Aotearoa's Plunket Shield has wrapped up for the summer with Auckland snaring the championship. There will be a few different wrap up type yarns coming in the next week so stay tuned, but nothing is as lovely as the Plunket Shield All Stars. This revolves around the hearty Plunket Shield troopers. The blokes who watch Blackcaps flow in and out of game day team lists. The blokes who rack up big runs and snare baggies of wickets when the local cricket nerd is the only geezer in attendance.

Hamish Rutherford, Chad Bowes, Nick Kelly, Tom Bruce, Rob O'Donnell, Cameron Fletcher, Nathan Smith, Will Somerville, Brett Randell, Simon Keene, Ray Toole.

The batting unit is led by Otago's Hamish Rutherford who enjoyed a Blackcaps Test squad selection this summer and continues to serve up solid mahi in Aotearoa's leading cricket competition. Rutherford now has centuries in five of his last six seasons and this was his best season since 2018/19, which looks lovely alongside Canterbury opener Chad Bowes.

Bowes took the other opening slot ahead of veterans Jeet Raval (Northern) and Greg Hay (Central), while Mitch Renwick (Otago) had a decent case for selection as well. The way Bowes finished this season snapped things in his favour as his last three games delivered scores of 50, 22, 100, 127 and 22. Bowes has hit First Class centuries in just three seasons since his debut in 2010/11 with one century during his five seasons in South Africa, then three centuries in his second season in Aotearoa (2016/17). This was Bowes' best season of his career since that 2016/17 campaign.

The next three batters in the line up feature zero niggle as all three have been Plunket Shield monsters. Nick Kelly (Otago) comes in at number toru, finishing second in Plunket Shield runs behind number wha batter Tom Bruce (Central). One would be wise to tap into Kelly's mahi as he stacked up plenty of runs last season and has backed it up this season. Kelly averaged 44.53 last season and that was his first summer averaging 40+ since his debut (2015/16), which was bumped up to 52 this season.

Umm, Bruce did this in his last four games: 25, 4, 90*, 208*, 204*. Bruce suffered a FC dip in recent seasons and his back to back double hundies are Bruce's first 100+ FC scores since 2016/17.

Rob O'Donnell (Auckland) gets a middle order slot. O'Donnell is the only Auckland batter with 400+ runs this season, which makes O'Donnell the best batter in a championship outfit and he now has back to back seasons averaging 60+.

Cameron Fletcher (Canterbury) earns All Star wicket-keeper selection and the battle here reflects Aotearoa's wicket-keeper landscape as we venture into winter. Fletcher grabbed a Test squad call up while Dane Cleaver grabbed the white ball call up, yet Fletcher has been as good as Cleaver in domestic white ball stuff and Cleaver's been as good as Fletcher in Plunket Shield.

Example: Cleaver scored 29 more runs than Fletcher in Plunket Shield this summer (12inns for both).

Folks can slice this either way and both wicket-keepers showcase Aotearoa's depth. I'm rocking with Fletcher for All Stars selection as he had a couple more 50+ scores than Cleaver, but either is all good here.

There is a 'move to Wellington bump' trend in Aotearoa cricket and the most recent example is Nathan Smith's bowling bump after leaving Otago for the capital. Smith finished with 31w this season and that's tied for the most wickets, which is a notable leap from previous seasons. Smith was at least trending in the right direction for Otago as his best Plunket Shield bowling campaign was the season prior (16w @ 25avg) and this was Smith's first season with an average below 20.

Smith also chimed in with three 50+ scores, which is the same as Rachin Ravindra. Another nifty all-rounder is Will Somerville and as his Auckland homies call him 'Dad', this is the Dad glow up. Somerville had two 50+ scores which is fabulous, although the glow up is all about his offies after struggling to impact Tests in India. Somerville's glow up includes his Ford Trophy and Super Smash mahi where Somerville was among Auckland's best bowlers, bringing a Ford Trophy championship and now Plunket Shield glory.

Otago lefty-leggy Michael Rippon joins Somerville on 22w for the season, yet Rippon averaged 38 for his wickets and Somerville averaged 20. Northern offie Joe Walker has a better average than both those lads (18w @ 19avg) and is in the spin mixer. The glow up shines bright though and like O'Donnell, Somerville was the best spinner/second best bowler in a championship team.

Smith finished on 31w - tied with Brett Randell (Northern) for the most Plunket Shield wickets. Randell averaged 15 and Smith averaged 18 which gives Randell the top spot, while the final two bowling slots go to Simon Keene (Auckland) and Ray Toole (Central). Keene is ranked third for bowlers and has the same number of wickets as Canterbury's Will Williams, although Keene bowled 100 overs less than Williams.

Remember that other yarns will pop up to celebrate blokes outside the All Star bubble and this team needs a lefty, so Toole earns selection ahead of Williams despite Williams taking more wickets with a better average. Toole took 23w and that's the same as fellow Central steamer Blair Tickner but the need for a lefty influenced this move as well as Toole being slightly more efficient.

This is Randell's first season with more than 8w and an average below 29. Toole enjoyed his second season in a row with 20+ wickets and averaging below 27. No historical notes for Keene as he took 25w in his first five games of FC cricket and that's good enough for Keene to finish as the best bowler in a championship team.

Hamish Rutherford

3rd - 13inns, 593 runs @ 45.61avg, 2 x 100, 2 x 50.

Chad Bowes

5th - 13inns, 570 runs @ 43.84avg, 2 x 100, 3 x 50.

Nick Kelly

2nd - 15inns, 675 runs @ 51.92avg, 1 x 100, 4 x 50.

Tom Bruce

1st - 13inns, 858 runs @ 143avg, 2 x 100, 4 x 50.

Rob O'Donnell

7th - 9inns, 539 runs @ 67.37avg, 2 x 100, 2 x 50.

Cam Fletcher (wk)

14th - 12inns, 364 runs @ 40.44avg, 1 x 100, 3 x 50.

Nathan Smith

30th - 12inns, 239 runs @ 21.72avg, 3 x 50.

2nd - 231.4ov, 31w @ 18.41avg/2.46rpo.

Will Somerville

41st - 7inns, 182 runs @ 30.33avg, 2 x 50.

6th - 192ov, 22w @ 20.40avg/2.33rpo.

Brett Randell

46th - 10inns, 155 runs @ 19.37avg, 2 x 50.

1st - 181.4ov, 31w @ 14.83avg/2.53rpo.

Simon Keene

3rd - 127.1ov, 25w @ 14.28avg/2.80rpo.

Ray Toole

4th - 197.3ov, 23w @ 25.95avg/3.02rpo.

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