2021/22 Ford Trophy: Finn Allen Keeps Slugging and Logan van Beek's Netherlands Prospects (Wellington Defeat Canterbury)
Friday's Ford Trophy schedule saw Otago vs Central rained off, while Wellington defeated Canterbury by 3 wickets to register their third win in four games. Wellington are the only team to win three games and Canterbury have just one win from their four games, while a decent chunk of games have been rained off making the table pretty chaotic.
Canterbury batted first and put up 218/8 thanks to Chad Bowes' 99 (85sr). Leo Carter was the only other Cantab to score 20+ with 31 runs @ 64.5sr, with Wellington's Logan van Beek (2w @ 5.6rpo) and Jimmy Neesham (2w @ 3.87rpo) doing most of the bowling damage.
Led by Finn Allen's 68 runs @ 104.6sr, Wellington scored 90 runs before losing a wicket. Wellington's middle order then stumbled, leaving Nathan Smith (43* @ 130sr) and van Beek (24 @ 114.3sr) to seal the victory.
Much of my intrigue here stretches back into the Super Smash. Bowes finished 3rd in Super Smash runs and scored the most runs for Canterbury (333 runs @ 142.3sr), now continuing his nice form with a hefty Ford Trophy knock. Over his last 10 games, Bowes has three 50+ Super Smash scores and this 99. Bowes is behind Carter (173 run @ 57.6avg) and Henry Shipley (147 runs @ 49avg) for Canterbury's FT run-scorers.
Then we have Allen's mahi for Wellington and I'm still fascinated by the unique style in which Allen operates. No other batter in domestic cricket is as consistently aggressive as Allen and while Allen can't seem to find the right Plunket Shield groove, his ability to snatch an innings away from the bowlers in white ball cricket is rather special.
2020/21 Super Smash: 512 runs @ 56.88avg/193.93sr.
2020/21 Ford Trophy: 241 runs @ 34.42avg/140.93sr.
2021/22 Super Smash: 280 runs @ 25.45avg/200sr.
2021/22 Ford Trophy: 185 runs @ 37avg/117.83sr.
When strike-rates are as high as Allen's there is usually a dip in averages. What makes Allen unique is that he averages 30+ in three of those campaigns and Allen is scoring plenty of runs with his own swag. While on the topic of strike-rates...
Smith and van Beek are in nice touch as finishers for Wellington. Smith's knock vs Canterbury is in alignment with his 176 runs @ 117.33sr in the FT, as well as his 77 runs @ 130.5sr in SS. Van Beek smacked 160 runs @ 156.86sr in SS and now has 58 runs @ 111.5sr in FT. Both have wrinkles of funk as Smith has bowled just 20ov in four FT games and 17ov in 11 SS games, which feels like a white ball situation specific to Wellington and their team balance.
Van Beek is preparing to play for Netherlands in ODIs against Aotearoa with typically solid bowling mahi, now with plenty of slugging confidence. His best international bowling mahi has come in ODI cricket with 7w @ 23.42avg/3.87rpo in five games for Netherlands and I'm curious how van Beek's batting confidence moves into his Netherlands role as van Beek has batting strike-rates of 68.99sr in ODIs and 71.42sr in T20Is.
As always, Jimmy Neesham's all about strike-rates. Neesham wasn't chuffed about his run-out after scoring 4 off 13 balls, however his 2w in 8 overs again points to Neesham's bowling efficiency. This was his first FT game so small sample size alert, but Neesham's 24sr is currently the best for Wellington in the FT and this comes after Neesham's 16sr was the best bowling strike-rate for Wellington in the SS.
Neesham's below 20sr in the two T20 formats (18.1 in T20I and 16.8sr in T20) which is exceptional for an all-rounder. We're now in one-day mode though and Neesham has an ODI strike-rate of 31.1, plus 29sr in List-A cricket. For context we have Trent Boult operating at 30.2sr in ODI cricket and 31sr in LA, both of which are lovely across such a long career.
Then we have Lockie Ferguson who has an ODI strike-rate of 28.3 and LA strike-rate of 27.8. This can easily be sliced up as Boult's the best over a long period, Ferguson's been fanatstic when healthy and Neesham's an efficient all-rounder.
Wellington have three bowlers with 7w; van Beek, Michael Bracewell and Ollie Newton. All three are averaging below 30.
Canterbury have Ed Nuttall as their leading bowler on 5w @ 40.40avg. This points to a weakness for Canterbury in FT and they are yet to dismiss their opponent in their four games played, losing their last three FT games. Nuttall is the only Canterbury bowler in the top-15 for FT wickets and this looks very different to Canterbury's SS bowling where Shipley, Nuttall and Matt Henry were all in the top-10.
There are repeat fixtures to be played on Sunday. Wellington host Canterbury again and Otago are set to host Central if Papatuanuku and Ranginui keep the rain away.
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Peace and love.