Hallburton Johnson Shield cricket is back after some Super Smash funk and despite plenty of rain falling via Ranginui, two of the six games scheduled over the weekend finished with a result. Northern grabbed a 7-wicket win over Canterbuy on Saturday and there's a couple key figures within the Northern group who I'll break down here, plus Wellington kept their undefeated campaign intact with a 49 run win over Otago.

Keep in mind that Wellington wahine went 11-0 throughout the Super Smash with their army of White Ferns and their 5-0 HBJ Shield record was largely built around the mahi of their WF who were available for the first stanza of games. Wellington were led vs Otago by 76* from Jess McFadyen who opened the innings and to help catch the vibe of Wellington wahine, McFadyen was squeezed down the order in Super Smash. McFadyen only batted in four of 11 Super Smash games and finished 3rd in HBJ Shield runs last summer (397 runs @ 49.62avg)

Young sizzler Georgia Plimmer cruised to 38 runs (95sr) and continues to command attention as the best young batter in Aotearoa. All these notes are tied into Super Smash mahi to help us learn about the best cricketers in Aotearoa and the key Plimmer Super Smash note was her 106.40sr. That's an 18-year-old who scores freely while many WF and domestic wahine score big runs with strike-rates below 80.

Aotearoa's best ODI spinner Leigh Kasperek played for Wellington and didn't score many runs, but did snare 3w @ 4rpo in just 5.3 overs. We know that Kasperek has a better ODI record than Amelia Kerr, as well as being the WF best bowler in 2021. Update that with Kasperek finishing the Super Smash as the leading wicket-taker (20w @ 9.35avg/4.98rpo/14.8sr) and Kasperek is now 5th for HBJ Shield wickets (10w @ 19.20avg/4.50rpo/25.6sr.

Part of Wellington's Super Smash dominance was built around their job-doing bowlers in Maneka Singh and Xara Jetly, both of whom join Plimmer among Aotearoa's best young cricketers. Singh and Jetly were Wellington's fourth/fifth best bowlers in the Super Smash, yet they were better than most Super Smash bowlers. In a nod to their growth, Singh and Jetly opened the bowling for Wellington.

Singh didn't manage a wicket, Jetly took 3w @ 3.16rpo. Wellington have a seemingly never-ending supply of talented youngsters (big ups 18-year-old Natasha Codyre) and as we continue to learn about the best cricket systems in Aotearoa, Wellington's HBJ Shield current group offers plenty more to learn about. Singh and Jetly were key figures in the Super Smash although not as important as the star players and now they are leaders in HBJ Shield.

As for Otago wahine, they are 3-2 and just as funky as Wellington. Kate Ebrahim leads a young group and I'm intrigued as to how they perform over the next few weeks. Eden Carson bagged 2w @ 4rpo and 20-year-old Saffron Wilson popped up with 3w @ 6rpo, before batting #5.

Wilson has only played HBJ Shield cricket having come up through Central's system and then moving to Otago, making her yet another young Spark to keep an eye on. In fact, Otago had Paige Loggenberg and Chloe Deerness in their line up who both played in the recent Under 19 tournament. Otago might have the most players under the age of 25 across all domestic teams in any given line up.

Northern grabbed a win over Canterbury and are now 3-2, with the nature of both games making in tricky to catch a Canterbury vibe. I'll let the Cantabs simmer for now while highlighting Northern duo Kate Anderson and Nensi Patel who continue to dominate Northern's mahi. Big ups Caitlin Gurrey who scored 58 and Holly Topp who scored 47 in the win.

Here's what Anderson and Patel have done across Super Smash and HBJ Shield

Super Smash

Anderson: 8inns, 170 runs @ 21.25avg/96.59sr.

Patel: 10inns, 105 runs @ 11.66avg/76.08sr | 36ov, 11w @ 21.36avg/6.52rpo/19.6sr.

HBJ Shield

Anderson: 5inns, 232 runs @ 46.40avg/104.97sr.

Patel: 6inns, 199 runs @ 99.50avg/91.28sr | 50ov, 11w @ 24.09avg/5.30rpo/27.2sr.

This weekend Anderson had scores of 46 (86.79sr) and 56 (98.24sr). Patel had scores of 33* (103.12sr) and 22* (146.66sr). Chuck in Patel's 5w @ 4.60rpo in Northern's win.

Northern finished last in the Super Smash with a 1-9 record, headlined by Brooke Halliday scoring 94 runs @ 11.75avg. HBJ Shield is a far different vibe for Northern as evident in Halliday hitting a century (106*) in her 2inns and even without Halliday, Northern continue to make HBJ Shield waves.

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Peace and love.