Kate Anderson

• 2022/23 HBJ Shield: 343 runs @ 42.87avg/84sr | 6w @ 20.83avg/4.16rpo

• 2022/23 Super Smash: 536 runs @ 59.55avg/115sr | 2w @ 42avg/7.6rpo

• Career List-A: 32.63avg batting | 28.9avg bowling

• Career T20: 21.83avg batting | 28avg bowling

Aotearoa's best wahine outside the White Ferns mixer is Kate Anderson, who helped Canterbury win the Super Smash and make the HBJ Shield final. Anderson's move from Northern Districts down south saw her maintain a streak of five seasons averaging 35+ in List-A cricket while making a big leap in T20 batting. Anderson averaged below 22 in eight seasons with Northern with two scores over 50 in that period. Last season Anderson averaged 59.55 in the Super Smash and with five scores over 50.

While Anderson provides off-spin bowling, her combination of finesse and power makes her a stand out. Anderson was the only batter to face 350+ deliveries (466) in Super Smash and she was one of four batters to whack four sixes, while also being one of six batters to score an HBJ Shield century.

Gabby Sullivan

• 2022/23HBJ Shield: 21w @ 15avg/3.87rpo

• 2022/23 Super Smash: 21w @ 12.38avg/5.88rpo

• Career List-A: 22.6avg bowling

• Career T20: 16avg bowling

Canterbury's success also featured Gabby Sullivan as the leading wicket-taker in both Super Smash and HBJ Shield. Leigh Kasperek was the only other bowler to take 20+ wickets in either competition (21w in HBJ Shield). Of the leading wicket-takers in both combindations, Lea Tahuhu's 11.71avg in HBJ Shield was the only bowling average low enough to rival Sullivan's efficient mahi.

Sullivan doesn't have the pace of trendier White Ferns seamers, but she always operates in areas that challenge batters. This isn't just one summer of excellent mahi either as Sullivan averages 22.6 in 53 games of LA cricket and 16 in 49 games of T20 cricket. Sullivan was only joined by Otago's Caitlin Blakely in taking 4+ wickets twice in HBJ Shield, while Otago's Emma Black and Auckland's Holly Huddleston were the only other bowlers to take a 4-wicket haul in Super Smash.

Nensi Patel

• 2022/23 HBJ Shield: 90 runs @ 18avg | 11w @ 17avg/4rpo

• 2022/23 Super Smash: 42 runs @ 5.25avg/66sr | 9w @ 14avg/6rpo

• Career List-A: 24.3avg batting | 24.3avg bowling

• Career T20: 10.2avg batting | 16.6avg bowling

Despite Nensi Patel's dip in run-scoring last summer for Northern, she is still brewing as one of the best kiwi cricketers below White Ferns. Patel took wickets in both formats as she has done in most seasons since her debut in 2016/17 and consistently flexed as an elite fielder in Aotearoa. All of this saw Patel join the illustrious Fairbreaks T20 Invitational where she took a wicket in four consecutive games.

There is no shortage of kiwi spinners in wahine cricket and this list, most of whom are also excellent fielders. Patel's talent is obvious but the competition in this pocket is immense and while White Ferns ignore players dominating domestic cricket, Patel needs to stack up dominant mahi at this level. Runs and lots of runs would boost her case for promotion even further.

Amie Hucker

• 2022/23 HBJ Shield: 29 runs @ 14.5avg/60.4sr | 7w @ 24.85avg/5.27rpo

• 2022/23 Super Smash: 40 runs @ 20avg/83.3sr | 9w @ 24.11avg/7rpo

• Career List-A 35avg bowling

• Career T20: 33.7avg bowling

Of all the bowlers available to Auckland, youngster Amie Hucker was the pick of the bunch. Hucker finised tied with Holly Huddleston as Auckland's leading wicket-taker in both competitions, sharing 7w each in HBJ Shield and 9w each in Super Smash. While Huddleston took the same number of wickets in less mahi, that's to be expected from a dominant domestic player like Huddleston and Hucker's consistency is a notable wrinkle.

Hucker bowled the most overs for Auckland in both competitions. Hucker averaged 24.65 in HBJ Shield while a bunch of other Auckland seamers averaged 40+ (Josie Penfold, Bella Armstrong, Amberly Parr-Thompson) and an intriguing Super Smash comparison is Ireland international Arlene Kelly. Kelly (30ov) was the only Auckland bowler to match Hucker's mahi (31ov) with Kelly taking 6w @ 30.5avg and Hucker taking 9w @ 24.11avg.

Most notably for Hucker, this was her best season at 21-years-old. Averaging 35+ in her previous LA seasons and 55+ in her two T20 campaigns, Hucker dipped below 25 in both formats this season. While Hucker is further down the seam depth chart than other bowlers in this group and the full White Ferns stable, she made a hefty development leap this season. Hucker handled the increased workload well, snared wickets and churned out funky variations all summer.

Saachi Shahri

• 2022/23 HBJ Shield: 200 runs @ 33.3avg/73.5sr

• 2022/23 Super Smash: 216 runs @ 24avg/104.8sr

• Career List-A: 24.8avg batting

• Career T20: 21.1avg batting

Add another season of punchy strokes and leadership mana for Saachi Shahri with Auckland. Shahri was already commanding attention with her run-scoring prior to the summer of cricket and this was her first season stacking up 200+ runs in both competitions. In fact, Shahri was the only Auckland batter to score 200+ runs in both competitions.

While this was her second HBJ Shield campaign with 200+ runs with a 50+ score in six consecutive LA seasons, Shahri had her first 50+ score in Super Smash this summer. Shahri also scored her Super Smash runs with a strike-rate of 104.8 which is above her T20 career level of 98.9 and she was one of only two Auckland batters to score over 100sr in Super Smash.

