Aotearoa A vs Australia A: Game One Debrief
Sneaking under the kiwi cricket radar during the week was a nifty win for Aotearoa A against Australia A. The playing 11 didn't include Brett Randell, Will O'Rourke, Mitch Hay or Adithya Ashok as fringe Blackcaps got the first opportunity. Dean Foxcroft was the notable inclusion of the new wave selected in the squad. Here's a quick breakdown of each innings that lays out how funky Aotearoa's run chase was...
Aus A: 370/6dec @ 3.49rpo
NZ A: 224 runs @ 3.63rpo
Aus A: 218/2dec @ 5.89rpo
NZ A: 365/7 @ 4.11rpo
Scott Kuggeleijn was the only kiwi bowler to take more than 1 wicket in this game. Doug Bracewell, Sean Solia and Ajaz Patel took a wicket in the first innings while Kuggeleijn picked up 3w. Then Kuggeleijn took 2w in the second innings and while he didn't dominate Plunket Shield, Kuggeleijn has performed well in the recent pocket of longform cricket.
Kuggeleijn's last three games feature a Test, a Plunket Shield game and this A fixture. Six innings of bowling and Kuggeleijn has 2+ wickets in five of those innings. Add in a decent Super Smash campaign in which Kuggeleijn's 9w @ 23.66avg helped Northern win back to back championships. Roughing up Aussie batters isn't easy for kiwi seamers but Kuggeleijn was able to take wickets with his short-ball as well as routine top'o-off areas.
Cole McConchie scored 74 in the first batting innings for A-A, which along with Tom Bruce's 48 helped steer the kiwis over 200 runs. Bruce backed it up with 64 runs in the second innings and these two lads parlayed fabulous Plunket Shield mahi into A-A runs. McConchie and Bruce finished 2nd and 3rd for PS runs this season, joined by Bharat Popli as the only batters to score 700+ runs. Both have decent form in their last 10 games as well...
Cole McConchie: 15, 13*, 54, 52, 22, 27, 81, 83, 21, 7, 4, 41, 54, 74, 29
Tom Bruce: 27, 79*, 6, 27*, 40, 67, 161, 41*, 13, 33*, 51*. 48, 64
Henry Cooper had a sneaky knock of 52 at the top of the order in the second innings, after knocks of 42 and 74 in his last PS outing. Cooper wasn't quite as good as Popli or Jeet Raval (643 runs @ 43avg) in the Northern ranks this season but still finished 7th for overall runs with 547 runs @ 34avg.
With numerous seasons of domestic excellence stacked up and impressive form right now, McConchie and Bruce feel like the best batters outside of the Blackcaps mixer. Foxcroft has been a run-scoring monster this season as well and he is probably the hottest kiwi batter outside the Blackcaps mixer as we round out the summer. 24-year-old Foxcroft averaged 40+ in PS and SS this season, now averaging between 37-44 in the three formats.
Foxcroft's knock of 97 set up the win for A-A as he was the only kiwi batter to face 100+ deliveries (150). Along with Cooper batting through the final session of day three and building with Foxcroft early on day four, McConchie scored 29 runs off 71 balls to continue the build. Before the lads had a whack to chase the winning runs, Cooper (54sr), Foxcroft (65sr) and McConchie (41sr) laid the platform.
Then Bruce took things up a notch with 88sr. Fletcher led the flurry with 56* @ 140sr while Bracewell hit 18 runs @ 200sr and Kuggeleijn chimed in with 10* @ 125sr.
Fletcher didn't have a 50+ score in PS this summer, with one 50+ score in Ford Trophy and SS. Averaging under 30 in all three formats this season is a dip for Canterbury's wicket-keeper and this knock of 56 sits as his only 40+ score in his last 10 games. Now Fletcher has a match-winning flurry at the back end of a tough summer and another opportunity to gather runs in the second game of this series.
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Peace and love.