2022 Plunket Shield: Five Funky Things
Plunket Shield cricket is nearing the end of the first stanza and ahead of round four's fixtures, here are five funky things from the glorious cricket competition.
Tom Latham and Matt Henry Dominate With Canterbury
No Blackcaps love to dominate domestic cricket like Tom Latham and Matt Henry. Canterbury are first on the PS ladder with the same 2-1-1 record as Central, but Canterbury are three points ahead and have a superior run-rate. Latham has two centuries in four innings this season, after hitting two centuries in four innings last season. Canterbury won the competition in 2020/21 and Latham was fairly solid in that campaign as wel...
2020/21: 7inns, 365 runs @ 52.14avg, 1 x 100, 2 x 50.
2021/22: 4inns, 262 runs @ 87.33avg, 2 x 100.
2022/23: 4inns, 361 runs @ 120.33avg, 2 x 100.
Henry keeps on gathering wickets as well. Henry is the only bowler with 20+ wickets this season and he has bowled the most overs in PS so far, with better efficiency than most kiwi seamers.
2020/21: 127.2ov, 13w @ 21.3avg/2.17rpo.
2021/22: 150.2ov, 21w @ 17.76avg/2.48rpo.
2022/23: 134.1ov, 23w @ 11.69avg/2rpo.
Spinners Are Spinning
Canterbury's seam attack is so productive that they don't need many overs from their spinners, although spinners are enjoying a steady workload in PS. Keep this in mind over the summer as spinners play a role in all formats of domestic cricket but they aren't graced those opportunities for Blackcaps.
Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy and Neil Wagner are the only bowlers who have racked up 100+ overs, which puts Will Somerville's 95.2 overs into context. Somerville is the only Auckland bowler who has churned out 80+ overs. Somerville is the best spinner so far and his consitency works well alongside Auckland's seamers, while Auckland deployed young leggy Adithya Ashok alongside Somerville in one game as well.
Ajaz Patel plays a similar role for Central. Patel took 3w in his first three innings before a 5-wicket-haul in the final innings of Central's win over Northern. Patel's 77 overs put him second to Doug Bracewell as Central's busiest bowlers and their recent opponents Northern had spinning brothers Joe and Fred Walker sharing overs.
Michael Rippon has a similar record as Patel after three games as Otago's leading spinner, while Rachin Ravindra has quietly settled as Wellington's busiest spinner. Ravindra has picked up overs left by Michael Bracewell's absence and he is third for overs bowled with Wellington.
Will Somerville: 95.2ov, 12w @ 20.25avg/2.54rpo
Ajaz Patel: 77ov, 8w @ 30.25avg/3.14rpo
Michael Rippon: 65.5ov, 8w @ 31.75avg/3.85rpo
Rachin Ravindra: 73ov, 7w @ 33.42avg/3.2rpo
Adithya Ashok: 40.4ov, 5w @ 21.2avg/2.6rpo
Joe Walker: 83ov, 5w @ 45.6avg/2.74rpo
Tom Bruce and Jacob Duffy On The Fringes
Tom Bruce leads all batters with 365 runs @ 73avg (1 x 100, 3 x 50) and this follows on from Bruce's two double-hundies to end last season (858 runs @ 143avg). Bruce finished first for PS runs last summer and he's right back there this season. Bruce had a niggly Aotearoa 'A' tour of India where he averaged 16 in the four-dayers and 6.66 in the one-dayers, now he is returning to his status-quo as a top-tier domestic batter.
Jacob Duffy is second for wickets with 18w @ 19.88avg/3.1rpo. Last season Duffy managed 13w @ 54.84avg in PS before a solid stint with Kent in County Championship (8w @ 40avg), then a tough tour of India with NZ-A in tricky seam bowling conditions. Duffy took wickets in both formats of that tour (9w in 6inns) and after spending time around Blackcaps squads, as well as building experience in foreign conditions, Duffy is sizzling to start this season.
Bruce and Duffy are both experienced domestic cricketers who has multiple seasons of dominance across the three formats. Both have played for Aotearoa and there supply of runs/wickets this season could see them emerge as useful depth players, best suited to plug-and-play roles.
Double Bangers
Brad Schmulian and Cole McConchie hit the first doube-hundies of the summer, with both knocks coming in PS round three. Schmulian had a knock of 55 in the first innings against Northern and then followed it up with 200* in the second innings to help set up a win. McConchie hit 214 in Canterbury's lone batting innings against Otago as they jacked up 511 in their win.
McConchie is the type of cricketer who can do a job for Aotearoa in any format. McConchie flashes his batting prowess every summer and this is his second 50+ score of the season ater hitting 78 in round tahi. McConchie has a First-Class average of 36.47, while his bowling and fielding make him a handy cricketer who has already played T20Is for Aotearoa.
Schmulian continues to be the best batter you don't know about, perhaps even the underground king of this season. Averaging 42.19 in FC and 48.5 in List-A, Schmulian has hit a century in four of his six FC seasons and he's now in his third consecutive season with a century, 300+ runs and 30+ average.
Despite not quite being on the Blackcaps radar, Schmulian is one of Central's most important batters. Central will have a bunch of lads who will depart for Blackcaps duties and Schmulian offers reliable runs, plus experience. Central will continue ride with youngsters such as Curtis Heaphy and Bayley Wiggins, perhaps even more in Ford Trophy which will require a consistent trooper such as Schmulian.
X-Factor Seamers
Tracking domestic cricket requires a vibe radar and while we can't suss out bowling speeds, some lads have blatant x-factor. These lads combine that visual element with wicket-taking production and this is an intriguing pocket of domestic cricket to keep tabs on...
Will O'Rourke: 91.1ov, 11w @ 22.27avg/2.68rpo
Matt Fisher: 38ov, 10w @ 15.6avg/4.1rpo
Brett Randell: 67.1ov, 7w @ 24.71avg/2.57rpo
Simon Keene: 68.2ov, 5w @ 45.4avg/3.32rpo
Ben Sears: 18ov, 3w @ 11.66avg/1.94rpo
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