Canterbury is the best team in domestic cricket right now and this smells like a perfect chance to learn about their mahi. In Plunket Shield, Canterbury have a 2-0-2 record and after the same amount of Ford Trophy games, Canterbury are 3-1. This puts Canterbury at the top of PS and FT, plus they are the only team who has one loss across both competitions.

Here are Canterbury's notable performers (Plunket Shield | Ford Trophy)...

• Chad Bowes: 116 runs @ 23.2avg, 1 x 100 | 182 runs @ 60.66avg/100sr, 2 x 50

• Tom Latham: 361 runs @ 90.25avg, 2x 100 | 83 runs @ 41.5avg/83sr, 1 x 50

• Henry Nicholls: 207 runs @ 41.4avg, 3 x 50 | 68 runs @ 22.66avg/86sr

• Cole McConchie: 452 runs @ 90.4avg, 2 x 100, 1 x 50 | 67 runs @ 22.33avg/85sr

• Leo Carter: 142 runs @ 28.4avg, 1 x 50 | 92 runs @ 92avg/94sr, 1 x 50

• Mitch Hay: 167 runs @ 33.4avg, 2 x 50 (PS)

• Matt Boyle: 16 runs @ 4avg/39sr (FT)

• Henry Shipley: 8w @ 26.12avg/2.98rpo | 11w @ 9.81avg/3.85rpo

• Matt Henry: 23w @ 11.69avg/2rpo | 3w @ 24avg/3rpo

• Will O'Rourke: 13w @ 28avg/2.77rpo | 5w @ 17avg/4.95rpo

• Sean Davey: 12w @ 22.66avg/2.69rpo | 2w @ 27avg/7.71rpo

• Fraser Sheat: 6w @ 26.33avg/2.13rpo (PS)

• Ish Sodhi: 4w @ 14avg/3.77rpo (FT)

• Ed Nuttall: 4w @ 40.5avg/3.95tpo | 6w @ 18.66avg/4.63rpo

Canterbury always enjoy fabulous service from their Blackcaps. Tom Latham is averaging 40+ in both competitions and Matt Henry had a sizzling PS campaign before a weird dip in the ODI series against India. Henry took 3+ wickets in all six of his PS innings bowled, then took 1w in three ODIs vs India and 1w in his first two FT games. Henry swung back on track with 2w against Wellington and he has settled into a typically excellent groove.

Henry Nicholls registered a 50+ score in three of his five innings and is yet to churn out runs in FT. With a List-A record of 43.77avg/86sr, folks should expect Nicholls to elevate his FT mahi and this serves up an intriguing phase for Nicholls as he didn't crack the ODI 1st 11 against India.

One-day cricket is Nicholls' best format and he will be chasing selection for the Pakistan tour in a few weeks. At the very least, Nicholls is a fabulous batter to have in the ODI and Test squads, especially for tours overseas. Nicholls has quietly hit a Test century in six consecutive years and he has played at least five Tests in all seven years of his career.

Chad Bowes, Cole McConchie and Leo Carter have all performed well this season, which will be amplified when Blackcaps are away on tour. Bowes is first for FT runs and McConchie is first for PS runs, while Carter continues to flash his talent in pockets such as this battle with Ben Sears...

Carter is the youngest of Canterbury's leading batters and he's 28-years-old while Latham, Nicholls, Bowes and McConchine are hovering around 30-years-old. This highlights the growing 'middle class' of domestic cricket and while there are youngsters shining around Aotearoa, having mature cricketers who know their talents and the domestic grind is crucial to Canterbury's success.

Matthew Boyle is only 19-years-old and he has been deployed as an opener for Canterbury in FT. Boyle has a high score of 12 in his first four innings of FT cricket. Mitchell Hay is 22-years-old and he played as Canterbury's wicket-keeper in PS, bagging two 50+ scores in his five innings. Cam Fletcher is yet to play this summer which has provided an opportunity to Hay in PS and as Fletcher crept into the Blackcaps Test squad last summer, this could also provide an opportunity to Dane Cleaver as a back up Test wicket-keeper.

Canterbury have the strongest bowling quintet in Aotearoa; Matt Henry, Henry Shipley, Ed Nuttall, Will O'Rourke and Ish Sodhi. Everyone except Henry is averaing less than 20 in FT so far and when Henry is the worst bowler in a quintet, it's lovely.

Central's quintet of Seth Rance, Doug Bracewell, Blair Tickner, Brett Randell and Ajaz Patel is also in this discussion. Auckland could pop up in his if Kyle Jamieson and Lockie Ferguson played regularly, which also limits the fantasy about Northern's possible bowling line ups.

Henry, O'Rourke and Sean Davey have 10+ wickets in PS. Which flips to Shipley and Nuttall taking the most FT wickets so far. Fraser Sheat only played PS and Davey has played one FT game so far, which is off-set by Nuttall playing more FT than PS and Sodhi making his Canterbury debut in FT.

Canterbury has a freaky seamer in both formats. As noted above, Henry took 3+ wickets in every innings of PS to start the season and 23w @ 11.69 is bonkers. Move over to FT and Shipley is the freaky lad, taking wickets in all four games for 11w @ 9.81avg.

Ponder how Canterbury had Jamieson sizzling in all formats and then lost him to Auckland just as he emerged as an international seamer. Losing a bowler of Jamieson's ability would be a hefty blow for most teams and Canterbury just found more high quality seamers, not suffering any major dip in performance.

Low key lads like Sheat and Davey have bolstered Canterbury's seam department, while the rise of Shipley is a major wrinkle. Nuttall adds his hostile lefty-seam to this mixer. Given how Canterbury develop seamers, Angus McKenzie's move from Otago to Canterbury prior to the season adds another promising bowler to keep track of. The emergence of Will O'Rourke could be the most important aspect in taking Canterbury beyond the loss of Jamieson.

O'Rourke made his debut in each format earlier this year and of Canterbury's bowlers, O'Rourke is third for wickets in PS and FT. O'Rourke's 131.1 overs in PS sits behind Henry's 134.1ov for Canterbury. The only other lads who have bowled more overs than O'Rourke in PS are Jacob Duffy, Will Somerville and Neil Wagner. O'Rourke has taken wickets in nine of his 11 innings this summer, seven of which are innings with 2+ wickets.

When Canterbury brought O'Rourke into their contracted player list, his height was noted as an asset. O'Rourke is listed as 197cm tall and apparently Shipley is 196cm, both are a bit shorter than Jamieson's reported height of 203cm. What happens when Canterbury lost a tall seamer? They found a new one.

Canterbury also lost Will Williams to Lancashire during the winter, meaning they lost Williams' 21.51avg in First-Class bowling. That didn't have a impact on Canterbury's PS mahi though and they continue to absorb the absence of Williams without much fuss.

Daryl Mitchell and Ken McClure are notable contracted players (Blackcaps/domestic) who are yet to play this season. Zak Foulkes joined Boyle and Hay in receiving his first contract and Foulkes has played one game in both competitions so far. Spinner Theo van Woerkom played two PS games as Canterbury's leading spinner and Blake Coburn is yet to play this season.

Even within the spin bracket, Canterbury have depth. Sodhi is one of the best spinners in Aotearoa and along with all of Canterbury's Blackcaps, selection for the upcoming tour of Pakistan is up for grabs. This will challenge Canterbury's depth during Super Smash and during Blackcaps games in Aotearoa later this summer. Tune in now to catch Canterbury's excellence and then this will switch to tracking how Canterbury sustain their mahi without their best players.

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Peace and love.