Northern Districts were having none of Otago's road trip excellence with two wins for the Brave in Dunedin, then Central Districts held down it down in Napier with two wins over Canterbury. This Super Smash Scout will zone in on the winners but it's worth noting that Canterbury men are 1-4 at the moment with a team full of Blackcaps talent. Canterbury is joined by Auckland in having two teams with losing records across both Super Smash competitions.

This is being published just as the Wellington vs Otago game day starts in Wellington on Saturday. All stats are from before these games and we'll overlook all Wellington/Otago matters until the next SSS.

The Brave wahine had four bowlers take a wicket each while Chamari Athapaththu took 3w @ 4.7rpo as their best bowler in restricting Otago to 110/9. Athapaththu added a few runs (22 runs @ 129sr) to her excellent all-round mahi in Super Smash, however the Northern kiwis chimed in as well. Here are the kiwi contributions in the win over Otago...

Shriya Naidu: 1w @ 8.6rpo
Jess Watkin: 1w @ 3.5rpo | 41 runs @ 132sr
Nensi Patel: 1w @ 6rpo | 17 runs @ 189sr
Caitlin Gurrey: 21* @ 91sr

Here are how the best Northern kiwis have performed in Super Smash...

Jess Watkin: 135 runs @ 33avg/152sr | 4w @ 25avg/6.4rpo
Caitlin Gurrey: 91 runs @ 30avg/99sr
Carol Agafili: 44 run @ 22avg/133sr
Nensi Patel: 21 runs @ 5avg/123sr | 2w @ 40avg/8.8rpo
Marama Downes: 3w @ 31avg/5.8rpo
Shriya Naidu: 2w @ 26avg/7.4rpo

Katene Clarke (106 runs @ 163sr) and Joe Carter (83 runs @ 169sr) steered Northern to 212/2 in Dunedin. Otago gave it a crack but fell a few runs short as Neil Wagner (7.7rpo), Matt Fisher (10.5rpo) and Freddy Walker (10.2rpo) took 2 wickets each.

As noted in the Friday newsletter; Clarke has struggled for runs before back to back 90+ scores, Carter has maintained his run-scoring while not playing much and Rob O'Donnell's 10* @ 250sr gives him a legendary T20 batting record. Here are the best lads for Northern Brave this season...

Katene Clarke: 218 runs @ 54avg/158sr
Joe Carter: 155 runs @ 38avg/146sr
Rob O'Donnell: 121 runs @ 50avg/189sr
Neil Wagner: 6w @ 21avg/8.6rpo
Kristian Clarke: 6w @ 27avg/10.8rpo
Rohit Gulati: 4w @ 14avg/7rpo
Freddy Walker: 4w @ 31avg/8.4rpo
Matt Fisher: 3w @ 50avg/10.1rpo

Both Northern Brave teams are 3-1 records, which puts them in the top half of both competitions.

Central Hinds were too good for Canterbury and grabbed their first win of the Super Smash. Jess Ogden made her Super Smash and took 3w @ 4.7rpo as Hinds dismissed Canterbury for 119. Flora Devonshire (6.5rpo), Claudia Green (5rpo) and Thamsyn Newton (5.3rpo) took 2 wickets each, while Hannah Rowe took 1w @ 6.5rpo.

Hollie Armitage is the only Hinds batter with 100+ runs (247 runs @ 49avg/104sr) and her knock of 72* @ 122sr led Central to victory. Rowe added 28* @ 104sr to help seal the win and this makes Rowe the second best Hinds batter, as well as being tied for the most Hinds wickets. Here are the best Hinds kiwis...

Hannah Rowe: 89 runs @ 17avg/80sr | 8w @ 18avg/7rpo
Kerry Tomlinson: 87 runs @ 17avg/88sr
Rosemary Mair: 55 runs @ 11avg/93sr | 7w @ 13avg/4.8rpo
Flora Devonshire: 47 runs @ 7avg/78sr | 4w @ 40avg/6.4rpo
Claudia Green: 8w @ 16avg/5.2rpo
Ocean Bartlett: 8w @ 17avg/6.4rpo

Curtis Heaphy top-scored for Central Stags with 78 runs @ 137sr and Tom Bruce continued his legendary mahi with 50* @ 151sr to take Stags up to 190/4. Blair Tickner led the bowling effort with 4w @ 7.6rpo while Brett Randell (2w @ 6rpo), Toby Findlay (1w @ 8.2rpo) and Josh Clarkson (1w @ 8rpo) took wickets as well to restrict Canterbury to 175/8.

This was Heaphy's highest T20 score and the 21-year-old is brewing as one of the best young opening batters in Aotearoa. Heaphy has two 20+ scores in Super Smash this season and after hitting 43 runs @ 102sr vs Otago, Heaphy flashed swift growth with 137sr vs Canterbury. This is notable as Heaphy has relatively low strike-rates in each format but his production is undeniable.

Here is how Heaphy has gone this season with his CD ranking for runs and career averages in that format...

Plunket Shield: 255 runs @ 42avg/42sr - 3rd
Ford Trophy: 276 runs @ 69avg/72sr - 1st
Super Smash: 167 runs @ 23avg/112sr - 3rd

Bruce currently averages 30+ in each format for his career. This is his tenth season of Super Smash and his knock vs Canterbury gives him seven seasons with two 50+ scores. So far in his seven games this season, Bruce has scored 20+ runs in six games and has four not-outs.

Here are the best players for Stags this season...

Tom Bruce: 284 runs @ 94avg/175sr
Jack Boyle: 268 runs @ 44avg/137sr
Curtis Heaphy: 167 runs @ 23avg/112sr
Dane Cleaver: 128 runs @ 21avg/128sr
Blair Tickner: 13w @ 19avg/10.7rpo
Jayden Lennox: 8w @ 23avg/7.4rpo
Brett Randell: 7w @ 27avg/8.2rpo
Angus Schaw: 6w @ 24avg/7.2rpo

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