Shahri's style of batting is similar to Georgia Plimmer and both of these wahine share a similar method to Amelia Kerr, just without the world-class batting bit. Consistency of runs is the most impressive thing for Shahri as she stays among Auckland's best batters and while she is behind Anderson as the best pure batters in this cluster, Shahri is primed for a breakout campaign in the near future.

Emma Black

• 2022/23 HBJ Shield: 8w @ 43.8avg/5rpo

• 2022/23 Super Smash: 12w @ 19.33avg/6.18rpo

• Career List-A: 28.7avg bowling

• Career T20: 20.7avg bowling

Otago's 21-year-old seamer Emma Black delivered wickets once again last season and while her HBJ Shield performances dipped from previous mahi, Black sits just behind Sullivan as the best young seamers in Aotearoa. Black had her fourth Super Smash in a row taking 10+ wickets and she has averaged below 24 in her five of her six Super Smash seasons.

A streak of 10+ wickets was also on offer in HBJ Shield as Black rolled through three consecutive LA seasons above that mark, before dropping to 8w last season. This is reflected in Black's career stats as she averages 28.7 in LA and 20.7 in T20. Her style of bowling resembles the in-swing of Jess Kerr and this will be a big winter for Black as she settles into hard mahi to build out her skillset.

Bella James

• 2022/23 HBJ Shield: 229 runs @ 28.62avg/80.6sr

• 2022/23 Super Smash: 117 runs @ 14.6avg/142.7sr

• Career List-A: 16.5avg batting

• Career T20: 10.5avg batting

Similar to Hucker, Otago's Bella James falls deeper down the depth chart but after a funky summer of batting she deserves to be saluted. James was the only player who is yet to play for White Ferns to hit an HBJ Shield century last summer and that is packaged with a whopping strike-rate of 142.7 in Super Smash.

James's 229 runs in HBJ Shield and 117 runs in Super Smash are career-best markers. James has 100+ runs in four consecutive seasons of HBJ Shield and while her batting averages are low, there is a clear progression in her mahi. Having made her debut in 2014/15, James is still only 24-years-old and as she settles into a quasi-professional flow, James could add consistent runs and power to Otago's batting unit.

Sarah Asmussen

• 2022/23 HBJ Shield: 14w @ 23.78avg/4.9rpo

• 2022/23 Super Smash: 15w @ 18.53avg/6.6rpo

• Career List-A: 25.53avg

• Career T20: 25.5avg

What happens when Sarah Asmussen has her best season of Super Smash bowling? Canterbury are champions. Obviously lots of other fabulous things happened in Canterbury's Super Smash campaign but it's a funky note for the 22-year-old leggy. The most impressive aspect of Asmussen's mahi was a bounce back. In the previous season Asmussen took 7w @ 40avg in HBJ Shield and 5w @ 33.2avg in Super Smash, before averaging below 25 with 10+ wickets in both competitions last summer.

Asmussen's 68 overs in HBJ Shield was second only to Sullivan, while her 42 overs in Super Smash was a few less than Sullivan, Missy Banks and Amy Satterthwaite. There is scope for an even greater role for Asmussen with Satterthwaite retiring and how the attacking leggy maintains her wicket-taking threat without Satterthwaite's economic mahi will be interesting next season. Asmussen will have plenty of time to cook up more variations and control which could see her plug the Satterthwaite bowling hole.

Nicole Baird

• 2022/23 HBJ Shield: 11w @ 23.6avg/4.16rpo

• 2022/23 Super Smash: 11w @ 12.18avg/5.15rpo

No career stats for Wellington's lefty spinner Nicole Baird as this was her first season of domestic cricket. Even though Leigh Kasperek snared 15w @ 14avg in Super Smash, Baird somehow had a better average and she finished as Wellington's second best Super Smash bowler last summer. Baird formed a dynamic spin trio with Kasperek and Xara Jetly all season, sitting behind those two in Wellington's HBJ Shield championship mahi.

Baird's lefty spin gives her a dose of funk and throws up an intriguing comparison to young lefty Fran Jonas. Baird is older than Jonas so it's a tricky comparison but Jonas averages 27.32 in LA bowling and 24.32 in T20s, both are higher than Baird's start to domestic cricket. Baird isn't even Wellington's best spinner and how she follows on from her first campaign could shake up the kiwi spin stocks.

Xara Jetly

• 2022/23 HBJ Shield: 11w @ 20avg/4.4rpo

• 2022/23 Super Smash: 9w @ 22.3avg/6.48rpo

• Career List-A: 26.9avg bowling

• Career T20: 14.7avg bowling

Another 21-year-old with lots of sneaky experience is Xara Jetly, who is casually averaging 14.7 in T20 bowling. Ponder all the fabulous elements of Wellington Blaze Super Smash dominance and then zone in on how Jetly has contributed to winning cricket. Jetly is also a swift fielder which fits snug into Wellington's fabulous fielding unit and she had her best HBJ Shield campaign last season, just to add to all that T20 mana.

Jetly's 11w in HBJ Shield is a career-best haul and yet she didn't take a wicket in Wellington's last three games, inlcuding the final. Jetly was influential in the middle stages of the HBJ Shield campaign, finishing as Wellington's second best bowler in a HBJ Shield championship. Jetly is similar to Eden Carson as they both serve up accurate offies with excellent fielding and palpable enthusiasm. This highlights the depth of young spinners in Aotearoa and having already enjoyed success with Wellington, Jetly is well prepared for continued improvement.

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