2024 Kiwi County Tour: Nathan Smith Update & Will Young vs Tom Bruce/Will Williams

All the Kiwi County Tour action last week was in Division One as Will Young's Nottinghamshire had a win over Tom Bruce and Will Williams for Lancashire, while Nathan Smith held things down for Worcestershire in their draw vs Kent. Unfortunately for Smith he didn't bat in the big ol' Worcs innings of 618/7 declared and the two lads batting ahead of Smith both scored not-out centuries.

Given that Smith has scored 152 runs @ 50avg with two 50+ scores in his four innings, he probably would have put up some runs in that innings. Three Worcestershire players scored centuries and two others put up 70+ scores but Smith didn't get a crack, before taking a wicket in the next two innings as Kent were forced to follow on.

Smith took 1w @ 2.8rpo with Worcs dismissing Kent for 407. Following on, Kent battled their way to 146/4 with Smith taking 1w @ 2.2rpo as this encounter finished in a draw. The wickets have slowed for Smith as he has gone from 3+ wickets in his first three innings and then below that mark in his last four innings. Smith has however taken a wicket in all seven County Championship innings so far with 15w @ 23.4avg/3rpo all up.

This makes Smith the leading wicket-taker for Worcs, averaging below 25 with the ball and 50+ with the bat. 15w puts Smith 10th in Division One for wickets and he is the only Worcs bowler averaging below 30.

Bruce found some runs for Lancashire with 73 runs in the first innings as Lancs reached a total of 331. Notts responded with 503 runs, although Young could only manage 27 runs before he was bowled by Williams as the former Canterbury seamer took 1w @ 2.4rpo. Lancashire put up 252 runs in their second batting effort and Bruce scored 15, leaving Notts a target of 81 runs with Young finishing not-out on 22 to seal the win.

Young now has 255 runs @ 85avg thanks to two not-outs from his five innings. This bolsters Young's First-Class batting average and he's staying over 40avg, now sitting at 40.44avg. Here is how Young's FC batting mahi in England looks (including County Championship and any Tests played in England)...

  • 2021: 368 runs @ 40.88avg

  • 2022: 805 runs @ 33.54avg

  • 2023: 299 runs @ 59.8avg

  • 2024: 255 runs @ 85avg

Nottinghamshire are fourth in Div One with a win, a loss and three draws. Smith hasn't had a win with Worcestershire yet as they are seventh with a loss and four draws, while Lancashire are at the bottom of the ladder (10th) on three losses and two draws.

Bruce passed 30 runs for the first time this season and now has 148 runs @ 18.5avg, well below his FC average of 47.44 and last summer's Plunket Shield mahi of 399 runs @ 49.87avg. Lancashire only have two lads averaging 30+ though so they have bigger batting issues than Bruce and for context, Young is one of seven Notts batters over 30avg while Smith is one of nine Worcs batters over 30avg.

Williams is taking his regular dose of wickets with 11w @ 26.1avg/2.4rpo, taking him to a FC bowling average of 22. While on the topic of FC averages; Smith has a batting average of 27.7 and bowling average of 26.5.

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Written by Scott Miller On Tagged