Northern Brave have won back to back Super Smash championships, defeating Canterbury in both finals and delivering a bunch of funky storylines. This is Northern's fourth Super Smash championship since the first campaign in 2005/06, joining Auckland and Wellington with the most Super Smash titles. Given how Wellington wahine have set the dynasty baseline at four championships in five seasons and seven overall, we're not in dynasty territory for the lads just yet.

Mitchell Santner is the men’s Super Smash Finals MVP after leading Northern to an elimination final win over Otago, then the final against Canterbury. Santner was also Northern's best performer in last summer's final and this is the type of winning mahi that deserves a celebration, so spark one up for Santner.

Santner in last two Super Smash seasons...

• 2021/22: 158 runs @ 52.66avg/188sr | 8w @ 15avg/6.66rpo

• 2022/23: 88 runs @ 88avg/157sr | 7w @ 17.85avg/7.35po

Katene Clarke was also fabulous across both Northern championships. Clarke snatched momentum away from Otago in the elimination final and he had flurry of boundaries in the final. Northern put up 217 runs in last summer's final which featured a monster knock from Santner, but Clarke started that innings and his aggressive strokes now come with championship mana.

Clarke in last two Super Smash seasons...

• 2021/22: 228 runs @ 32.57avg/153sr

• 2022/23: 266 runs @ 29.55avg/138sr

Another funky wrinkle was Neil Wagner, who only played four games after returning from Pakistan. Northern won all four games. Northern needed wins against Auckland and Central to slide into the finals mixer. Wagner took 3w @ 6.5rpo and 2w @ 5rpo in those games to help put Northern into finals. Then Wagner snared 3w @ 10rpo against Otago and 2w @ 5.5rpo against Canterbury.

Four games, four wins and 10w @ 9.8avg/6.53rpo. This was Wagner's first Super Smash stint since 2018/19 and his two seasons prior to that break saw him average 40+ and concede over 8rpo. Slide all the way back to 2009/10 for Wagner's biggest Super Smash wicket tally of 12w @ 18.25avg/8.76rpo and this summer sits as Wagner's best Super Smash campaign of his career.

Northern won last season's championship with Colin de Grandhomme, Anurag Verma, Tim Southee and Ish Sodhi in ther team for the final. Verma isn't a Blackcap but he took 14w @ 15.5avg/7.31rpo, while Southee and Sodhi are certified Blackcaps and de Grandhomme's an elite Super Smash cricketer. Take three Blackcaps out of a Super Smash championship team and then go back to back? That's pretty damn impressive.

Brett Hampton, Tim Pringle, Joe Carter and Wagner replaced the lads above in this season's final. Carter finished with a record of 43avg/123sr and scored 30* @ 158sr in the final. Pringle didn't take a wicket in the final and conceded 9rpo, but had a tidy debut campaign with 9w @ 20.77avg/6.67rpo.

Wagner and Hampton led Northern for wickets with 10, while Hampton's mahi was all about efficiency. Hampton finished with a batting strike-rate of 130 and a bowling strike-rate of 8.8; Hampton and Wagner had the best bowling strike-rates of all bowlers with 5+ wickets.

Northern's steady batting unit also showed improvements from last season with these three batters all increasing their strike-rates...

• Tim Seifert: 29.87avg/123sr - 27.22avg/149sr

• Jeet Raval: 18.4avg/112sr - 20.44avg/125sr

• Joe Carter: 29avg/107sr - 43avg/123sr

Henry Cooper finished with a record of 19.5avg/99sr and was one five Northern batters to register a 50+ score. Cooper's best knock came in an away trip to Wellington where he steered Northern to victory with 52* @ 115sr while Northern were missing Santner, Wagner and Scott Kuggeleijn.

Northern also had a variety of bowlers chiming in when required. Kuggeleijn took 2w @ 2.5rpo against Auckland and 3w @ 3.5rpo against Central in must-win games, finishing with 9w @ 23.66avg/7.38rpo. Kristian Clarke lost his spot in the 1st 11 as Northern tightened their rotation for finals and he snared 7w @ 21.28avg/8.76rpo.

The Walker brothers weren't quite as effective as they were last season, but played their roles in Northern's funky spin unit. Joe and Freddie Walker averaged below 13 last season, both conceding less than 7rpo. This season they averaged 30+ and conceded a smidge below 8rpo, but their mahi is best summed up by Joe dismissing Luteru Taylor and Freddie dismissing regular season MVP Dean Foxcroft in must-win games.

Last season Northern finished first with an 8-1 record, cruising directly into a final and dismantling Canterbury. This season Northern finished third with a 4-3 record and the most rained-off games. Northern showcased their championship mana in winning when it mattered most and they have brewed some Super Smash legends, along with the best role-players in Aotearoa.

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