2023/24 Super Smash Scout: All Things Otago
Otago snatched two wins away from Northern Districts on their mission to Seddon Park in Hamilton with the Sparks and Volts combining to lose just 3 wickets across both games. Sparks restricted Northern Brave to 93/6 in a 15 over affair impacted by rain and then cruised to victory thanks to 41* @ 102sr from Suzie Bates and 39 runs @ 121sr from Bella James.
Sparks finished 95/1 and it was a similar story for the Volts. First they dismissed ND for 128 with Jacob Duffy's 4w @ 5.4rpo and Jake Gibson's 3w @ 6.3rpo leading the way. The Otago blokes finished on 132/2 with Dean Foxcroft (55 runs @ 114sr) and Glenn Phillips (53 runs @ 176sr) not-out.
Bates is still in superb form for Sparks with scores of 25, 23, 70, 84*, 33 and 41*. This gives Bates 276 runs @ 69avg/114sr after six innings and the key thing for Sparks is still the supporting cast. James had a lovely knock vs ND and as Bates provides ample leadership mana, the important markers for the other Sparks batters are their strike-rates. Hayley Jensen was promoted up the order for the Sparks run-chase and hit 13* @ 250sr, but she is the only role-playing batter with a strike-rate below 100 for Sparks.
Bella James: 95 runs @ 15avg/100sr
Felicity Robertson: 75 runs @ 15avg/104sr
Caitlin Blakeley: 51 runs @ 12avg/100sr
Polly Inglis: 53 runs @ 10avg/101sr
Hayley Jensen: 28 runs @ 9avg/77sr
Don't worry about those averages too much when Bates is in this type of form. All the Sparks need alongside bats are a few knocks of 15-25 with good strike-rates (100+) and the odd innings that goes beyond those markers.
PJ Watkins didn't bowl vs Brave but she is still the leading wicket-taker for Sparks. Bates was their most economical bowler with 2 overs @ 3rpo and this is funky because Bates bowls a bit of everything; spin, seam, dibbly-dobblers. Eden Carson was also impressive with 1w @ 5.5rpo and she is the Sparks bowler who has the most room for improvement...
PJ Watkins: 8w @ 8avg/6.3rpo
Emma Black: 6w @ 22avg/6rpo
Molly Loe: 5w @ 5avg/4.3rpo
Linsey Smith: 4w @ 28avg/7.5rpo
Eden Carson: 4w @ 32avg/6.5rpo
Sophie Oldershaw: 3w @ 21avg/7.1rpo
Suzie Bates: 2w @ 24avg/6rpo
Hayley Jensen: 2w @ 66avg/6.9rpo
Jacob Duffy took 1 wicket in three games (ODI vs Bangladesh and his first two Super Smash games) before this 4-wicket-haul. Duffy has a sneaky solid T20 record with 22.3avg/7.4rpo in his 10 T20I games and 28.15avg/8.7rpo in T20, while also averaging below 30 in the two one-day formats (ODI and List-A).
Jake Gibson on the other hand has wickets in all three games and is an intriguing cricketer to watch out for with Volts. While tied with Travis Muller as Otago's leading wicket-takers, Gibson (7w @ 13avg/7.2rpo) is almost conceding a run less than Muller (7w @ 16avg/8.1rpo). Gibson is also opening the batting where he's whacked 79 runs @ 146sr.
The skill package of Gibson was on show against ND. Gibson operated as the fifth bowler used and rolled through his variations before starting the chase with 21 runs @ 131sr. Don't expect too many runs from Gibson as he's there to get the innings flowing with quick scores and when this is combined with his role in the bowling line up; Gibson is a valuable team member.
Phillips' whole deal was also on show with 1w @ 5.7rpo and a destructive knock. Everyone knows about Phillips' batting and his fielding, while T20 is his best bowling format and as long as he is playing Super Smash he will find a way to impact games. Here are Phillips' bowling stats across the three formats excluding internationals...
First-Class: 37.22avg/3.44rpo
List-A: 40.70avg/5.99rpo
T20: 31.61avg/7.9rpo
Dean Foxcroft had one 50+ score in his first nine innings of the summer across Plunket Shield and Ford Trophy. Foxcroft (143 runs @ 35avg/125sr) now joins Jeet Raval as the only blokes with two 50+ scores in Super Smash and his T20 batting average of 39.89 is ranked 19th for all batters ever. The only Aotearoa batter with a better T20 average is Devon Conway (7th - 43.02avg) and the only other Aotearoa batter averaging 35+ is Auckland's Rob O'Donnell (53rd - 36.18avg).
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Peace and love.