The Plunket Shield's first stanza is in the scorebooks as the domestic realms enter Ford Trophy mode and this means it's time for the Plunket Shield First Stanza All Stars. As always, this is designed to capture the best domestic cricketers from the first four games of the season and as most of the best Plunket Shield performers are older lads, the All Stars outfit reflects this. The All Stars team also absorbs Blackcaps mana in terms of Blackcaps who have churned out impressive four-day mahi and also in terms of highlighting players who are capable of being injected into the Blackcaps to do a job.

There is no reason to stress about the Blackcaps talent pipeline. This yarn lays everything out and there will be a First Stanza Emerging team published in the next few days. There is an abundance of talent in domestic cricket and having two First Stanza All Star-ish teams is a reflection of the quality of talent working it's way through the pipeline.

Sean Solia, Tom Bruce, Henry Nicholls, Joe Carter, Nick Kelly, Mitch Hay, Doug Bracewell, Nathan Smith, Scott Kuggeleijn, Ajaz Patel, Jacob Duffy.

This team features Bruce, Bracewell, Patel and Duffy from last summer's FSAS. All four have maintained their perch in the fringe Blackcaps tree. Bruce was one of, if not the best batter in two four-day series' against Australia A this year and along with his First-Class batting average of 49.8, Bruce is in his third FC season averaging 50+...

• 2021/22: 858 runs @ 143avg

• 2022/23: 887 runs @ 63.3avg

• 2023/24: 235 runs @ 58.7avg

Bruce is selected to open as there is no opener eating up runs to command selection. Greg Hay opens for Central Districts and he has more runs than Bruce, with Bruce only playing three games. Hay has 259 runs @ 37avg which is solid, although below his exceptional standards and the plehtora of batters/all-rounders available forced Bruce up the top to open up more middle order slots.

Bracewell is one of those all-rounders who demanded selection as he is one of the most efficient seamers in Plunket Shield. This comes after a nifty stint in County Championship Division One this winter where Bracewell took 24w @ 27.4avg/3.9rpo and he also scored his mandatory 50+ knock. Bracewell has already gone 50+ in the first stanza which gives him four consecutive FC seasons with at least one 50+ score.

Patel earned spin selection ahead of Adithya Ashok who has the most spin wickets in Plunket Shield. This involves Blackcaps mana with Patel constantly in the Test mixer, but is mainly due to Patel only taking one less wicket with more efficiency than Ashok. Duffy is on track (21w) to take 30+ wickets if this form continues through the second stanza and this would be his third FC season with 30+ wickets, while also his second in a row.

Auckland's Sean Solia leads all Plunket Shield batters for runs and he is the only lad with 400+ runs so far. Solia had a 50+ score in three of the four FC games between NZ-A and Australia A this year, meaning that Solia consistently scored runs across Aotearoa and Australia. Henry Nicholls is the only other batter with 320+ runs and his 396 runs come from just three games. 17 batters have scored 200+ runs with Nicholls and Bruce being the only blokes who have not played all four games.

Joe Carter (ND) and Nick Kelly (Wellington) are undergroundy-sneaky inclusions. Carter has a 50+ score in each game of the first stanza and his average of 62.2 is second only to Nicholls in Plunket Shield. Kelly has made the transition from an aggressive Ford Trophy/Super Smash batter to a certified top-five batter in Aotearoa which is roughly aligned with his move from Otago to Wellington.

Kelly averaged below 31 in each of his first five seasons of Plunket Shield. Kelly has averaged 40+ in three of his last four seasons (44.5, 51.9, 29.3, 45.1) and while last season was his lowest average of this phase, Kelly scored two centuries which is the most in a season of his career.

Mitch Hay is the only youngster in this grizzly group of FSAS. The main competition here is Dane Cleaver and Hay's average of 41.3 is only slightly better than Cleaver's 39.1avg. Both have two 50+ scores and this puts them ahead of Max Chu, who leads Plunket Shield wicket-keepers for runs.

Chu is overtaken by Hay and Cleaver because he is averaging 31.8 which highlights Chu's improvement. Cleaver has Blackcaps mana thanks to his role in wider ODI/T20I squads. The nod goes to the 23-year-old Hay however to indicate his status as the best young cricketer in Aotearoa right now, which is reinforced by a couple appearances for NZ-A this year.

Nathan Smith is having a similar season to Bracewell and is making significant progress towards being an enticing all-rounder for higher honours. On 21w, Smith is the only Wellington bowler with 15+ wickets and he is averaging below 25 in three of his last four FC seasons. As a fun exercise, let's compare Bracewell and Smith's FC all-rounder stats...

• Doug Bracewell: 25.7avg/58.2sr (bat) | 31avg/3.2rpo (ball)

• Nathan Smith: 26.5avg/47.8sr (bat) | 27.6avg/2.7rpo (ball)

The leading wicket-taker in Plunket Shield's first stanza is Scott Kuggeleijn on 22w @ 16.4avg/2.9rpo. There is a natural flow through the Blackcaps pipeline as Kuggeleijn followed up his Test debut last summer with wickets in all 10 innings bowled in FC/List-A cricket against Australia A this year. Kuggeleijn took 3+ wickets in six of the eight innings in the FC series for NZ-A and also scored a century in Australia.

Now Kuggeleijn has wickets in seven of his eight Plunket Shield innings, all of which are 2+ wickets. Kuggeleijn hasn't done too much with the bat but he did put up scores of 36 and 43 down the order for Northern Districts in their last outing, a win vs Otago. ND are the only team with three wins from the first stanza and sit on top of the Plunket Shield landscape, which features Kuggeleijn as the best bowler. Add in Carter's consistency with the bat and ND are the best team with two of the best FC cricketers in Aotearoa heading deeper into summer.

Sean Solia - Auckland

1st- 401 runs @ 57.2vg/46sr, 1 x 100, 2 x 50

Tom Bruce - CD

235 runs @ 58.7avg/55sr, 1 x 100, 1 x 50

Henry Nicholls - Canterbury

2nd - 393 runs @ 78.6avg/58sr, 2 x 100, 1 x 50

Joe Carter - ND

5th - 311 runs @ 62.2avg/51sr, 4 x 50

Nick Kelly - Wellington

3rd - 316 runs @ 45.1avg/62sr, 3 x 50

Mitch Hay - Canterbury

10th - 248 runs @ 41.3avg/54sr, 2 x 50

Doug Bracewell - CD

128 runs @ 21.3avg/62sr, 1 x 50 | 6th - 16w @ 16.7avg/2.6rpo

Nathan Smith - Wellington

160 runs @ 22.8avg/63sr, 1 x 50 | 2nd - 21w @ 15.1avg/2.9rpo

Scott Kuggeleijn - ND

118 runs @ 23.6avg/68sr | 1st - 22w @ 16.4avg/2.9rpo

Ajaz Patel - CD

13w @ 31avg/3.3rpo

Jacob Duffy - Otago

3rd - 21w @ 18.3avg/2.7rpo

Join the Niche Cache Patreon whanau to support our kiwi sports content straight up, get a karma boost and find extra podcasts.

Every Monday and Friday we fire off an email newsletter with bonus content. Sign up here!

Peace and love.