2023/24 Super Smash Scout: Finals Preview Extravaganza
Super Smash finals go down this weekend with the elimination finals to be played on Friday in Hamilton, followed by the grand final in Auckland on Sunday. Auckland Aces and Wellington Blaze have cruised straight into the Sunday final where they will play the winners of the Friday final. Aces could play Canterbury or Wellington, Blaze could played Northern Districts or Central Districts.
Auckland secured a home final thanks to their 6-2 record and they will be chasing their first Super Smash championship since 2015/16. While it's all a bit uncertain at this stage, the Aces could potentially be bolstered by top-tier T20 Blackcaps Finn Allen, Mark Chapman and Lockie Ferguson. Allen and Ferguson have been fantastic in their Super Smash appearances this season, while Chapman's dip in T20 form for Blackcaps against Bangladesh and Pakistan is reflected in solid but not dominant Super Smash mahi.
Ben Lister didn't play for New Zealand against Pakistan, but he has played 10 T20Is for Aotearoa and he is in delightful form form for Auckland. Lister has a T20 career record of 24avg/7.9rpo along with 13w @ 14avg/6.4rpo this season as part of a hearty bowling trio also featuring Danru Ferns and Louis Delport.
Auckland also have sneaky excellence in Rob O'Donnell and Sean Solia. O'Donnell's T20 average of 36.04 (128sr) is ranked 54th for all T20 batters in the world, putting behind Devon Conway (41.94avg) and Dean Foxcroft (41.51avg) for active kiwis. O'Donnell's serving up 38avg/115sr this season as Auckland's leading run-scorer, while Solia has a strong strike-rate of 128 and could open alongside Allen.
The Wellington women will be eager to stretch out their Super Smash dynasty. Wellington went 7-1-1 this season, and after winning three straight championships they have alternated with Canterbury who have won two of the last three titles. This rhythm suggessts that Wellington will win the championship again this year, while Amelia Kerr's dominance and the return of Sophie Devine reinforce that case for another Blaze championship.
How good is A-Kerr? Well, she is first for both runs and wickets.
A-Kerr has been good enough to steer the Blaze through Super Smash with just one loss, despite playing without Devine for most of the campaign. The young legend has been well supported by Georgia Plimmer who is tapping into her potential with the bat, as well as Leigh Kasperek who joins A-Kerr as the only other bowler with 16+ wickets.
Rebecca Burns (104sr) will be aggressive at the top of the order, Jess McFadyen is the best wicket-keeper in Aotearoa, and Jess Kerr is offering strong all-round mahi. J-Kerr has a batting strike-rate of 131.9 this season which leads Wellington's batters who have scored 20+ runs and while she hasn't dominated with wickets, J-Kerr is part of an impressive bowling unit with four bowlers conceding less than 6rpo.
Wellington have two of the best youngsters in Aotearoa with Plimmer joined by Xara Jetly. Both are top-notch fielders who can impact the game by stopping runs, snaring catches and sparking run-outs. Natasha Codyre could be an undercover youngster to watch out for in the final as she offers a similar bowling style to Devine (out-swing to righties) and she has bowled in all nine games played this season.
The women's elimination final features a Northern Brave team who have won three games in a row to make the final, while Central Hinds have won one of their last five games. Both teams are led by their overseas imports with Hollie Armitage scoring the most runs for CD and Chamari Athapaththu scoring the most runs for ND, with Athapaththu also among the best Brave bowlers.
CD have two batters who have scored 100+ runs with Hannah Rowe joining Armitage there, although Rowe has a strike-rate of 95. ND, on the other hand, have six batters with 100+ runs and although this is influenced by Brave playing all 10 of their possible games with Hinds battling two washed out games, five of the six ND batters with 100+ runs also have strike-rates over 100.
It's a similar yarn for the bowlers, again accounting for the two games missed by Hinds. CD only have Scotland international Priyanaz Chatterji operating below 20avg and 20sr, while ND have three bowlers below 20avg and three below 20sr. This includes Marama Downes who has been tremendous for ND so far. Hinds have three White Ferns/White Ferns adjacent seamers and Downes has been better than all three.
Watch out for the wicket-keepers as well. Holly Topp is the best young wicket-keeper in Aotearoa and her glovework helped ND beat Otago in a must-winner, perhaps joining McFadyen as the best pure wicket-keepers in Aotearoa. CD usually have Natalie Dodd's mana behind the stumps but she has not played since January 10th so Kate Gaging has played the last three games.
Wicket-keeping will also be a funky wrinkle in the Canterbury vs Wellington elimination final on the men's side. Canterbury have Mitch Hay and his tremendous batting strike-rate of 176, while Wellington have named Devon Conway who is likely to operate as their wicket-keeper.
Wellington enter this final after three consecutive losses. This is niggly as it includes the return of Michael Bracewell who has blasted 97 runs @ 146sr and taken 5w @ 28avg/8.1rpo. Bracewell will offer a spin option along with Peter Younghusband, while Logan van Beek and Nathan Smith are fabulous seamers who lead the Firebirds for wickets along with Younghusband.
Add in Adam Milne and Ben Sears for a slick Wellington bowling unit. The batting ability of van Beek, Smith, Milne and Bracewell will help Wellington roll out an immensely talented team, plus Rachin Ravindra will bat up top as a bowling option. Tim Robinson is not available for selection which is a bummer given that his last two games against Canterbury feature scores of 51 runs @ 110sr (Ford Trophy) and 86 runs @ 186sr (Super Smash).
Wellington have enough all-round ability stack their bowling line up and absorb the loss of Robinson, with Nick Kelly and Muhammad Abbas the key batters in this mix. Conway’s injection is obviously useful and whether Gareth Severin lines up will also be intriguing as he is a notable youngster who has a First-Class average of 46, but he only made his Super Smash debut in Wellington’s last outing.
Canterbury have Henry Nicholls and Tom Latham, who have both played at least five games as top-notch Super Smash batters. Chad Bowes has also found form, which along with Cole McConchie, Hay, Rippon and Bevon Jacobs gives Canterbury a quality batting line up. Jacobs has the highest batting strike-rate for Canterbury (194) and he will bat down the order, with Nicholls (150sr) the swiftest scorer of the top order.
Ish Sodhi is likely to join Rippon and McConchie in Canterbury's spin group. Matt Henry and Kyle Jamieson are also named in the squad, which will probably see them join Zak Foulkes and Will O'Rourke. The Jamieson/O'Rourke combo hasn't been on show much this season and this is obviously enticing, but don't overlook how Foulkes performs if he makes the 1st 11 as he has a deep quiver of tricks to deploy; Foulkes is the only Canterbury bowler with 3+ wickets and less than 7rpo.
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