2022/23 Ford Trophy: The Josh Clarkson Takeover And More Notes From The Final
Central Districts are Ford Trophy champions after their victory over Canterbury and with one more Plunket Shield game against Auckland on the agenda, Central will be aiming for two championships this summer. Batting first in Napier, Canterbury put up 212/9 with Cole McConchie's 54 runs leading the way. Mitch Hay also scored 44 runs while Central's bowling effort was led by Jayden Lennox's 3w @ 2.7rpo and Josh Clarkson's 3w @ 4rpo.
Central had the top of their batting line up knocked off by Sean Davey (2w @ 2.87rpo) and Will O'Rourke (2w @ 4.62rpo), sitting on 49/4 when Clarkson started his mahi. Skipper Tom Bruce played a leadership knock with 51 runs @ 60.7sr and this allowed Clarkson to do what he does best, which is whacking boundaries. Clarkson finished on 111* @ 142.3sr.
In back to back Super Smash championships for Northern, the likes of Mitchell Santner and Katene Clarke have impressed with clutch performances. Clarkson joins that club for this summer and this is pretty wild considering that Clarkson had 82 runs @ 11.71avg in his seven innings prior to the final. All of that was before Clarkson found a groove in March.
Clarkson's already got the FT championship mana locked in and the chance of a PS championship is equally as intriguing for the 26-year-old. Clarkson hit his first PS century a few weeks ago with scores of 119, 44*, 62 and 30* in his last four innings of PS. That's two centuries, a 50+ nugget and two not-outs in his last five innings of cricket.
255 of Clarkson's 337 runs in PS came in his last two outings. In FT, Clarkson has 193 runs overall and 111 of those came in the final. This pocket of form is already a career-best zone and it has delivered a FT championship, all that is left is the last game of PS.
All of which is even funkier because Clarkson has only played 14 First-Class games, while playing 63 List-A and 78 T20 games. With a T20 strike-rate of 150 and 100.5sr in LA, Clarkson had already established himself as a top notch slugger. Earlier in the summer Clarkson scored 258 runs @ 36.85avg/164sr in the SS and he has now found a method in the longer format, also bowling more overs across all formats.
Clarkson took 9w @ 18.66avg/4.8rpo and while he averages 30+ in the other two formats, Clarkson has a LA career bowling record of 23w @ 27avg/5.34rpo. Clarkson has his best knocks in PS and FT, as well his best bowling season in his best bowling format.
Here are some more Ford Trophy notes...
Tom Bruce and Cole McConchie both had 50+ knocks in the final. Both had two 50+ scores across the campaign, Bruce scored 199 runs @ 49.75avg and McConchie scored 192 runs @ 21.33avg. McConchie is 2nd for PS runs with 738 runs @ 56.76avg and Bruce is 3rd for PS runs with 705 runs @ 70.5avg.
Brad Schmulain was 2nd for FT runs and scored the most runs for Central with 405 runs @ 40.5avg. With career averages over 40 in FC and LA, Schmulian has averaged 40+ in three of his four LA seasons.
Brett Randell and Michael Rae (Otago) were tied for the most wickets. Randell led Central's bowlers with 18w @ 14.27avg/3.71rpo but couldn't play the final.
Senior CD bowlers Seth Rance (13w @ 12.3avg/3.4rpo) and Ajaz Patel (11w @ 21.27avg/4.28rpo) had strong campaigns.
Will Young hit the most sixes for Central with nine and his six innings featured a century and a 50+ knock, for 268 runs @ 89.33avg/102sr. Young now has a LA average of 41.1.
Blair Tickner took 8w @ 15.87avg/4.2rpo.
Jayden Lennox supported Patel well with 7w @ 24.57avg/4.19rpo, after taking 16w @ 15.9avg/7.61rpo in SS. Lennox was also tied with Rae for the most wickets in SS this season.
Luteru Taylor played five games with 39 runs @ 13avg/103sr.
Dane Cleaver hit 298 runs @ 33.11av/88sr.
Canterbury's Blackcaps in FT...
Chad Bowes: 373 runs @ 46.62avg/103sr.
Tom Latham: 118 runs @ 39.33avg/85sr.
Matt Henry: 57 runs @ 28.5avg/178sr | 5w @ 21avg/3.1rpo
Henry Nicholls: 108 runs @ 21.6avg/77sr
Ish Sodhi: 67 runs @ 67avg/52sr | 4w @ 20.5avg/4rpo
Henry Shipley: 64 runs @ 16avg/79sr | 13w @ 13.9avg/4.41rpo.
Pretty impressive season for Will O'Rourke...
Ford Trophy: 13w @ 20.76avg/4.89rpo
Plunket Shield: 23w @ 32.6avg/3.14rpo
Super Smash: 12w @ 23.16avg/8rpo
Leo Carter hit 283 runs @ 47.16avg/79sr.
Ken McClure only played three games and hit 100*, averaging 35+ in FC and LA.
Youngsters Rhys Mariu and Mitch Hay combined for 10 scores over 50 in PS. Playing less games in FT (Mariu made his debut in the final), these two combined for no 50+ scores. Expect that to look rather different next season.
Sean Davey took 23w @ 14.69avg/2.46rpo in PS and only played two FT games including the final. Davey finished FT with 4w @ 19.25avg/5.13rpo.
Aside from their Blackcaps, Canterbury had O'Rourke, Davey and Zak Foulkes (4w @ 20.75avg/4.15rpo) averaging below 22 in their seam department. Henry, Sodhi and Shipley all averaged below 22.
Ed Nuttall took 12w @ 26avg/4.66rpo to sit behind Shipley and O'Rourke who finished on 13w each. Nuttall is averaging between 28-31 in all formats with 28.47avg in LA his best format.
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