Wellington are hunting a double dose of HBJ Shield and Super Smash glory as they head to Dunedin for the HBJ Shield final against Otago. After adding another Super Smash trophy to their dynasty, Wellington will also be chasing back to back HBJ Shield championships and they come up against an Otago group who were 2021/22 HBJ Shield champions.

Otago finished top of the ladder with a 6-3 record. Points gained from a washed out game and Wellington losing their last game of the season against Canterbury, gave Otago a home final despite Wellington having one more win (7-3). The best players in HBJ Shield this season are shared between both teams with Wellington's wicket-keeper Jess McFadyen leading all run-scorers, while Otago seamer Emma Black is the leading wicket-taker.

Frances Mackay continues to show that she is one of the best wahine cricketers in Aotearoa, although Canterbury finished at the bottom of the ladder with a 2-7 record. Mackay is joined by Wellington's Leigh Kasperek in being top-five for runs and wickets this season. Add in McFadyen being the best wicket-keeper in Aotearoa and leading HBJ Shield for runs, for another reminder that recent White Ferns squads do not reflect who the best female cricketers are in New Zealand.

Northern Districts seamer Kayley Knight snared 7 wickets against Central Districts on Saturday which saw her climb up the wicket-taking charts to second. Fellow ND trooper Caitlin Gurrey finished third for runs behind McFadyen and Mackay. Aside from Mackay's dominance with bat and ball, the ND duo of Knight and Gurrey are the only players not in the final who finished top-five for runs or wickets.

Best Of The Rest

Batting

Frances Mackay: 308 runs @ 38avg/68sr - 2nd - Canterbury
Caitlin Gurrey: 299 runs @ 33avg/66sr - 3rd - ND
Maddy Green: 274 runs @ 68avg/83sr - 6th - Auckland

Bowling

Kayley Knight: 18w @ 15avg/5.1rpo - 2nd - ND
Frances Mackay: 16w @ 17avg/3.6rpo - 4th - Canterbury
Claudia Green: 15w @ 21avg/4.2rpo - 6th - CD

Exploding stumps of the #HBJShield pic.twitter.com/XADNIYIxGv
— The Niche Cache (@thenichecache) November 19, 2023

A couple players are overseas playing T20 cricket which leaves a funky match up of White Ferns who could play in the final. Otago have Suzie Bates, Hayley Jensen and Eden Carson in the mix, while Wellington may be boosted by Jess Kerr and Georgia Plimmer. Carson heads into the final fifth for wickets as the leading White Ferns bowler and Plimmer's century earlier in the campaign makes her one of three HBJ Shield batters with a hundy (McFadyen and Otago's Saffron Wilson also went large).

Bates, Jensen and Kerr have played a few games each. Bates has scores of 33*, 20 and 63 which included a brief stint in Otago's middle order. Jensen has 3w @ 26avg/4.4rpo. Kerr has 3w @ 33avg/4.2rpo and she flashed her batting ability with 35* @ 134sr vs CD earlier this month.

Xara Jetly caught and bowled and fade away #HBJShield pic.twitter.com/lleZZcR0Sw
— The Niche Cache (@thenichecache) February 4, 2024

Wellington have a trio of youngsters to watch out for in the final. Xara Jetly is part of an exceptional spin unit for Blaze along with Kasperek, Nicole Baird and Kate Chandler. Jetly (22yrs) has wickets in each of her last four games and her List-A bowling average (25.4avg) continues to dip towards her exceptional Super Smash mahi (16.6avg). This is Jetly's best HBJ Shield campaign and she continues to play an undercover role in Wellington excellence.

Natasha Codyre (20yrs) is the best seamer for Wellington and this is her best season of HBJ Shield bowling as well. Chandler (17yrs) is an all-rounder who bowls leggies and bats in the middle order, where she has stacked up three 20+ scores in a row. The last of those knocks was 59 runs in the loss to Canterbury and Chandler is one of four Wellington batters with 200+ runs this season.

Kate Chandler 59 runs vs Canterbury #HBJShield pic.twitter.com/RspA6mEog3
— The Niche Cache (@thenichecache) February 19, 2024

Wellington

Batting

Jess McFadyen: 326 runs @ 40avg/72sr
Leigh Kasperek: 277 runs @ 30avg/74sr
Georgia Plimmer: 262 runs @ 32avg/83sr
Kate Chandler: 243 runs @ 30avg/72sr
Rebecca Burns: 151 runs @ 15avg/89sr

Bowling

Leigh Kasperek: 17w @ 18avg/3.7rpo
Xara Jetly: 14w @ 21avg/3.8rpo
Nicole Baird: 11w @ 23avg/4.6rpo
Natasha Codyre: 9w @ 24avg/4.4rpo
Kate Chandler: 5w @ 20avg/4.2rpo

Scoring runs around Bates usually determines how successful Otago can be and they head into the final with a variety of candidates to step up. Wicket-keeper Polly Inglis the leading run-scorer for Otago and the only Sparks batter with two 50+ scores. Felicity Robertson joins Inglis in scoring 200+ runs with averages over 40. Wilson's century earlier in the season is her only 50+ score but her strike-rate of 90 is well above Otago's other notable batters who all sit below 80sr.

Saffron Wilson 109 runs (112sr) vs CD #HBJShield pic.twitter.com/EZfSn4ZQEL
— The Niche Cache (@thenichecache) December 9, 2023

Inglis, Robertson and Wilson will form a batting unit alongside Caitlin Blakely and Olivia Gain that will need to chime in alongside Bates. Jensen returned to the Sparks 1st 11 last weekend for her first two games of HBJ Shield and her all-round ability is a boost for Otago as well.

Black and Carson are a fantastic tandem, while there are plenty of options for overs in the Sparks team. Molly Loe has wickets in three consecutive HBJ Shield games and she is the most efficient Otago bowler this season. Robertson will play a role with the ball as she is third for Otago wickets and Bates is always eager to roll the arm over.