Canterbury will once again roll out a settled group of cricketers for the kiwi summer as they continue to develop local youngsters around a core group of hearty Cantabrians. While they didn't win any championships last summer and were stuck at the bottom of the Ford Trophy ladder, Canterbury finished 2nd in Plunket Shield and Super Smash. There are a few tweaks to their contracted player group for the upcoming summer and Canterbury will be pushing for the top spot in all three competitions.

Picking up Ish Sodhi will help and he joins Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell and Henry Nicholls in having Blackcaps contracts. Canterbury had Will Williams locked up before he dabbled in County Championship cricket with Lancashire and the most consistent Plunket Shield bowler over the past five years snapped up a chance to move full-time to Lancashire, thus dipping out of Canterbury's contracted group.

At the time of writing, Williams has 18w @ 21avg/2.23rpo in four games for Lancashire. That's essentially what Williams did every summer for Canterbury and we are now left with a slither of hope that Williams still plays the odd game for Canterbury. Canterbury signed Angus McKenzie from Otago after Williams' departure and while it's far more complicated than this; McKenzie has basically swapped roles with Andrew Hazeldine who moved from Canterbury to Otago.

Canterbury have immense competition for 1st 11 selection in their seam department, even without Williams. Edward Nuttall, Fraser Sheat and Henry Shipley are part of the Canterbury core who are likely to play most games. Nuttall's a whippy lefty, Sheat is a steady right-armer who will take over from Williams and Shipley is an enticing all-rounder who I dive into below. Canterbury also have Will O'Rourke who is cut from the Kyle Jamieson/Shipley cloth as a tall seamer, while Sean Davey is a domestic deep cut to keep tabs on as he averages 21.33 in First Class and 20.26 in List-A.

Zak Foulkes is a youngster coming up through Canterbury cricket who is likely to sit in the same tier as McKenzie. Henry played in all three formats for Canterbury last summer and if Henry is available for half the Plunket Shield/Ford Trophy games as he was last summer, Canterbury's seam attack will once again be competing for the best in Aotearoa.

Sodhi's arrival bolsters the spin unit, likely to operate alongside Cole McConchie's all-round talents. Lefty tweaker Theo van Woerkom and lefty-leggy Blake Coburn will be competing for selection across the formats as well. This will be a pocket to track as van Woerkom averaged 40+ in Plunket Shield and Ford Trophy last season, while Coburn averaged 42.66 in Super Smash.

McConchie is an interesting geezer to ponder as he made his T20I debut in Bangladesh last year, but has not been in the Blackcaps mixer since then. McConchine and Michael Bracewell generally play the same role, similar to the Bracewell vs Rachin Ravindra dynamic. A big summer could propel McConchie back into that mixer and he will be fizzing to improve on last summer's bowling mahi; 36.22avg in Plunket Shield, 76avg in Ford Trophy and 49.66avg in Super Smash.

In 31 innings across all formats, McConchie had three 50+ scores and one century. McConchie is a fantastic leader for Canterbury and is likely to bounce back from that all-round dip. Alongside McConchie in the Canterbury batting group are Chad Bowes, Ken McClure and Cameron Fletcher. This unit is talented, experienced and shine in all formats which gives Canterbury solid foundations to either sprinkle in Blackcaps or develop younger batters.

Leo Carter should now be viewed in the same group as the lads above. Carter loves to crack Super Smash boundaries and is an undercover T20 slugger to keep tabs on, also finishing as Canterbury's best Ford Trophy batter last season. Carter already has decent Plunket Shield foundations and if he can find consistency in Plunket Shield run-scoring, he will be a key figure for Canterbury.

Matt Boyle and Mitch Hay are youngsters promoted from the Canterbury system. Boyle offers top-order depth and Hay adds wicket-keeping depth behind Fletcher, scoring 62 in his Plunket Shield debut last season.

Shipley is the bloke to follow this summer after combining Super Smash x-factor with Plunket Shield excellence last season. Shipley took 16w @ 12.8avg in Plunket Shield with three 50+ scores in his 228 runs @ 32.57avg. In the Super Smash Shipley added lower order efficiency (24avg/133.33sr) and took 18w @ 14.11avg. Two formats at either end of the cricketing spectrum and Shipley scored runs as either format requires, also averaging below 15 with the ball.

Those are rather bonkers bowling stats for Shipley although they are in tune with his overall career mahi. Shipley has a FC bowling average of 27.77 and T20 average of 23.86. Shipley's also shown his batting potential throughout his career, averaging 22.50 in FC, 22.57 in LA and smacking T20 runs with a strike-rate of 142.64.

Shipley has the cricketing package that seems destined for domestic dominance and higher honours. That requires multiple seasons of elite production and efficiency, so how Shipley develops will be an interesting wrinkle across the domestic landscape. Shipley made his FC debut for Canterbury in 2016 which tells the story of a high pedigree cricketer who has battled injuries to finally flex his multi-format potential last season.

Canterbury cricket is well versed in developing elite domestic cricketers who demand Blackcaps promotions. Sometimes this comes in the form of blatant talent like Tom Latham, yet the real joy in Canterbury's system is how blokes like Henry Nicholls and Matt Henry emerge to be major factors in Aotearoa cricket. Shipley feels like the next Cantabrian on that journey and while his stature will command attention, Shipley is a naturally gifted cricketer who could be mandatory viewing this summer.

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