Super Smash Scout delivers three of the best youngsters in Aotearoa's T20 competition. This includes Georgia Plimmer who is part of the White Ferns mixer and Nathan Smith who is the at the older end of the 'youngster' equation, along with others who are making waves in Super Smash.

Super Smash Women

Georgia Plimmer - 19yrs

Having only been dismissed once in her four innings, Plimmer has scores of 41*, 23*, 3 and 9. This amounts to 76 runs @ 76avg/101sr and like another one of her Wellington comrades below, Plimmer impacts games with her fielding. Whether it's snaring a catch, cutting runs down and grabbing run-outs; Plimmer has established herself as the best wahine Super Smash fielder.

Plimmer's knock of 41* is a career-best mark and while she represents the White Ferns selection policy of potential over performance, Plimmer is showing the benefits of domestic cricket. The bar White Ferns selection is pretty low considering that Plimmer was selected after averages of 2 and 12 in her first two seasons of Super Smash. Plimmer averaged 10.8 in T20 cricket last summer and even accounting for the not-out bump for her batting average, this is Plimmner's best Super Smash campaign.

PJ Watkins - 19yrs

After leaving England to join Otago and embed herself in Aotearoa, lefty-seamer Watkins is the leading wicket-taker at the time of writing with 8w @ 8avg/6.3rpo. Watkins has 2+ wickets in three of her four games and of the 11 bowlers who have 5+ wickets so far, Watkins is one of four bowlers who have bowled less than 11 overs. This includes other youngsters such as Skye Bowden (7w @ 9avg/6.5rpo) and Ashtuti Kumar (5w @ 10avg/5.3rp).

Two bits of context help frame Watkins' mahi. First is the HBJ Shield's first stanza in which Watkins took 1w @ 97avg/5.3rpo as she eased her way into the kiwi summer. The second is Watkins' previous T20 action in England which started back in 2021. Watkins took 5w across three years of T20 cricket in England with averages of 18, 33 and 52 before moving to Aotearoa. Watkins' lefty seam is intriguing to track given the emergence of lefties (Bree Illing and Yssabel Cullen) in domestic cricket and how Watkins builds on this hot start to Super Smash will be crucial to Otago's success.

Xara Jetly - 22yrs

Other bowlers have more wickets and/or better efficieny than Jetly, plus there is an immense Wellington presence in this yarn, but Jetly's winning mahi is undeniable. Jetly is fantastic in the field and more dynamic than Plimmer, which is enticing when mixed with Jetly's competitive mana.

After a strong start to HBJ Shield (6w @ 24avg/3.6rpo), Jetly has 5w @ 17avg/5.5rpo. Jetly has averaged over 20 in just one of her five seasons of Super Smash which flows into a T20 career average of 15.14. That's slightly better than Amelia Kerr's 17.77avg and Eden Carso's 18.61avg, while notably better than Fran Jonas' 25.14. Jetly has done this over multiple seasons and she has been an undercover figure in Wellington's Super Smash success, plus she is one of the most entertaining players in domestic cricket.

Super Smash Men

Nathan Smith - 25yrs

Here's how Smith's season is looking so far (batting | bowling)...

• Plunket Shield: 160 runs @ 22avg/62sr | 21w @ 15avg/2.9rpo

• Ford Trophy: 49 runs @ 24av/111sr | 4w @ 32avg/5.9rpo

• Super Smash: 48 runs @ 24avg/165sr | 8w @ 11avg/5.8rpo

Wellington's loss to Auckland in their last outing was Smith's first Super Smash game without a wicket this season, although his 7.75rpo was second only to Michael Bracewell's 6rpo as their cheapest bowlers in a run-feast. Smith also whacked 25 runs @ 166sr vs Auckland and took a delightful catch, which sums up the Smith package. Watch out for Smith's swing and seam as he tends to extract movement when others can, while bowling at decent pace.

Zak Foulkes - 21yrs

Here are Foulkes' first two Super Smash campaigns with the ball...

• 2022/23: 12w @ 15.3avg/7.3rpo

• 2023/24: 5w @ 178avg/7.4rpo

Foulkes was Canterbury's best bowler (15w @ 18avg/2.6rpo) in the first stanza of Plunket Shield and averages 22 in First-Class cricket. While less effective in Ford Trophy, Foulkes has a fantastic T20 record of 16avg and he appears to have sneaky pace like Smith. Foulkes' bowling style is also suited to variations which are snaring plenty of wickets.

After taking 3w against Otago which included Dean Foxcroft and Glenn Phillips, Foulkes flashed his batting ability to help Canterbury win that encounter. Foulkes cruised to 13* @ 144sr to ensure Canterbury's victory and after two innings, Foulkes has 27 runs @ 142sr batting down the order. Not bad for a bloke who also had two 50+ scores in Plunket Shield.

Tim Robinson - 21yrs

The most important thing here is Robinson hitting 200+ runs with a strike of 200. No other batter in Super Smash has more than 140 runs at the time of writing and there are only two other batters (Doug Bracewell and Scott Kuggeleijn) who have strike-rates over 200. Robinson burst out of the gate with 139 runs in the first game and while he hasn't gone large in the other games, Robinson has three consecutive scores of 20+ with monster strike-rates; Robinson is an automatic hot start to an innings at the moment.

All of which is extra funky considering how tough last season was. Robinson showcased his potential in his first summer (2021/22) with a Super Smash 50+ score and 17avg, along with a century and 50+ score in Plunket Shield for an average of 61. Last summer (2022/23) was niggly though as Robinson averaged 5 in Plunket Shield, 12 in Ford Trophy and 7 in Super Smash. This has flipped for a solid 2023/24 season...

• Plunket Shield: 66 runs @ 22avg/61sr (1 x 50)

• Ford Trophy: 115 runs @ 28avg/82sr (1 x 50)

• Super Smash 210 runs @ 70avg/200sr (1 x 100)

Robinson might not churn out consistent runs in Super Smash as his aggressive hitting is volatile, yet he doesn't need to score many runs for it to be effective. More importantly, Robinson has responded to a season of adversity with a decent knock in all three formats.

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