Otago Sparks Are 2021/22 HBJ Shield Champions
Otago Sparks are Aotearoa's HBJ Shield champions after defeating Wellington Blaze in Queenstown yesterday. This season's HBJ Shield was already wonky heading into the final as most teams had half their games washed out and Central had most of their games washed out, complicating the HBJ Shield landscape. Then the lovely White Ferns decided to call up Georgia Plimmer, taking her out of Wellington's line up and Wellington were also without Aotearoa's best ODI spinner Leigh Kasperek for the final.
Wellington entered the final with a 5-0 record, after storming to a Super Smash title undefeated. That record was built by the Kerr sisters and Maddy Green who are both preparing for Aotearoa's epic home World Cup, while Plimmer hadn't done much in HBJ Shield so her loss wasn't huge. Kasperek's 10 wickets was second only to Amelia Kerr's 14w in HBJ Shield and Xara Jetly is the only other Wellington bowler with 6+ wickets.
This flipped Wellington's dominance around and while Kasperek is a dominant force, Plimmer's absence meant Wellington had to dip further into young depth. All of which skewed the HBJ Shield final in favour of Otago and one has to wonder if there is a better way of operations to ensure that the premier wahine cricket event is played as such instead of scrambling to put together teams.
Otago put up 220/9 in their 50 overs. Kate Ebrahim continued to flex as Aotearoa's best HBJ Shield batter over the past five years with 92 runs at the top of the order and Caitlin Blakely's 57 runs helped bolster Otago's tally. Jetly took 2w @ 4.140rpo while 15-year-old leggy Kate Chandler took 3w @ 3.75rpo.
Otago then rolled Wellington for 82. Emma Black snared 3w @ 2.16rpo and Eden Carson took 5w @ 1.70rpo while Thamsyn Newton top-scored for Wellington with 15 runs.
While this final kinda reinforced some weird NZC wahine vibes, it also signaled a lovely climax for Otago Sparks ascension. The change in Otago fortunes coincided with the arrival of Ebrahim who helped Canterbury win the HBJ Shield last summer and make the Super Smash final, bringing her winning vibes to Otago. Otago enjoyed strong mahi from Suzie Bates, Katey Martin and Hayley Jensen this summer as well, yet the most growth is evident in their young talent.
2020/21 HBJ Shield: 0-10 (6th)
2020/21 Super Smash: 2-8 (6th)
2021/22 HBJ Shield: 3-2 (2nd - Champions)
2021/22 Super Smash: 8-2 (2nd)
Caitlin Blakely, Polly Inglis and Bella James provided solid support to Ebrahim and Otago's White Ferns. All three churned out decent stats last season in a losing HBJ Shield team and when this mahi is placed in supporting roles, then the vibe changes...
Caitlin Blakely
2020/21: 269 runs @ 29.88avg, 2 x 50
2021/22: 170 runs @ 34avg, 2 x 50.
Polly Inglis
2020/21: 211 runs @ 21.10avg, 1 x 50
2021/22: 88 runs @ 22avg, 1 x 50.
Bella James
2020/21: 175 runs @ 17.50avg, 1 x 50
2021/22: 130 runs @ 21.66avg, 1 x 50.
Otago's young bowlers were a major reason for optimism after last summer and they doubled-down on being the best young bowling unit in Aotearoa. Eden Carson, Sophie Oldershaw, Emma Black and Molly Loe have been instrumental in Super Smash and HBJ Shield success this season. Two seamers, two spinners who have now stacked up two solid seasons of HBJ Shield cricket...
Eden Carson
2020/21: 12w @ 35.91avg/5.75rpo.
2021/22: 14w @ 11.35avg/3.38rpo.
Sophie Oldershaw
2020/21: 10w @ 29.80avg/5.30rpo.
2021/22: 6w @ 29.66avg/4.74rpo.
Emma Black
2020/21: 14w @ 28.71avg/5.22rpo.
2021/22: 13w @ 13.38avg/4.04rpo.
Molly Loe
2020/21: 3w @ 50avg/5rpo.
2021/22: 5w @ 26.40avg/4.88rpo.
Otago Sparks optimism culminated in Otago cracking the Super Smash final and winning the HBJ Shield. Otago now have strong foundations to build on top of and the seven young players mentioned above have all played plenty of cricket, moving into hearty domestic trooper status where they can help usher in further young talent. In a wonky HBJ Shield campaign, Otago got the job done and after growing pains last summer this is a fabulous way to end the domestic wahine summer.
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Peace and love.