2023 Kiwi County Tour: Matt Henry Slugging, Ajaz Patel's 10 Wicket Baggy
Matt Henry, Ajaz Patel and Doug Bracewell were the only Kiwi County Tour lads in action over the past week and these three delivered plenty of County Championship funk. Patel played a key role in a Durham win with 5 wickets in both innings, Henry snared another 5-wicket baggy and smacked more runs in Somerset's win at Lord's, while Bracewell only took a couple of wickets in an Essex draw but he is enjoying a lovey wicket-taking groove.
Bracewell took 2w @ 3.25rpo and only bowled 4 overs in the second innings of the draw with Nottinghamshire. Essex love a draw as this was their fourth draw in six games, with a win and a loss in their other two games. That's the same record as Henry's Somerset and both teams are sitting mid-table in County Championship Division tahi.
While he doesn't have the batting pizzazz as Henry (49 runs @ 7avg/42sr), Bracewell has taken 17w @ 24.76avg/4rpo. Last summer Bracewell had a First-Class record of 26w @ 24.84avg and this is his best Aotearoa/England double-whammy of his career. Bracewell's previous best was 2017/18 when he averaged 28.95 in Aotearoa, followed by 27.63 in the next English winter. This winter is a notable improvement on his last FC dose of English cricket in 2019 when he averaged 53.
Henry got his outing vs Middlesex underway with 40 runs @ 174sr and he didn't even hit a six. Leading the Somerset bowling unit, Henry took 5w @ 2.81rpo and he wasn’t required to take a wicket in the second innings with Middlesex following on to eventually lose. Henry only conceded 2rpo in the second innings as Peter Siddle, Jack Leach and Craig Overton handled the wicket-taking.
In a strong bowling unit, Henry's two games have him as the most efficient Somerset bowler. Henry has 9w @ 16.77avg/2.66rpo which is the lowest average and economy rate of all Somerset bowlers. The slugging phenom is also the only Somerset batter with a strike-rate over 100 and he's cruising at an altitude of 145sr.
Here are Henry's bowling averages in England throughout his career
2014: 15.85avg
2015: 42.5avg
2016: 26.51avg
2018: 15.48avg
2021: 19avg
2022: 30avg
2023: 16.77avg
Here are Henry's bowling averages in the last three summers in Aotearoa
2020/21: 22.71avg
2021/22: 17.11avg
2022/23: 17.45avg
Bowling the most overs for Durham in both innings, Patel snared 5w @ 3.89rpo and 5w @ 3.46rpo. No other Durham bowler had 20+ overs in either innings and Patel churned out 29ov first, followed by 27.4ov. As Patel didn't take a wicket in his first game for Durham, this performance takes him to 10w @ 26.6avg/3.42rpo.
Durham is the best team in County Championship Division rua, with a 4-1- record. Patel snapped up his opportunity with Australian spinner Matthew Kuhnemann suffering an injury after taking 12w @ 22.58avg/2.77rpo. That offers a lovely gauge for Patel's mahi as they are both fringe-Test spinners and while Patel hasn't been as efficient as Kuhnemann, he is helping Durham continue to win games. Another intriguing comparison is Leach, who has 18w @ 29.55avg/3.45rpo.
How Patel builds on this performance will be interesting. In his last six games of FC cricket and 12 innings of bowling, Patel has five innings with no wickets and three innings with at least 5w. Patel also has one innings with a lone wicket, while he has taken 2w in three other innings. This is aligned with Patel's Test mahi and patches of Plunket Shield bowling, so consistent wicket-taking would be a lovely boost this winter.
Join the Niche Cache Patreon whanau to support our kiwi sports content straight up, get a karma boost and find extra podcasts.
Every Monday and Friday we fire off an email newsletter with bonus content. Sign up here!
Peace and love.