2022/23 Women's Super Smash: Wellington vs Canterbury Final Preview
Canterbury defeated Otago in the Women's Super Smash elimination final on Thursday, setting up a home final for the Cantabs against Wellington. Wellington were cruising through Super Smash until they were upset by Auckland last weekend and despite that loss, everything from this deep dive into Wellington's season still applies.
There is also a mid-season deep dive into Canterbury that breaks down some of their key themes. The elimination final preview has a bunch of fresher Canterbury wrinkles to learn about ahead of Saturday's final as well.
This specific match up is extra funky as Canterbury is the only team to win a Super Smash championship during Wellington's dynasty. Wellington won three finals in a row and then lost the 2020/21 final to Canterbury before swinging back on track last season. The best performers in that final were Sophie Devine, Maddy Green, Amelia Kerr, Frances Mackay, Lea Tahuhu and Amy Satterthwaite. Satterthwaite is the only one from that group who will play on Saturday.
Most, if not all of Wellington's crew who aren't in the White Ferns T20 World Cup squad have experienced Super Smash success before. Their Aussie imports Laura Harris and Charli Knott bring Women's Big Bash League mana into the equation as well. Spinner Nicole Baird is the most notable Wellington player who doesn't have that experience and she is their second best bowler behind Leigh Kasperek.
Youngsters like Kate Chandler and Olivia Boivin could be selected for the final, although Wellington is flush with solid domestic troopers and fringe White Ferns.
Canterbury's young bowlers played in their championship campaign. Gabby Sullivan and Missy Banks laced up in that final, now they are the best seamers in Super Smash. Sarah Asmussen also played in that final and she took 5w @ 5.66rpo against Otago, the best bowling performance of all Super Smash bowlers this season.
Sullivan, Banks and Asmussen combined for 1w in their championship win. All three conceded over 7.5rpo. Now they are among the best bowlers in Aotearoa and they will play key roles alongside Satterthwaite's spin. Interestingly, Abigail Hotton played as an offie against Otago after returning from the U19 T20 World Cup and this seems to have been her T20 debut; an 18-year-old made her debut in an elimination final.
Canterbury could have Hotton and Izzy Sharp in the final from that U19 team. Wellington could have 16-year-old Kate Chandler who hit 51 runs in Wellington's HBJ Shield win over Auckland.
The best Women's Super Smash batters will be on show. Wellington have a roster full of ladies with strike-rates over 100 and Thamsyn Newton is the only notable Wellingto batter below 100sr. Wellington have five batters (available for final) with strike-rates over 110, Canterbury only has Satterthwaite and then Anderson a smidge below.
Satterthwaite and Anderson are two of the three batters with 300+ runs though. We can boil that down further as there is a bit of variance in games played due to rain and the two Cantabs are only joined by Suzie Bates in scoring 100+ runs with averages over 50.
How Canterbury's other batters perform will be crucial. Wellington have attacking players throughout their line up, while Canterbury need players to chime in around Satterthwaite and Anderson. Nat Cox, Laura Hughes, Fran Wilson and Sharp will be crucial in this pocket.
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