2022/23 Ford Trophy: Notes For Every Team
Auckland
Two losses in their first two games. Will O'Donnell is the only batter with 50+ runs after his knock of 76* in the first game. No Auckland batter has a strike-rate over 90.
Ben Lister (5rpo), Will Somerville (5rpo) and Adithya Ashok (7.21rpo) have 2w each.
Auckland is 0-2 in Ford Trophy (6th) as well as 1-2-1 in Plunket Shield (5th).
Northern
Northern have a win and a loss to start FT. There is always a Blackcaps angle to Northern's mahi but Katene Clarke and Kristian Clarke are intriguing young cricketers who command attention. Katene has scores of 46 and 34 at the top of the order, with a strike-rate of 114.28. Katene didn't play Plunket Shield and hit 40 runs @ 13.33avg/125sr in last summer's FT, but was fabulous in Northern's Super Smash championship run with 228 runs @ 32.57avg/153sr.
Kristian has back to back 4w games, after taking 8w @ 38.5avg/3.45rpo in PS. Kristian is fourth for FT bowlers (8w @ 11.25avg) and has flashed his batting talent in PS, but is batting down the order in FT.
Fresh after the T20 World Cup, Dutch international Tim Pringle is yet to take a wicket (20ov @ 3.95rpo) in FT. In four ODI games, Pringle has 1w @ 221avg/6.66rpo.
Neil Wagner is grinding through domestic cricket. Wagner is the third most economical bowler who has bowled 80+ overs in PS (12w @ 29.16avg/2.49rpo) and he has the second lowest economy rate in FT (3w @ 19.33avg/3.22rpo) for bowlers with 10+ overs; Matt Henry is first in both brackets.
Central
Two wins and a loss for Central, sitting second on the ladder. Will Young hit 128 at Pukekura Park yesterday which is his second century of the summer after 105 vs Wellington in PS. Young has 165 runs @ 82.5avg/104.43sr in FT and 250 runs @ 35.71avg in PS.
Dane Cleaver batted once in FT last summer and had a strike-rate of 166.21 in last season's Super Smash. Cleaver scored 91 runs @ 13avg to start PS and has now returned to his white-ball whacking with 144 runs @ 133.33sr in FT.
Every Central bowler has 2+ wickets. Central has a hearty seam quartet leading their attack...
Seth Rance: 9w @ 8.77avg/3.29rpo
Blair Tickner: 7w @ 13.14avg/4.34rpo
Brett Randell: 5w @ 12.2avg/3.45rpo
Doug Bracewell: 4w @ 26.25avg/4.56rpo
Wellington
Third on the ladder with a 2-1 record. Rachin Ravindra joins Young in hitting a FT and PS century already this summer, here's how Ravindra's mahi looks...
Plunket Shield: 272 runs @ 34avg, 1 x 100 | 8w @ 37.25avg/3.17rpo
Ford Trophy: 118 runs @ 39.33avg/100.85sr, 1 x 100 | 3w @ 24.33avg/5.61rpo
Ollie Newton is fourth for Wellington runs (70 runs @ 112.9sr) and leads them for wickets, third overall for FT bowlers with 9w @ 10.66avg/4.36rpo. Newton also took 5w @ 16.8avg/2.61rpo in PS.
Michael Snedden took 17w @ 17.41avg in PS and has backed that up with 7w @ 15.85avg in FT.
Ben Sears took 3w @ 11.66avg/1.94pro in PS and in his first FT game of the summer, Sears took 4w @ 4.47rpo. List-A is Sears' worst bowling format (30avg) but if he can settle into the FT schedule, this is likely to align with his T20 average of 19.38 and First-Class average of 24.85.
Canterbury
With Chad Bowes and Henry Shipley first for runs/wickets respectively, Canterbury are first on the FT ladder with a 2-1 record. Bowes has back to back 80's opening the batting for Canterbury and he also scored a PS century, giving Bowes three scores over 80 in his last four games. Bowes has 173 runs @ 86.5avg/100sr, along with 116 runs @ 23.2avg (1 x 100) in PS.
Tom Latham's scores this summer: 167, 26, 143*, 25, 0, 59, 145*, 17*.
Latham is averaging 70+ in PS and FT this summer.
Henry Shipley's wicket-hauls this summer: 3w, 0w, 2w, 5w, 1w, 6w, 1w, 3w.
Shipley averages below 28 in FC and T20 cricket, while averaging 43.34 in LA. Shipley has 10w @ 8.4avg/4rpo so far in FT and his LA average will fall if he maintains his excellent start to the season.
Ish Sodhi started his Canterbury career with 48* and his first two games feature 4w @ 14avg/3.77rpo. Sodhi has a LA record of 30.86avg/5rpo and he has taken wickets in nine of his last 10 games.
Canterbury have five bowlers with 2+ wickets and Matt Henry is not one of them. Henry took 1w @ 97avg/4rpo in the ODI series against India and has 1w @ 53avg/3.11rpo in FT, neither of which feels like a new norm. Heny is the most economical bowler in both domestic competitions so far this summer and he's got 23w @ 11.69avg in PS. Henry's recent dip in one-day cricket should settle over the next few games.
Otago
Otago are 1-2 in FT (5th) and last in PS with a 1-2-1 record. Glenn Phillips played his first game for Otago which delivered the glorious G-Philly experience; 34 runs @ 147.82sr and 5 overs @ 7.2rpo.
Llew Johnson and Dale Phillips flexed their talent in Otago's win over Auckland, but also served up four scores under 10 across their four innings vs Central. This sums up Otago's batting vibe as they have funky young talent that is fun to track, although they will be inconsistent against top-tier bowling units. The presence of the older Phillips brother adds some mana to Otago's batting line up.
This is amplified by Hamish Rutherford's struggles. Rutherford has 58 runs @ 8.28avg in PS and 33 runs @ 11avg in FT.
Jacob Duffy continues his strong summer. Duffy took 22w @ 21.36avg in PS, followed by 8w @ 11.25avg in FT. Duffy is the only Otago bowler averaging below 29.
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