2023/24 Super Smash Scout: Izzy Sharp, Carol Agafili, Doug Bracewell And More
Rain has been the winner over the past week of Super Smash action with Christmas eve fixtures between Wellington and Auckland washed away, then the Canterbury vs Otago men's game was washed away. Otago women did manage a win over Canterbury on Boxing Day before the rain came, then Central Districts grabbed two wins over Northern Districts yesterday (27th).
Otago are hosting Wellington today (28th) and the Super Smash Scout could pop up tomorrow to digest those games. We are in an every day zone of Super Smash which is lovely for summer viewing and the Super Smash Scout will keep doing their best to whip up nuggets to offer context.
Izzy Sharp continues to command attention for Canterbury as they 19-year-old scored 32 runs @ 88sr in the loss to Otago. Here are Sharp's scores this summer across HBJ Shield and Super Smash: 36, 10, 45, 45, 1, 2, 32. That shakes out to 27.4avg/69sr in HBJ Shield and 17avg/80sr in Super Smash so far.
Otago are in action again so the spotlight will stay on Canterbury's wahine. Here are Canterbury's best bowlers after two games...
Gabby Sullivan: 4w @ 11avg/5.8rpo
Frances Mackay: 3w @ 11avg/4.3rpo
Sarah Asmussen: 2w @ 23avg/5.8rpo
Mackay is still chillin' as one of, if not the best player in Super Smash wahine. Natalie Dodd leads the small-sample-size batting charts as another veteran with Dodd's knock of 31 runs @ 124sr in CD's win over ND taking her to 59 runs @ 29avg/111sr. Dodd is the only player who has batted twice and scored 40+ runs with a strike-rate over 100.
Georgia Atkinson offered a late flourish for CD as well, hitting 26* @ 152sr in a crucial knock that took CD to 141/7. Atkinson continues to showcase her funky strokes to access boundaries and she has a strike-rate of 117 so far in Super Smash, which isn't quite as good as ND's Carol Agaifili.
Agafili is shining in an otherwise underwhelming ND wahine batting unit full of veterans. Agafili hit 12* @ 120sr against CD and she has 34 runs @ 154sr after two games, which makes her the only wahine batter with 30+ runs and a strike-rate over 130.
Two other young bowlers who impressed in this game were Marama Downes (ND) and Ashtuti Kumar (CD). Downes now has 3w @ 9avg/3.6rpo and she is the only bowler with 3+ wickets conceding less than 4rpo. Kumar has 3w @ 13avg/5rpo and he has more wickets in the first two games of Super Smash than her previous six bowling innings combined.
As the Blackcaps were losing to Bangladesh in the first T20I, the broadcast shared a scorecard from a T20I against Sri Lanka from a few years ago. In that game Doug Bracewell and Scott Kuggeleijn played key roles with the bat, which was lovely timing because Bracewell smacked 93* @ 281sr in CD's win and Kuggeleijn was promoted up the order for ND 36 runs @ 225sr as ND's best batter.
Here are their all-round List-A/T20 stats (batting | bowling)...
Doug Bracewell
List-A: 23avg/95sr | 30avg/5rpo
T20: 29avg/153sr | 24avg/8.5rpo
Scott Kuggeleijn
List-A: 18avg/86sr |29avg/5.5rpo
T20: 17avg/133sr | 26avg/8.5rpo
Jayden Lennox also took 4w @ 3.7rpo in a game that featured for lefty spinners including Ajaz Patel, Tim Pringle and Fred Walker. Lennox was the best bowler and best lefty spinner in this game with the other three combining for 1 wicket and each conceding more than 6rpo.
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Peace and love.