2023/24 Super Smash Scout: Mitch Hay, Skye Bowden And More From Auckland vs Canterbury
Super Smash cricket is underway with the Auckland blokes defeating Canterbury and Canterbury women defeating Auckland. Here are some key notes from those two games and the next game day is Thursday where Wellington host Otago in both competitions.
Not much room for youngsters in the Auckland line but Ryan Harrison had his first Super Smash bat and he slotted right into a uber powerful group of hitters...
Auckland did have a spot in their bowling attack for 21-year-old Nikith Perera, who dismissed Michael Rippon. Perera conceded 11.5rpo with his lefty-spin and Auckland's other lefty-spinner Louis Delport also took 1w @ 12rpo. Canterbury's spinners Michael Rippon (2w @ 6.7rpo) and Cole McConchie (1w @ 7.5rpo) were tidy against Auckland's batting oomph.
Perera is likely to get game time while Adithya Ashok is away on Blackcaps duty. Depending on conditions, Auckland can deploy Delport and Perera in the same team with Sean Solia, Jimmy Neesham and Harrison offering seam bowling options in their batting unit. Canterbury have McConchie and Rippon batting in their top-six which offers a different way to get two spinners in the same team.
Canterbury had Bevon-John Jacobs making his debut and the 21-year-old whacked 42 runs @ 210sr. Jacobs appears to have played his junior cricket in Auckland before moving to Christchurch and he made his Ford Trophy debut a few weeks ago.
The funkiest youngster for Canterbury is wicket-keeper Mitch Hay, who hit 43 runs @ 172sr. Hay has been a staple of our domestic cricket coverage and a fresh way to slice up his talent is highlighting his First-Class average of 42.27 then pointing to a T20 strike-rate of 140. Hay only averages 16 in T20 batting but he has already shown what he can do with more opportunities.
Canterbury's veterans played key roles in their win over Auckland in the women's encounter. Kate Anderson, Frances Mackay and Nat Cox all scored 20-odds before Mackay's decision to bowl with an apparent torn bicep flipped the game in Canterbury's favour. Mackay was the last bowler used as skipper and she took 2w @ 4.7rpo.
21-year-old Jodie Dean also scored 20 runs for Canterbury and she is averaging 27 in HBJ Shield, the second highest batting average for Canterbury. Obviously Mackay leads that with 40.75avg this season while also averaging 27.4 with the ball.
Skye Bowden took 4w @ 4.5rpo for Auckland and like Mackay, she was the last bowling option used. It seems as though Bowden took her first Super Smash wicket in this game and hasn't bowled much in recent seasons, despite her natural cricketing talent shining in this performance.
Bowden also hit 20 runs @ 95sr along with 23 runs @ 79sr from Josie Penfold. These two and Amie Hucker all share a similar athletic cricketing package which will be crucial to Auckland's success this season. Bowden and Penfold had impressive all-round efforts against Canterbury and this is intriguing when contrasted with recent White Fern Bella Armstrong who didn't bowl and batted third for one run. Armstrong has no scores over 20 in eight games since her White Ferns debut.
Prue Catton is a classy cricketer to keep tabs on, playing a skipper in this game and usually captain of the HBJ Shield outfit. Catton is 20-years-old and she scored 22 runs @ 110sr, after taking over as wicket-keeper when Elizabeth Buchanan suffered a horrible ball-to-the-noggin injury. Hopefully Buchanan's all good, she's only 17-years-old and was showing her potential before leaving the field.
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Peace and love.