2022/23 Women's Super Smash: Update #1
Women's Super Smash is underway with Canterbury defeating Northern and Wellington grabbing a win over Otago. Canterbury and Wellington both scored 146 batting first. Canterbury steamed through Northern's middle order to restrict them to 132/9 in reply and Wellington kept Otago to 127/8.
Kate Anderson chimed in with 34 runs @ 136sr against her former team before Amy Satterthwaite led the Cantabs with 73* @ 140.38sr. Satterthwaite will be a key figure for Canterbury as she is likely to play throughout the competition and having one of Aotearoa's best batters available when White Ferns are away is an obvious advantage.
Expect Satterthwaite to dominate further. Her power down the ground and finesse to steer deliveries behind square makes her a tricky match up for any bowler. Satterthwaite has a healthy T20 career record of 28.93avg/104.68sr and this is a nice jump up from her T20I record of 21.49avg/97.64sr.
Canterbury are also set to benefit from a strong bowling unit racking up games together. Lea Tahuhu is the only bowler likely to make the WF T20 World Cup squad and she bowled 4 overs @ 4rpo against Northern. Melissa Banks (3w @ 5rpo), Gabby Sullivan (2w @ 7.25rpo) and Satterthwaite (2w @ 6.25rpo) took wickets for Canterbury. Sullivan has 9w @ 8.66avg/2.64rpo in HBJ Shield and she has taken 2+ wickets in six of her last 10 games.
Wellington were led by Amelia Kerr and Maddy Green with the bat. A-Kerr scored 46 runs @ 109.52sr and Green scored 45* @ 115.38sr, continuing the heartiest theme of wahine cricket this year. A-Kerr is simply one of the best batters in the world and Green is fresh off her best WBBL campaign, as well as her best year of White Ferns batting.
With so many White Ferns in their mixer, Wellington could lose four of their top-five batters for the finals. Sophie Devine didn't play this game so it could end up being the whole top-five being replaced, top-six if we include Jess Kerr. All of which amplifies the funk around Leigh Kasperek who scored 13* @ 144.44sr and took 3w @ 4rpo.
Kasperek has 5w @ 8.8avg/3.1rpo in HBJ Shield and took 20w @ 9.35avg/4.98rpo in last summer's Super Smash. To go with her T20I record of 14.13avg/6.29rpo, Kasperek has a T20 career record of 15.58avg/6rpo. Kasperek isn't ripping offies into right-handers and she instead provides subtle variations, often swinging deliveries away from righties. Having already been one of the best T20I spinners in the world, Kasperek's craft will be a fun wrinkle to enjoy throughout Super Smash.
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Peace and love.