The Super Smash festivities in Alexandra have finished with Otago Sparks going 2-1 and Volts going 1-1 as they had a game washed out. Sparks lost to Canterbury Magicians to start their Alexandra stint before wins over Auckland Hearts and Central Hinds. The Volts defeated Canterbury and then had rain ruin a strong position vs Auckland, before losing to Central Stags on the last day of 2024.

Here are the best players for both Otago teams after these three games...

Otago Sparks

Batting

Polly Inglis: 69 runs @ 34avg/97sr

Suzie Bates: 63 runs @ 21avg/95sr

Felicity Robertson: 39 runs @ 13avg/81sr

Olivia Gain: 34 runs @ 34avg/94sr

Bella James: 26 runs @ 8avg/113sr

Bowling

Eden Carson: 8w @ 8avg/5.4rpo

Kirstie Gordon: 6w @ 9avg/4.5rpo

Hayley Jensen: 3w @ 19avg/4.8rpo

Emma Black: 3w @ 21avg/5.4rpo

Felicity Robertson: 2w @ 10avg/5.2rpo

Otago Volts

Batting

Max Chu: 86 runs @ 43avg/159sr

Leo Carter: 60 runs @ 30avg/109sr

Llew Johnson: 53 runs @ 26avg/177sr

Dean Foxcroft: 37 runs @ 18avg/79sr

Ben Lockrose: 16 runs @ 8avg/178sr

Bowling

Dean Foxcroft: 7w @ 9avg/6.4rpo

Ben Lockrose: 4w @ 20avg/8.2rpo

Mason Clarke: 4w @ 19avg/7.3rpo

Andrew Hazeldine: 3w @ 24avg/6.6rpo

Matt Bacon: 3w @ 26avg/7rpo

Few more Otago notes...

Polly Inglis

Recent scores: 17, 0, 42*, 24, 29, 29*, 11

HBJ Shield: 83 runs @ 27avg/94sr

Eden Carson

Recent wickets: 3, 0, 2, 2, 5, 2, 0, 2, 3, 3

HBJ Shield: 13w @ 12avg/2.8rpo

2024 ODIs: 6w @ 48avg/5.1rpo

2024 T20Is: 16w @ 17avg/7rpo

Volts have a funky cluster of young hitters, here are their strike-rates so far followed by their T20 career strike-rates...

Jamal Todd (20yrs): 125sr | 120sr

Max Chu (24yrs): 159sr | 144sr

Llew Johnson (24yrs): 177sr | 123sr

Ben Lockrose (24yrs): 178sr | 169sr

17-year-old Mason Clarke has a wicket in each game so far and is showing signs of why he has been selected for Volts, as the youngest player in Super Smash. Clarke went for 14rpo vs Canterbury (Chad Bowes/Tom Latham), then 5.6rpo vs Auckland (Martin Guptill) and 4.6rpo vs CD (Will Young, Tom Bruce).

Clarke was one of two Otago bowlers over 10rpo against Canterbury. Against Auckland he was in the middle of the Volts bowling unit with three lads more expensive than Clarke and two more economical. Against CD, Clarke was the most economical and he was Otago's only bowler below 7rpo.

Bowling with decent pace that appears to hit the baseline of 130km/h, Clarke has shown a natural ability to swing the ball away from righties. The only other seamer who has consistently swung the ball over the past week was Kyle Jamieson, who was swinging the ball both ways.

CD Stags had classy mahi from Will Young (50 runs @ 135sr) and Tom Bruce (44* @ 232sr). Here are their batting stats...

Will Young

FC: 40.16avg/48sr

LA: 42.7avg/89sr

T20: 24.8avg/130sr

Tom Bruce

FC: 46avg/66sr

LA: 31.1avg/103sr

T20: 28.8avg/142sr

Curtis Heaphy and Will Clark also flashed their potential as youngsters for CD. Heaphy played as the wicket-keeper and it will be interesting to see if Heaphy can hold his spot when Dane Cleaver returns. Heaphy scored 43 runs @ 102sr which was the lowest strike-rate for the CD batters who scored 10+ runs vs Otago and this brings together two observations; Heaphy scores slowly but he is a consistent run-scorer.

Curtis Heaphy - 21yrs

FC: 37.4avg/38sr

LA: 50.2avg/64sr

T20: 26.7avg/105sr

Recent scores: 31, 6, 41*, 142, 56, 4, 5, 17, 81, 10, 75*, 63, 43

Clarke had 1w @ 10.5rpo in 2ov as the sixth bowling option and chimed in with 10* @ 111sr. Like Heaphy's supporting knock around Young, Clark supported Bruce's game-winning mahi at the end of their innings and he has been adding strong all-round contributions in all three formats this season.

Will Clark - 23yrs

FC: 42.4avg/61sr | 35avg/3.8rpo

LA: 39.7avg/94sr | 30.4avg/6.5rpo

T20: 25.3avg/111sr | 12avg/8rpo

Recent scores: 45, 0, 2*, 23, 41, 8, 9, 109, 10*

Recent wickets: 2, 2, 0, 1, 0, 1, 5, 1, 1

CD Hinds had Mikaela Greig hit the first six of women's Super Smash and there were solid performances from England's Hollie Armitage as well as the experienced trio of Rosemary Mair, Hannah Rowe, Claudia Green. The funkiest zone for Hinds though is the young trio of Emma McLeod, Flora Devonshire and Ocean Bartlett.

Emma McLeod - 18yrs

vs Otago: 2 runs @ 33sr

HBJ Shield: 207 runs @ 41avg/67sr

Flora Devonshire - 21yrs

vs Otago: 12 runs @ 63sr | 1w @ 3.9rpo

HBJ Shield: 156 runs @ 31avg/70sr | 10w @ 15avg/4.6rpo

Ocean Bartlett - 21yrs

vs Otago: 4* @ 57sr | 2w @ 7.2rpo

HBJ Shield: 17 runs @ 8avg/32sr | 13w @ 16avg/4.4rpo

Auckland Hearts have bowled twice, so here are their stats...

Fran Jonas: 4w @ 8avg/5.6rpo

Bree Illing: 2w @ 19avg/6.5rpo

Maddy Green: 1w @ 10avg/5rpo

Molly Penfold: 1w @ 34avg/8.5rpo

Josie Penfold: 4ov @ 4.5rpo

Brooke Halliday: 4.1ov @ 6.2rpo

Prue Catton: 1ov @ 14rpo

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