2020/21 Plunket Shield All Stars
The Plunket Shield is with Canterbury and the leaves are falling, meaning that it is time for another Plunket Shield All Stars team to be named. After the first stanza of Plunket Shield cricket, I whipped up an All Stars team and five players from that first stanza gang have gone on to earn selection in the overall Plunket Shied All Stars team; Hamish Rutherford, Joe Carter, Ish Sodhi, Will Williams and Fraser Sheat.
Various Blackcaps came in and out of Plunket Shield cricket this summer and their efficiency reflects their quality. The Cantabs stand out in this regard as Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Daryl Mitchell and Matt Henry all performed when reppin' Canterbury, while Devon Conway's work from the first stanza still holds up nicely despite Conway only adding 2 innings to his first stanza. The Plunket Shield All Stars is about the domestic troopers, the blokes relied upon to toil away as the Blackcaps wiggle in and out of availability and that's why this team looks the way it does.
Conway's a fun wrinkle though...
In the first stanza, Conway scored 410 runs @ 58.57avg with a century and two haflies from 7inns. Conway finished the season with 456 runs @ 50.66avg from 9inns, not adding a 50+ score but holding on to a top-10 spot in the run-scoring rankings. Conway's 410 first stanza runs would still have him ranked 12th for runs at season's end.
2020/21 Plunket Shield All Stars
Hamish Rutherford, Jeet Raval, Joe Carter, Rob O'Donnell, Michael Bracewell, Cameron Fletcher, Michael Rippon, Ish Sodhi, Fraser Sheat, Blair Tickner, Will Williams.
Rutherford and Raval open the innings. Rutherford finished with seven 50+ scores in his 15inns and that's the most of any batsmen in the PS, while Raval is still a dependable opener at this level. Raval's average of 45.58 was the second highest of the top-5 for runs and the move to Northern Districts Knights proved to work out fairly well for Raval.
Joe Carter finished 1st in PS runs and while Carter is knocking around with a First-Class average of 32.85, his last few seasons have been emphatic. Rutherford and Raval are fine examples of the veterans now running domestic cricket, then there's lads like Carter who made his debut in 2013 and is now peaking with their performances close to that veteran status. Carter had three seasons averaging below 25 in FC cricket, which is now three seasons in a row averaging 40+ for the Knights and Carter has a century in each of these three seasons; two centuries in each of his last two seasons.
Auckland's Rob O'Donnell and Wellington's Michael Bracewell hold down middle order spots. O'Donnell, Bracewell and Carter are all captains of their respective teams and as all three were their team's highest run-scorer, it's pure leading by example. O'Donnell cracked three centuries and a 93 in the second stanza, while Bracewell hit two centuries in the last game and a 56.
Otago Volts' Nick Kelly deserves a mention as he is the only batsman at the top of the charts who isn't selected in this All Stars 1st 11 and he's a contender for these middle order spots. Kelly hit four 50+ scores in the second stanza, while the younger O'Donnell bro Will was also emphatic in the second stanza with two centuries and two 50+ scores. Kelly gets the 12th man spot, while Will O'Donnell is part of the squad.
Canterbury's Cameron Fletcher is our wicket-keeper/batsman. Thanks to four not-outs in his 10inns, Fletcher has the highest average of the notable batsmen with 78.83 (Will O'Donnell is next with 75avg). Aotearoa's wicket-keeping stocks are still jam-packed as Fletcher is slightly ahead of Tom Blundell and Dane Cleaver for runs this summer - Blundell did bang out three centuries and Cleaver hit four half-centuries as a mark of their consistency.
Fletcher finished as the highest scoring wicket-keeper and he was Canterbury's leading run-scorer - Canterbury had no batsmen score 500+ runs (six batsmen). Fletcher won a Championship and that gets him the nod here.
As Otago Volts all-rounder Michael Rippon was solid with bat and ball, I'm amping up the spin funk to select Rippon and Ish Sodhi. Rippon's a lefty-leggy while Sodhi's a leggy-leggy and with a seam attack full of righties, having two spinners move the ball different ways is my required funk. Compare these last two summers for Michael Rippon and tell me you're not a wee bit intrigued...
