What's better than Aotearoa's Blackcaps sharing Test delights? Luteru Taylor sparking up 'Twilight Taylor' with a couple destructive knocks in the Ford Trophy.

Between February 6th-13th there were five FT games abandoned due to good form from Papatuanuku and Ranginui. This hit pause on the domestic cricket flow apart from Auckland's Plunket Shield catch up games. Three games were played yesterday and while Aotearoa's deities did manage to disrupt the Central vs Wellington fixture, three FT games were played with all three churning out results and funky cricket.

Central defeated Wellington as they jacked up 310/5 in their 29 overs (10.68rpo) and Wellington's innings in reply was trimmed down to 20 overs, chasing 228 for victory via the bros Duckworth and Lewis. Wellington finished up on 186/6 after 20 overs. Lots of blokes did things...

Bayley Wiggins: 46 runs @ 117.94sr.

Luteru Taylor: 111* runs @ 217.64sr.

Josh Clarkson: 58 runs @ 165.71sr.

Nathan Smith: 3w @ 8.50rpo.

Logan van Beek: 2w @ 9rpo.

Finn Allen: 49 runs @ 168.96sr.

Michael Bracewell: 93 runs @ 221.42sr.

Seth Rance: 2w @ 5rpo.

Jayden Lennox: 3w @ 9.50rpo.

Keep in mind that this game was played at Pukekura Park in New Plymouth, which tends to skew matters in favour of the batters. The last time Michael Bracewell played at Pukekura Park he smoked a match-winning 141* runs @ 216.92sr in the Super Smash and two consecutive knocks at the same ground of 90+ runs with strike-rates over 200 is bonkers.

We all know that Taylor loves a bit of Pukekura Park himself and I'm low key fizzing for Twilight Taylor watch to wrap up the summer. I've hit up Jah, Buddha, Papatuanuku and Ranginui to grace us with an extended Twilight Taylor period beyond the end of the summer and this requires runs from Rossco.

Taylor has now played three FT games with scores of 9, 45 and 111*. That knock of 45 is crucial in building funk as Taylor scored with a strike-rate of 125, giving us back to back frisky knocks from Taylor. This coincides with Central being the only undefeated FT team (4-0) while every other team has lost at least two games.

The Finn Allen groove: 6inns, 234 runs @ 39avg/125sr. Taylor and Allen are the only FT batters with 150+ runs and 120+ strike-rates.

Central face Wellington (4-2) again tomorrow, again at Pukekura Park. They are the only teams with four wins and 20+ points, making this another intriguing top of the table clash. Northern (2-3) defeated Otago (2-4). Otago were dismissed for 139 and Northern chased that down in 22.4 overs, finishing on 140/4.

Nick Kelly: 59 runs @ 71.95sr.

Scott Kuggeleijn: 2w @ 3.71rpo.

Matthew Fisher: 3w @ 2.71rpo.

Joe Walker: 2w @ 3.50rpo.

Tim Seifert: 51 runs @ 110.86sr.

Michael Rippon: 3w @ 5.76rpo.

Chris Swanson (24yrs) also scored 41 runs @ 78.84sr on debut for Northern, batting #4. This was Seifert's first notable FT knock and it is good to see Seifert building on a solid Super Smash campaign. Seifert has 62 runs @ 15.50avg in the FT with 51 runs coming form this recent knock. While Seifert has flipped his FT form around, there is still intrigue here given that Seifert has three scores over 30 in his last 10 games.

Matthew Fisher is another SS/FT pocket of funk after taking 5w @ 23avg/6.76rpo in limited SS game time for the champions. Fisher has not played Plunket Shield this summer and a mark of Northern's depth is that they are brewing Fisher with the white ball, while Brett Randell zones in on red ball mahi; 17w @ 14.52avg/2.60rpo in PS so far this summer.

This was Fisher's first FT game of the summer, so I'm curious about his next few performances. I'm also curious about Adithya Ashok's mahi for Auckland after the young leggy took 4w @ 3.57rpo vs Canterbury. Ashok has found a lovely wrinkle of form with 2w, 3w, 0w, 3w, 3w and 4w over the last four SS games and now two FT games.

Keeping things a full steak and cheese is required here though because Auckland blasted their way to 365/5 from 50 overs and all of Ashok's wickets were in the bottom six of Canterbury's line up. Needing to tick the runs over against a tricky spinner isn't easy for the lower order, but yesterday's performance is aligned with Ashok's growth throughout the summer.

Martin Guptill: 90 runs @ 108.43sr.

Glenn Phillip: 45 runs @ 145.16sr.

Mark Chapman: 64 runs @ 108.47sr.

Rob O'Donnell: 100* @ 126.58sr.

Henry Shipley: 2w @ 6.50rpo.

Ross Ter Braak: 3w @ 4rpo.

Adithya Ashok: 4w @ 3.57rpo.

Martin Guptill's last three games: 54 (FT), 63, 31 (PS), 90 (FT).

Mark Chapman's last three games: 7, 53*, 97, 8* (PS), 64 (FT).

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Peace and love.