The weekend flow of HBJ Shield cricket is underway, although Papatuanuku and Ranginui were highly influential as every team enjoyed a wash out. Wellington, Northern and Central grabbed wins from the weekend. Here are five things to roll up and ponder...

Northern's Batting Unit

Northern were the only team to bat twice over the weekend and both their batting innings were impacted by rain. This naturally leads to more runs for the Northern batters, although I'm more interested in the experienced top-four of Caitlin Gurrey, Bernadine Bezuidenhout, Brooke Halliday and Sam Barriball. Halliday appears to have time and space to develop as a White Ferns batter while Gurrey, Bezuidenhout and Barriball played for White Ferns in a more successful era.

Bezuidenhout hit a century and 62* in the opening weekend with an overall strike-rate of 100. Along with Barriball's 48* @ 123sr, these two showcased their power which is especially enticing alongside Gurrey's strokes and Halliday's class. Grizzly veterans can be extremely valuable in the wahine cricket landscape and Northern have three of the best domestic troopers, plus Halliday.

Wellington Spinners

Wellington rolled Canterbury for 51 and while Frances Mackay didn't bat for Canterbury, Wellington's spin bowling unit is super funky. Seamers Caitlin King and Maneka Singh were joined by spinners Leigh Kasperek, Xara Jetly, Deanna Doughty and Nicole Baird in Wellington's first team of the season. All four spinners took a wicket and the variety and quality of Wellington's spin unit is fabulous - even without Amelia Kerr.

Kasperek, Jetly and Doughty have been consistent figures for Wellington in recent summers. Baird took a wicket on debut and she is the only lefty of this quartet. Kasperek and Jetly offer their own twist on off-spin, Doughty bowls leggies. Jetly has a T20 bowling average of 11.25 which jumps up to 29 in List-A cricket while Doughty averages 17.6 in T20s and 24.14 in LA.

Leigh Kasperek

Leigh Kasperek is second for Aotearoa T20I wickets and is only joined by Sophie Devine in taking 60+ T20I wickets. Kasperek is 10th for ODI wickets. In both formats, Kasperek is more efficient than the other current White Ferns who are near the top of these wicket-taking charts.

Kasperek has a lower T20I bowling average and strike-rate than Devine, Lea Tahuhu and Amelia Kerr. Kasperek has a lower ODI bowling average and strike-rate than all but one of the White Ferns who have taken more wickets (Katrina Keenan big up). Kasperek has a decent case for being the best Aotearoa bowler currently playing and yet she has been shuffled behind younger players in the White Ferns depth chart.

Kasperek started this summer with 27 runs batting fourth for Wellington and taking 1w @ 1.25rpo. That's standard mahi for Kasperek and Wellington will provide ample opportunities for Kasperek to showcase her talents.

Central Seamers

Central might have the best trio of seamers with Hannah Rowe, Claudia Green and Rosemary Mair leading their bowling attack. Central restricted Auckland to 86/9 in in their 20-over innings, although this trio of seamers could only manage to take 1w between then. Green took the wicket and conceded 2.25rpo, Rowe went for 5.67rpo and Mair conceded 9.5rpo.

Spinner Jess Watkin took 3w @ 3.25rpo and leggy Georgia Atkinson took 1w @ 1rpo. Role-playing seamers Monique Rees (1w @ 6rpo) and Melissa Hansen (2w @ 4.33rpo) were more effective than Rowe and Mair in their first up win. All of which complicates the idea of Central having the best trio of seamers, but these three are all quality bowlers who should be snaring wickets consistently at this level.

Who Will Help Kate Ebrahim?

Kate Ebrahim hit a century for Otago and no other Otago batter scored over 25 runs. Otago won't have Katey Martin anymore, while Suzie Bates, Hayley Jensen and Eden Carson are likely to spend more time away with White Ferns. Otago will need to find runs from a batting unit that now includes the experience of Felicty Leydon-Davis who shifted down from Northern; Leydon-Davis made the move last year but didn't play for Otago last summer.

Bella James, Caitlin Blakely and Saffron Wilson are the low key players to track. Polly Inglis didn't play the opening weekend and she may pop up as well. James, Blakely, Leydon-Davis and Wilson filled up the spots behind Ebrahim against Northern. Last season Blakely scored 170 runs @ 34avg (2 x 50) and James hit 130 runs @ 21.66avg (1 x 50). Leydon-Davis has a solid LA record of 27.37avg and Wilson is a 20-year-old who is yet to rack up a notable LA score.

Ebrahim averaged 60+ for three consecutive summers and doesn't have an average for this season yet because she started with 100*. It seems likely that Ebrahim will enjoy another dominant HBJ Shield campaign, but Otago will only win games with other batters chiming in and this will inform folks Otago’s best batting talent.

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Peace and love.