2019/20
12w @ 23.33avg/3.07rpo | 364 runs @ 72.80avg, 3 x 50.
2020/21
22w @ 34.86avg/3.81rpo | 497 runs @ 45.18avg, 1 x 100, 1 x 50.
Rippon finished with the most wickets for a spinner in the PS, while Sodhi took his wickets at a slightly better average. Sodhi also spread his work across both stanzas having made the first stanza All Stars with 10w @ 25.60avg from 75.4ov which then became 17w @ 28.29avg from 169.4ov. Speaking of first stanzas, Kyle Jamieson took 20w @ 10.85avg in his first three PS games of the summer and then didn't return to PS cricket. Like Conway, Jamieson's first stanza holds up and he finished in 9th for wickets.
Jamieson would be the main contender for Rippon's all-rounder spot, along with Daryl Mitchell. Mitchell's case is compelling as he was genuinely an all-round force and got through five games. I'm rewarding Rippon's PS tenacity here, along with a deep appreciation for the dark arts of wrist spin. Sodhi's spin spot is only in danger from Auckland's Louis Delport who was again really good in limited game time, while Jacob Duffy would be the seamer who presses for selection if I didn't want two leggies.
Duffy is unlucky to miss out on selection generally and he takes up a squad spot alongside Kelly and Will O'Donnell. Last summer Duffy finished 1st in wickets with 22w @ 22.86avg and he nailed the same tally this summer with 22w @ 22.27avg. Given the note about Canterbury's lack of a dominant batsman near the top of the charts, I had to reward Canterbury's seamer who were a dominant force this summer and that means Will Williams and Fraser Sheat get two seam spots.
Williams was 1st for wickets, Sheat 3rd. What's most enticing here is that these two have quietly gone about their work to both have slick FC career records. Sheat is averaging 22.68 from his 17 games and Williams is averaging 23.28 from his 33 games. Central Districts Stags seamer Blair Tickner gets my other seam spot and as far as differentiating Tickner from Duffy, I wanted a hectic-heavy-ball type to compliment the two Cantabs.
Tickner is slowly on the FC improve. His FC career average of 36.32 is due to some wobbles early in his career as he averaged 40+ in each of his first three seasons before averaging below 30 in his next four. This is his second PS in which he has averaged 25 and Tickner finished this summer in 4th spot for wickets.
This is the second season in a row with Duffy, Tickner, Williams and Sheat in the top-10 for PS wickets. Last season Duffy and Sheat were in the top-5, this season all four were in the top-5 and this may point to a changing of the guard in seam bowling at this level.
Hamish Rutherford
15inns, 588 runs @ 39.20avg/52.68sr, 1 x 100, 6 x 50.
Jeet Raval
13inns, 547 runs @ 45.58avg/48.57sr, 1 x 100, 3 x 50.
Joe Carter
13inns, 590 runs @ 53.63avg/48.24sr, 2 x 100, x 50.
Rob O'Donnell
11inns, 546 runs @ 60.66avg/50.88sr, 3 x 100, 1 x 50.
Michael Bracewell
14inns, 560 runs @ 40avg/51.47sr, 3 x 100, 1 x 50.
Cameron Fletcher
10inns, 473 runs @ 78.83avg/59.94sr, 2 x 100, 2 x 50.
Michael Rippon
14inns, 497 runs @ 45.18avg/57.45sr, 1 x 100, 1 x 50.
201ov, 22w @ 34.86avg/3.81rpo/54.8sr.
Ish Sodhi
9inns, 150 runs @ 18.75avg/53.19sr.
169.4ov, 17w @ 28.29avg/2.83rpo/42.9sr.
Will Williams
275.5ov, 31w @ 17.03avg/1.91rpo/53.3sr.
Blair Tickner
179.5ov, 23w @ 25.39avg/3.24rpo/46.9sr.
Fraser Sheat
203.3ov, 27w @ 20.92avg/2.77rpo/45.2sr.
Peace and love.