...

Henry Cooper: 9inns, 405 runs @ 50.62avg/91.62sr, 1 x 100, 3 x 50.

Katene Clarke: 12inns, 387 runs @ 32.25avg/88.15sr, 4 x 50.

Joe Carter: 6inns, 289 runs @ 48.16avg/79.39sr, 4 x 50.

Carter is currently 2nd in Plunket Shield runs and was 4th last season. Cooper was 2nd in Plunket Shield runs last season and these two are both averaging mid-30s in FC and LA cricket. Carter finished the FT with scores of 58, 71, 75 and 70. Clarke's a bit further down the pecking order but like Finn Allen, there's obvious batting class that is being put through the domestic cricket washing machine.

If you want these lads ranked; Young, Chapman, Phillips, McClure, Carter, Ravindra, Cooper, Allen, Clarke.

There was also a glimpse of Colin de Grandhomme doing what CDG does with his 57 @ 154.05sr for the Knights. This was de Grandhomme's only 50+ score in the FT and acros the Super Smash, although de Grandhomme consistently gave the ball a whack with a SS strike-rate of 159.37 to go with his relatively explosive FT strike-rate of 129.03. De Grandhomme has only bowled 4 overs in this last 10 games (SS and FT).

And so the fascinating tale of CDG continues.

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Peace and love.