2022/23 Plunket Shield: Underground King Bharat Popli & Aotearoa 'A' Check In

There is one game left to play in the Plunket Shield with Central and Auckland catching up on their postponed encounter, although that will have to wait for the Ford Trophy final on Tuesday between Central and Canterbury. Central are chasing Canterbury in the PS and they will probably need to defeat Auckland to snare enough points to overtake the Cantabs.

The Aotearoa 'A' fixture against a touring Aussie outfit will be played at the same time as the last PS game early in April. Hopefully all the big donnies are available for the FT final because the likes of Tom Bruce, Doug Bracewell, Ajaz Patel, Brett Randell, Rob O'Donnell, Sean Solia and Adithya Ashok are unlikely to play the PS fixture. That will only add funk to the last PS game as sneaky heroes and youngsters could play influential roles.

Northern batter Bharat Popli is the underground king of this summer, but he wasn't selected in the A-A squad. There is a strong crop of batters in the A-A squad and the blokes who earned A-A seleciton but didn't pile up runs this season have featured in previous A-A squads. Popli is joined by Jeet Raval as the best batters not in the A-A squad, while Central lefty Ray Toole (24w @ 24.95avg) and Canterbury's Sean Davey (23w @ 14.69avg) are the best bowlers not in the A-A squad.

Popli is currently the leading run-scorer in PS and will probably stay there, unless Brad Schmulian (555 runs @ 46.25avg) goes bonkers in the last PS outing. Having stacked up 819 runs @ 63avg, Popli is the only batter with 750+ runs and he also has the most centuries with three.

This isn't Popli's best season though. Back in the summer of 2015/16, Popli hit 1,149 runs @ 67.58avg with three centuries and seven half-centuries. That was with 10 games played and PS action has been cut down to eight games which makes that 1,000 run marker rather difficult to reach. Most don't even crack 700 runs in a season.

In the previous five seasons, only two lads have scored 800+ runs. Michael Papps hit 814 runs in 2017/18 and Bruce scored 858 runs last season, now Popli is the third bloke in six seasons to score 800+ runs.

After his monster summer in 2015/16, Popli went three seasons averaging less than 35. This is Popli's third season in a row averaging 40+ but his first season since 2016 in which he has scored 500+ runs. Six of Popli's seven First-Class centuries have come in two seasons and despite some lean phases, Popli has a FC average of 40.54.

Perhaps the fact that Popli primarily plays PS while dabbling in FT most summers worked against him for A-A selection. Northern comrade Henry Cooper plays all formats while Mitch Hay and Dean Foxcroft are also all-format players. The likes of Solia and O'Donnell have A-A history as well as all-format prowess. Cameron Fletcher has the wicket-keeping nod.

Here's how the A-A batters performed in PS this season...

  • Cole McConchie: 2nd - 738 runs @ 70.5avg, 2 x 100, 4 x 50

  • Tom Bruce: 3rd - 738 runs @ 56.76avg, 2 x 100, 3 x 50

  • Dean Foxcroft: 5th - 631 runs @ 45avg, 1 x 100, 5 x 50

  • Henry Cooper: 7th - 547 runs @ 34.18avg, 1 x 100, 3 x 50

  • Mitch Hay: 8th - 538 runs @ 41.38avg, 6 x 50

  • Sean Solia: 442 runs @ 36.83avg, 1 x 100, 1 x 50

  • Rob O'Donnell: 368 runs @ 33.45avg, 1 x 100, 1 x 50

  • Doug Bracewell: 225 runs @ 28avg, 2 x 50

  • Cameron Fletcher: 87 runs @ 21.75avg

The A-A bowling unit features Jacob Duffy as the leading wicket-taker in PS, while Doug Bracewell and Scott Kuggeleijn are recent Test seamers sliding down to A-A level. Bracewell has been one of the most efficient PS all-rounders this season and Kuggeleijn hasn't dominated in PS, but he does have 7w in his last two games of red ball cricket. Kuggeleijn's selection stems from his Test status and the Duffy/Bracewell/Kuggeleijn trio serves as a fair representation of the Test bowling ranks.

Ajaz Patel is also in the Test bowling ranks as a spinner competing with Michael Bracewell's all-round capacity and Ish Sodhi's leggy x-factor. Patel has taken 12 of his 21 PS wickets in the last three games, including a big ol' 6-for which helped set up Central's win over Otago, thus setting up the last PS game of the season.

Patel is averaging 33.57 this season and this is his lowest FC summer average since 2017/18. This is extra impressive as Patel took 5w @ 64.2avg in the Pakistan Test series, giving Patel 5w in three Tests since the 14w of Mumbai magic. Patel returned from Pakistan and demanded selection in Central's white ball teams, now he seems to be in a groove with the red ball.

  • Jacob Duffy: 1st - 32w @ 29avg/3.21rpo

  • Doug Bracewell: 5th - 23w @ 20avg/2.97rpo

  • Will O'Rourke: 6th - 23w @ 32.6avg/3.14rpo

  • Ajaz Patel: 10th - 21w @ 33.57avg/3.18rpo

  • Brett Randell: 20w @ 24.55avg/2.74rpo

  • Adithya Ashok: 19w @ 27.84avg/2.93rpo

  • Scott Kuggeleijn: 7w @ 54.42avg/3.46rpo

Brett Randell, Will O'Rourke and Adithya Ashok earned A-A selection through strong PS mahi as well as performing in all three formats. Randell left Northern for Central and that resulted in him playing all three formats. Randell is in his second consecutive PS campaign with 20+ wickets and averages below 25, currently averaging below 30 in all three formats for his career.

Canterbury are stacked with emerging seamers and kiwi cricket fans should tap in considering how Kyle Jamieson and Henry Shipley have come through the Canterbury seam system. Even with the best seam unit in Aotearoa, O'Rourke played all three formats and finishes the season as Canterbury's best bowler across all three formats.

Ashok is the best young spinner in Aotearoa and he took a lovely leap this season as he settled into Auckland's PS team. After only playing FT and SS last season, Ashok sits behind Patel for the most spin wickets in PS this season. Patience is required though and with Will Somerville retiring, Ashok is likely to earn reps as Auckland's leading red ball spinner next season.

Perhaps the most important selection wrinkle is all-format-ness. Most of this A-A squad are consistent performers in all three formats and have previous A-A experience. The youngsters who earned selection have commanded opportunities in all three formats for their respective teams, then they impressed through the domestic cricket grind.

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Peace and love.