Finn Allen Is Aotearoa's Funkiest Domestic Cricketer
Ford Trophy and Hallyburton Johnston Shield cricket flows on today, providing a breezy break from the hard and fast Super Smash action. Finn Allen will be playing in one of two Ford Trophy games today as Wellington come up against Auckland again and Allen will be out to back up his 86 runs @ 156sr that gave Wellington a hot start, reaching 307/9 only for George Worker and Mark Chapman to bang centuries for victory.
There are sneaky wrinkles in that such as Chapman's progress in the 'next up' tier, although I'm fascinated by Allen's mahi. I already believe Allen is Aotearoa's best slugger after a dominant Super Smash last summer was backed up with the same style in T20Is and now Allen has played all three domestic formats this summer. Taking in all three formats is important in understanding Allen's style of batting and from there, doubling down on Allen the slugger is the only outcome.
Allen hasn't been as dominant in this summer's Super Smash - yet. Allen is one of 22 batters with 100+ runs and in this group of 22 batters, Allen's strike-rate of 198 is the highest. Allen is only averaging 21.80 which is down from 56.88avg last summer but his strike-rate after five games is slightly higher. If Allen is smacking 20 runs @ 190sr, Wellington have the steady luxury of quick stars.
Three games down in Ford Trophy and Allen has 117 runs @ 39avg/129sr. As Allen's other FT scores are 23 and 8, his most recent knock bolsters his record.
Four games down in Plunket Shield and Allen has 183 runs @ 22.87avg/63sr. Allen's highest score is 44 and while his strike-rate is typically lower for four-day cricket, Allen is still Wellington's only batter with 100+ runs (eight batters) and 60+ strike-rate.
This summer is in glorious alignment with Allen's career. Allen is at his best when swinging hard and while this is most evident in the Super Smash with games on the telly or however you stream your things, Allen has fair sample size of emulating this in Ford Trophy. When Allen isn't going hundies, then the runs don't flow.
After just six T20I games, Allen has 190sr and outside of internationals Allen has a T20 strike-rate of 173. Allen also has a career List-A strike-rate of 108 after 23 games and most one-day batters are well under 100sr, with the best cruising around 90sr. This season Allen is operating with 129sr in FT and last season, Allen had a strike-rate of 141 through seven games (241 runs @ 34.42avg) which gives us two one-day campaigns with Allen whacking boundaries.
Last season, Allen hit 15 sixes in the FT and finished with the most. This season Allen has hit 6 sixes in three games and I'm intrigued to see how that winds up with a greater sample size. In both summers Allen has high T20-ish strike-rates and among the most sixes, which falls into the flow of what we know about Allen the slugger in Super Smash and T20I cricket.
This wasn't always the case for Allen though and a move down to Wellington seems to have sparked the funk. Here's what Allen did in FT with Auckland...
2018/19: 5inns, 41 runs @ 8.20avg/61.19sr.
2019/20: 5inns, 113 runs @ 22.60avg/80.71sr.
Allen didn't play Super Smash with Auckland and his move to Wellington resulted in consistent opportunities up the top of the batting order as well as freedom to whack boundaries. Allen's Super Smash and Ford Trophy batting are now aligned in Wellington, while it's harder to play with Allen's freedom in Plunket Shield.
Last summer Allen scored 40 runs @ 6.66avg/30sr in 6inns for Wellington. Allen has at least elevated his Plunket Shield batting this season even though he doesn't have the big knocks like his 104 (retired out) for Aotearoa 11 vs a touring English team. Allen hit a century against Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer, Stuard Broad, Jack Leach and Ben Sokes back in late 2019 which caught the attention of many keen observers.
That knock was interesting, but hold up; don't cling to warm up game performances. I have seen this with White Ferns players earning steady selection through warm up games in which more than 11 players are used, batters retire and everyone's kinda chillin'. Allen's century came alongside runs from Jakob Bhula's 61 and Bhula is fighting for consistent Wellington selection, as well as 56* from Sandeep Patel who is yet to kick on into Northern Districts 1st 11 despite being a decorated junior.
Patel's last two games of notable cricket featured 69 for Aotearoa 11 vs a touring Sri Lanka team and then the England stuff. If Patel did that for an Aotearoa Wahine 11, he'd be in the White Ferns. Instead, Patel is yet to crack domestic cricket and this makes it tricky to truly gauge talent from warm up games where the whole vibe is less intense.
Allen's Plunket Shield mahi around this time for Auckland was actually in tune with his hundy vs England. In 2018/19, Allen hit 181 runs @ 25.85avg/52sr across 9inns and this was followed by a knock of 66 (81 runs all up) for his lone 2019/20 appearance for Auckland. Then the move to Wellington saw Allen shine via his slugging while some of his red-ball quality dipped away and based on what I've seen from Allen, this feels more like Allen embracing his natural style.
When Allen scores his runs, he does so very quickly. When Allen isn't scoring runs, his strike-rates fall away and now that we have a larger sample size to work with, it's clear that Allen is a rather unique figure in kiwi cricket. As fans of kiwi cricket, we need to view Allen accordingly and embrace his style of cricket without the usual negative kiwi vibes that keep a lid on individual funk. Allen is a slugger, Aotearoa's best slugger and a T20 World Cup in Australia feels like a perfect chance to see what kind of ceiling Allen's style has.
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Peace and love.