A decent chunk of domestic cricket has been played with the first stanza of Ford Trophy followed by a couple Plunket Shield games and that provides a nice spot to check in with the most impressive young cricketers in New Zealand. Most of these lads have featured in lots of domestic cricket break downs over the past year and there is a skew towards batters as the likes of Nathan Smith and Zak Foulkes have been away on tour with Blackcaps.

A few seamers deserve honourable mentions...

Kristian Clarke and Matt Fisher have consistently snared wickets throughout their domestic careers, but they are the youngsters who make way for the likes of Neil Wagner or Tim Southee when they return to Northern Districts. Clarke played all the Ford Trophy to start the season and was then joined by Fisher for the first Plunket Shield game in which they combined for 10 wickets.

Kristian Clarke - 23yrs

Wickets: 1, 2, 1, 1, 4, 1

Scores: 26*, 4, 37, 4, 31

Plunket Shield: 31 runs @ 31avg/45.5sr | 5w @ 25avg/3.7rpo

Ford Trophy: 71 runs @ 23.6avg/82.5sr | 5w @ 45.8avg/6.2rpo

Matt Fisher - 25yrs

Wickets: 2, 3

Plunket Shield: 5w @ 18.2avg/3.7rpo

Clarke averages below 30 in First-Class and List-A bowling, while Fisher is below 26avg in FC and LA. Clarke's all-round ability helps him stay in the 1st 11 and hopefully we see Fisher stacking up games as one of Aotearoa's fastest young bowlers.

The next tier features Otago skipper Luke Georgeson and Canterbury's undercover young batter Matt Boyle. Georgeson has taken a wicket in every innings bowled and had steady contributions in the middle order during Ford Trophy. Aside from scoring 10+ runs in all his batting efforts, Georgeson hasn't quite taken his excellent one-day mahi into the longest format but that is likely to change with consistent Plunket Shield game time.

Luke Georgeson - 25yrs

Wickets: 1, 4, 1, 2, 2

Scores: 40, 34, 40, 40, 21, 20, 11, 16

Plunket Shield: 47 runs @ 15.6avg/41.2sr | 5w @ 24avg/2.3rpo

Ford Trophy: 175 runs @ 35avg/94sr | 5w @ 19avg/4.7rpo

Boyle has snapped up his opportunity in Canterbury's batting unit, scoring his first Plunket Shield century in the latest round. Along with his 59 in the first round, Boyle has scored two of his four 50+ FC knocks in these two games. While he is yet to pass 50 runs in LA batting, Boyle had a 45* @ 132sr a few weeks ago and he will be eager to add to his five Super Smash games for Canterbury.

Matt Boyle - 22yrs

Scores: 45*, 3, 24, 22, 59, 10, 116

Plunket Shield: 185 runs @ 61.6av/72.5sr

Ford Trophy: 94 runs @ 31.3avg/93sr

Canterbury's Rhys Mariu has the craziest average of all young cricketers in Aotearoa with his 62.46avg in FC battng. Fresh off a double century in his first Plunket Shield game of the season, Mariu already has three centuries and four 50+ scores in 18 innings. The stats and ease with which Mariu scores big runs is super impressive, but he didn't score many runs in the Ford Trophy and has one great knock so far which keeps him in this tier.

Rhys Mariu - 22yrs

Scores: 4, 10, 0, 41, 240, 8*

Plunket Shield: 248 runs @ 248avg/73.3sr

Ford Trophy: 55 runs @ 13.7avg/50.4sr

The most impressive tier features Auckland's Bevon Jacobs, Central Districts batter Curtis Heaphy, plus the Otago duo of Dale Phillips and Max Chu.

Jacobs burst on to the radar in the Super Smash for Canterbury last season and his move back to Auckland saw Jacobs start the summer as a 1st 11 player Ford Trophy then Plunket Shield. With a T20 strike-rate of 188.7, Jacobs flashed his ability down the order for Auckland in Ford Trophy with efficient run-scoring down the order.

When Plunket Shield started, Jacobs was a funky inclusion in Auckland's team as their number six/seven batter, a role usually taken by all-rounders. Jacobs has hit 11 sixes so far in Plunket Shield and that's far more than Brett Hampton's five sixes in second, however the most impressive aspect of Jacobs' season so far is his craft in building an innings.

Jacobs scored two 70-odds vs Wellington. The first came with no other Auckland batter scoring 30+ runs and while Jacobs finished on 75 runs @ 75sr, at one point he had 16 runs off 43 deliveries. This was followed by 79 runs @ 52.6sr in the second innings with only one other Auckland batter scoring 50+ runs. Jacobs went on to hit more sixes than fours (5x4, 6x6) but he was on 23 runs off 61 delivers at one point of Auckland's innings.

Then came a knock of 44 runs @ 68sr vs ND, while no other Auckland batter scored over 35 runs. Jacobs has consistently shown his exceptional hitting ability, however he is currently Auckland's leading run-scorer after two Plunket Shield games and his return home has seen him emerge as one of Aotearoa's best young batters regardless of format.

Bevon Jacobs - 22yrs

Scores: 19*, 7, 3*, 75, 79, 1, 44

Plunket Shield: 199 runs @ 49.7avg/61sr

Ford Trophy: 29 runs @ 29avg/107.4sr

Heaphy is one of the most consistent run-scorers in Aotearoa. He is currently first for CD runs in Ford Trophy and second for CD runs in Plunket Shield, with three 50+ scores including a century in his last four games of cricket. Heaphy is steadily building up his FC batting record (33.8avg) to join his fabulous LA average of 50.2 and an intriguing next step will be Heaphy's involvement in Super Smash where he's only played three games.

Curtis Heaphy - 21yrs

Scores: 31, 6, 41*, 142, 56, 4, 5, 17, 81

Plunket Shield: 107 runs @ 26.7avg/51.1sr

Ford Trophy: 276 runs @ 69avg/71.8sr

Phillips and Chu have churned out runs to start the summer. Phillips is averaging 40+ in both competitions so far, leading Otago for Ford Trophy runs and second behind Chu for Plunket Shield runs. Phillips already has seven Plunket Shield centuries and is hovering around 40avg (39.5) and this is his best Ford Trophy campaign since debuting in 2019/20, his first season averaging over 40 in Ford Trophy.

Dale Phillips - 26yrs

Scores: 89, 4, 72, 14, 45, 10, 3, 135

Plunket Shield: 148 runs @ 49.3avg/54.6sr

Ford Trophy: 224 runs @ 44.8avg/75.9sr

Chu is the only Plunket Shield batter with three 50+ scores, which is extra impressive considering he bats down the order for Otago and has only batted three times. This is already his first Plunket Shield season with three 50+ scores which means it's his best season of FC batting. A steady flow of four 20+ scores in his five Ford Trophy innings makes this Chu's best season of Ford Trophy batting as well, averaging 30+ for the first time of his career.

Max Chu - 24yrs

Scores: 32, 17, 28, 34, 46*, 85, 66, 62*

Plunket Shield: 213 runs @ 106.5avg/59sr

Ford Trophy: 157 runs @ 39.2avg/103.2sr

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