2023/24 Men's Super Smash All Stars
Auckland Aces are Super Smash champions and it's time to build an All Star team before the summer swings back around to Ford Trophy. With so much talent on offer it's tricky to sort out a 1st 11 and Blackcaps cameos don't help either. To zone in on the lads who battled through the Super Smash campaign, players must have batted or bowled in at least five games.
Winning matters so selection skews towards the better teams and while stats are important, managing the balance of skillsets is also a factor. There are a bunch of lads who are unlucky to miss out on selection with Canterbury wicket-keeper Mitch Hay (170 runs @ 28avg/165sr) the best example as his impressive hitting wasn't quite enough to get the nod over Dane Cleaver and his weight of runs.
A quartet of Wellington Firebirds were in the mix as well. Nick Kelly finished fourth for runs but the batting line up quickly shifts towards all-rounders so there wasn't space for him. Wellington have two of the best all-rounders in Logan van Beek and Nathan Smith. Both are excellent fielders with crisp hitting abilities who took 10+ wickets with averages below 21.
Plenty of seamers who also showcased their slugging were in the mix though and this also limited the spots for spinners. Wellington's leggy Peter Younghusband and Central Districts lefty Jayden Lennox were factors as both took 13w with averages below 20.
2023/24 Super Smash All Stars
Tim Robinson, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Dane Cleaver, Michael Bracewell, Doug Bracewell, Zak Foulkes, Danru Ferns, Bevan Small, Ben Lister, Louis Delport
Three batters scored 280+ runs and they all had strike-rates over 130, so all three are selected. Canterbury's Henry Nicholls finished as the leading run-scorer and although Wellington's youngster Tim Robinson only played six games, his mahi in those six games was good enough for him to finish second for runs at the end of the campaign. Robinson also had the highest strike-rate for batters with 210+ runs which is second behind Doug Bracewell's 202sr for batters with 200+ runs.
The other batter with 280+ runs was Dane Cleaver and while all sorts of combos were tried to get Cleaver and Hay in the same team, it was too niggly in squeezing out other strong performers. Tom Latham earned selection alongside his Cantab comrade Nicholls and these two were the only blokes to register three 50+ scores.
Doug's monster strike-rate and efficient bowling mahi ensured his selection in the middle order, a spot below Michael Bracewell who eased his way back into cricket with a batting strike-rate of 167. The Bracewell cousins had two of the four highest batting strike-rates for lads with 150+ runs (Robinson and Finn Allen were the other two) and while he wasn't as effective as other spinners, solid spin mahi combined with mature slugging put Michael in the second spinner bracket.
The other spinner is Louis Delport, who is selected alongside Auckland's Danru Ferns and Ben Lister. All three took 14+ wickets which means that Auckland had three of the six bowlers with 14+ wickets and Delport was the leading wicket-taker for spinners, slightly more economical than Lennox and Younghusband.
Ferns finished as the leading wicket-taker on 18w and Lister continued his impressive T20 career with 14w. Lister almost had the lowest average (13.92avg) of the 15 bowlers who took 10+ wickets, but that honour went to CD's Bevan Small who took 16w @ 13.81avg and had a strike-rate of 10.25. Small finished with the lowest strike-rate for bowlers with 5+ wickets and his average was a smidge higher than Lockie Ferguson (5w @ 12.8avg).
The most impressive youngsters this season were Robinson and Zak Foulkes. Along with a nifty batting strike-rate of 150, Foulkes took the most wickets for Canterbury and consistently showed off his skills with movement both ways along with well executed doosras. Robinson is 21-years-old with a T20 record of 26.6avg/146sr and Foulkes is 21-years-old with a T20 bowling record of 15.84avg/6.9rpo; Aotearoa's good plenty of youngsters on the rise.
Tim Robinson
Bat: 317 runs @ 39.62avg/142sr
Tom Latham
Bat: 243 runs @ 40.5avg/135sr
Henry Nicholls
Bat: 317 runs @ 39.62avg/142sr
Dane Cleaver (wk)
Bat: 281 runs @ 35.12avg/131sr
Michael Bracewell
Bat: 151 runs @ 30.2avg/167sr
Ball: 5w @ 28.4avg/8.11rpo
Doug Bracewell
Bat: 200 runs @ 33.33avg/202sr
Ball: 7w @ 21.85avg/7.22rpo
Zak Foulkes
Bat: 54 runs @ 54vg/150sr
Ball: 14w @ 16.28avg/6.64rpo
Danru Ferns
Bat: 46 runs @ 23avg/176sr
Ball: 18w @ 14.22avg/7.52rpo
Bevan Small
Ball: 16w @ 13.81avg/8rpo
Ben Lister
Ball: 14w @ 13.92avg/6.29rpo
Louis Delport
Ball: 14w @ 17.14avg/7.05rpo
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.