2022/23 Women's Super Smash: Taking Stock Of Another Dominant Wellington Blaze Campaign
Wellington Blaze have won four of the past five Super Smash championships and are 8-0 this season, undefeated across their last 18 games. Two of Wellington's four championships feature undefeated campaigns and as Super Smash enters the last weekend before finals, Wellington are 48-7 since the 2017/18 season.
Wellington's dominance revolves around their White Ferns. Sophie Devine has bullied many Super Smash bowling attacks and her presence is enough to make Wellington favourites in any match up. Devine has a T20I record of 29.79avg/122sr with the bat as well as 17.45avg/6.34pro with the ball. Devine is a world-class T20I cricketer and when she dips down to Super Smash, she is usually a destructive force.
Wellington are 8-0 this summer and Devine's only played two games. Devine showcased her all-round ability with 5w @ 6rpo in 7 overs but only scored 10 runs @ 66.66sr. Devine has been the cornerstone of Wellington's dynasty and in another undefeated season, Devine has had a minor role.
Devine's lack of game time and runs have been absorbed by Amelia Kerr continuing her transition from nifty leggy to world-class batter. A-Kerr leads Wellington for runs with 244 runs @ 48.8avg/121.39sr and this comes after A-Kerr rolled through her best year of T20I batting (327 runs @ 32.7avg/111.22sr), plus her best Women's Big Bash League campaign with the bat (295 runs @ 26.81avg/118.47sr).
Rebecca Burns joins A-Kerr as Wellington batters with 200+ runs in Super Smash this summer. Burns has 228 runs @ 32.57avg/123.24sr and her form, plus T20 power is worthy of WF T20WC selection. Of the 18 SS batters who have scored 100+ runs so far, only Suzie Bates has a higher strike-rate than Burns. Bates, A-Kerr and Burns are the only batters with 100+ runs and strike-rates over 120. Sounds like a handy recipe to absorb the absence of Devine.
Maddy Green is also grinding throuhg a similar development bump as A-Kerr. Green had her best year of T20I batting in 2022 (246 runs @ 30.75avg/116.58sr), as well as her best WBBL campaign (240 runs @ 24avg/105.26sr) which was better than her Perth homie Devine. Green has 121 runs @ 30.25avg/108sr in SS and along with Thamsyn Newton's 124 runs @ 15.5avg/91.85sr they round out the four Wellington batters with 100+ runs.
18 batters have 100+ runs and only four of them are from Wellington. Devine and Newton are the only notable Wellington batters with strike-rates below 100. This means that Wellington's batting unit scores efficiently and with other SS teams having two or three batters over 100sr, Wellington continue to set the standard for wahine SS batting.
Along with the best batters highlighted above Wellington have Leigh Kasperek (33avg/115.78sr), Georgia Plimmer (16.33avg/113.95sr), Jess McFadyen (11avg/122sr) and Jess Kerr (7.25avg/116sr) scoring quickly. Don't buzz about the averages in these roles as they don't face many deliveries and their mahi is all about whacking boundaries/running hard.
With a fabulous bowling attack, Wellington don't need to score many runs either...
Leigh Kasperek: 3rd - 11w @ 13.63avg/6rpo
Nicole Baird: 4th - 10w @ 9avg/5rpo
Jess Kerr: 5th - 10w @ 14.5avg/5.57rpo
Xara Jetly: 15th - 8w @ 19.37avg/6.45rpo
Amelia Kerr: 19th - 7w @ 22avg/5.7rpo
Sophie Devine: 23rd - 5w @ 8.4avg/6rpo
Caitlin King: 26th - 5w @ 15.6avg/6.5pro
That's seven Wellington bowlers with 5+ wickets, averages below 25 and they are all conceding less than 7rpo.
Kasperek is as dominant as any of WF spinner and her T20I record of 14.13avg/6.29rpo looks lovely when compared to A-Kerr's 22.46avg/5.87rpo. Kasperek played for Otago during the first two seasons of this dynasty phase before moving to Wellington and I have included her stats with Otago to highlight the standard Wellington development boost, as well as Kasperek's yucky dominance...
2017/18: 8w @ 23avg/5.75rpo (Otago)
2018/19: 8w @ 18.87avg/5.39rpo (Otago)
2019/20: 15w @ 14.13avg/5.53rpo
2020/21: 13w @ 11.53avg/5.55rpo
2021/22: 20w @ 9.35avg/4.98rpo
2022/23: 11w @ 13.63avg/6rpo
J-Kerr is also consistently excellent for Wellington...
2017/18: 6w @ 17.33avg/5.77rpo
2018/19: 6w @ 32.5avg/6.72rpo
2019/20: 20w @ 10.3avg/5.15rpo
2020/21: 12w @ 21.25avg/5.79rpo
2021/22: 18w @ 8.44avg/4.75rpo
2022/23: 10w @ 14.5avg/5.57rpo
Xara Jetly is the low key monster, snapping up wickets in the shadows of Wellington's leaders...
2019/20: 1w @ 3.4rpo
2020/21: 6w @ 12.16avg/6.63rpo
2021/22: 13w @ 10.38avg/4.65rpo
2022/23: 8w @ 19.37avg/6.45rpo
Wellington usually unleash a fresh youngster each summer, although the emergence of Nicole Baird offers a new twist. 29-year-old lefty spinner Baird is the second best SS spinner and Wellington's second best bowler after her first six games of SS. Baird also has 3w @ 15.66avg/4.27rpo in her first three games of HBJ Shield.
The Under 19 Women's T20 World Cup has finished and there are a few more funky Wellington wrinkles to explore. Plimmer was the best batter for Aotearoa with 155 runs @ 51.66avg/143.51sr and was the only kiwi to make the tournament team. Plimmer has flashed her frisky strokes in SS during the Wellington dynasty and she now slides straight into WF T20WC mahi.
Wellington also had 16-year-old Kate Chandler taking 5w @ 5.8avg/3.62rpo and 19-year-old Natasha Codyre taking 5w @ 9.2avg/4.18rpo. Wellington had Aotearoa's best batter and two of Aotearoa's best bowlers in the U19 T20 outfit.
Devine, the Kerr sisters, Green and Plimmer won't help Wellington during SS finals. Wellington still have Kasperek and Burns as elite SS players, along with championship mana in the likes of Newton, McFadyen, Jetly and lefty-seamer Maneka Singh. They have added more spin depth with the emergence of Baird, meaning Wellington still have the best spin unit even with A-Kerr's departure.
All of that could be good enough to drive Wellington into another SS championship. Like a few other teams though, Wellington have added overseas imports to their roster. Brisbane Heat duo Laura Harris and Charli Knott played alongside the Kerr sisters in WBBL last year, now adding immense talent to Wellington's finals push.
In their first game for Wellington, Harris and Knott dominated SS contenders Canterbury. Harris hit 67* @ 248.14sr and Knott scored 51 runs @ 212.5sr before she took 1w @ 5.5rpo with her offies. Harris and Knott are the only SS wahine with batting strike-rates over 200 right now.
Given that Harris also had a WBBL strike-rate of 204.54 (270 runs @ 22.5avg), she is mandatory viewing in SS. Knott had a solid all-round WBBL campaign with 143 runs @ 23.83avg/112.59sr and took 7w @ 26.28avg/7rpo, which was on display in her first outing for Wellington.
Wellington were already on an undefeated run across two seasons and they have now added two exceptional Aussies to replace their WF. Harris and Knott are shaping up as the best overseas imports in SS. Sprinkling them on top of dominant SS players, along with the best emerging talent adds extra funk to Wellington's pursuit of a fifth SS championship in six years.
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