Defending Hallyburton Johnstone Shield champions Otago have maintained their perch at the top of the ladder this season after a 4-0 start. This makes the Otago women the only team to win all their domestic cricket games so far this season and while Suzie Bates always boosts Otago's mana, including solid mahi in the Otago's HBJ Shield final win over Wellington last season, Bates is yet to play for Otago this season.

Otago have played against Canterbury and Wellington in their two weekends of HBJ Shield cricket. Canterbury and Wellington are joined by Central Districts as teams who are 1-3 to start the summer, which offers balancing notes about Otago playing two of the weaker teams and being responsible for two of the three losses for Canterbury and Wellington. Otago has scored 180+ runs in all four of their batting innings and they have dismissed their opposition in three of the four games, snaring 9 wickets in the other game.

vs Canterbury

198/6 vs 60

247/7 vs 133

vs Wellington

186/9 vs 187/2

190 vs 193/6

Such dominant cricketing mahi gives Otago a strong presence in the leading run-scoring and wicket-taking charts. Here are the Otago players in the top-10 for runs and wickets this season, with last season's rankings in brackets for those who are doubling up on their excellence...

Batting

Bella James - 1st

Caitlin Blakely - 5th (10th)

Felicity Robertson - 10th (3rd)

Bowling

Anna Browning - 5th

Louisa Kotkamp - 8th

Hayley Jensen - 9th

Eden Carson - 10th (6th)

James has had a sizzling start to HBJ Shield and she is the one of three players to hit a century in the first four games, although the other three have all played for Aotearoa. Along with her 63 and 101*, James has scores of 36 and 46 this season which gives her four scores over 30 runs in four games.

As shown below, James scored a total of 101 runs last season and she has covered that in one knock this season. It's a different story for Caitlin Blakely and Felicity Robertson who have churned out consistent runs across the last season and a bit. Blakely has scored 40+ runs in three of her four innings and this flows on from a strong showing for NZ-A where she hit 24 runs @ 133sr in her lone T20 knock vs England A, as well as 133 runs @ 83sr in three one-dayers.

Robertson made her White Ferns debuts in 2014 and last played for Aotearoa in 2016. Since her last outing for White Ferns, Robertson has had her three best seasons of HBJ Shield batting which includes 52.6avg in 2019/20 and back to back seasons averaging over 40. Robertson isn't just doing what most White Ferns would love to do with the bat, she also effective with the ball and is averaging below 25 for the second season in a row.

(2023/24 | 2024/25)

Batting

Bella James: 101 runs @ 10avg/52sr | 246 runs @ 82avg/88sr

Saffron Wilson: 183 runs @ 20avg/86sr | 35 runs @ 8avg/35sr

Caitlin Blakely: 272 runs @ 27avg/70sr | 155 runs @ 51avg/73sr

Felicity Robertson: 310 runs @ 44avg/65sr | 127 runs @ 42avg/74sr

Polly Inglis: 324 runs @ 54avg/79sr | 59 runs @ 29avg/113sr

Olivia Gain: 180 runs @ 30avg/74sr | 37 runs @ 12avg/62sr

Hayley Jensen: 12 runs @ 109sr | 39 runs @ 19avg/87sr

Bowling

Emma Black: 24w @ 11avg/3.3rpo | 4w @ 30avg/3.3rpo

Eden Carson: 15w @ 18avg/3.7rpo | 6w @ 15avg/2.5rpo

Felicity Robertson: 10w @ 22avg/4.2rpo | 3w @ 21avg/3.9rpo

Hayley Jensen: 4w @ 27avg/3.8rpo | 6w @ 13avg/2.4rpo

Louisa Kotkamp: 2w @ 21avg/5.4rpo | 6w @ 10avg/3.8rpo

All seven Otago players who have bowled this season have taken 2+ wickets. Five Otago bowlers have taken 4+ wickets and their only bowler averaging over 30 is Black, who was the only bowler to take 20+ wickets last season. Carson is tied with Black on 36 overs as the busiest Otago bowlers, while Jensen is the only other Otago player who has bowled 30+ overs.

Carson returned from T20 World Cup duty with wickets in three of her four games, which also applies to Black. Jensen has a wicket in every game and Kotkamp has commanded attention with a wicket in every game she has played, starting with 4w @ 2.4rpo to help Otago roll Canterbury for 60. This gives Otago one of the best seam bowling units in HBJ Shield with Jensen, Black, Kotkamp and Robertson offering variations of righty seam/swing.

Otago have one of Aotearoa's best spinners in Carson, who is bringing her HBJ Shield mahi into alignment with her exceptional Super Smash bowling. Carson has a T20 bowling average of 17.7 and her List-A average is 27. This is likely to keep falling as Carson is in her second HBJ Shield campaign averaging below 20 and her growth in one-day bowling could lead to more ODIs for Aotearoa.

Eden Carson for White Ferns

ODIs: 12 games, 41.2avg/4.7rpo

T20Is: 31 games, 16.1avg/6.2rpo

The funkiest pocket of Otago's unbeaten start to the summer is Anna Browning who is thriving after moving south from Auckland. Otago lost spinner Sophie Oldershaw to retirement ahead of this season and Browning has stepped in to lead Otago for wickets as one of six HBJ Shield bowlers who have taken 8+ wickets.

Browning has taken 3w, 4w and 1w in the three games she has bowled, along with scores of 1*, 32 and 19* as a clinical middle order batter for Otago. This forms a significant improvement in Browning's HBJ Shield mahi from last season with Auckland...

(2023/24 | 2024/25)

Bat: 60 runs @ 8avg/46sr | 52 runs @ 52avg/76sr

Ball: 3w @ 46avg/4.5rpo | 8w @ 12avg/4.1rpo

Browning leads Otago for wickets and she is their only batter with two not-outs. While she is Otago's most expensive bowler and four of her comrades have strike-rates higher than Browning, she has flashed her ability in different stages of the season so far.

Browning is operating over 4rpo but she took her 4w vs Wellington @ 3.8rpo and her 3w vs Canterbury @ 3.4rpo. Her 19* vs Wellington featured a strike-rate of 86.3 which was the second highest for Otago's batters in that game. While Browning had a strike-rate of 71.1 in her 32 runs vs Canterbury, her four fours was second only to James' five boundaries.

All of which highlights Browning as a classy all-rounder who can adapt to any situation for Otago. She is usually batting eighth in the line up and the four other batters with 50+ runs usually bat in the top-five, while Browning is also the fifth or sixth bowler deployed for Otago this season and wasn't required to bowl in one game.

Whatever role Browning is required to play, she does it without fuss and her efficiency is intriguing for a 21-year-old who is in her first season with Otago. This doesn't seem unique for Otago players though as they have strong contributions from the majority of their squad. Otago also has a culture that is getting the best out of experienced domestic cricketers like Robertson, Jensen, Blakely, James and Inglis along with young talent like Browning and Kotkamp.

The last round of HBJ Shield this year will be played on the weekend of the 14th/15th with Otago hosting Northern Districts who are (2-2). Otago haven't played Auckland (3-1) yet and that's their first fixtures for when HBJ Shield returns after Super Smash. The games against Northern Districts and then Super Smash will continue to inform us about Otago's possible dominance of women's domestic cricket, so stay tuned over the coming weeks.

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