2024/25 Super Smash Scout: Whanau Affair (Kerr/McKenzie/Boyle) & Bevon Jacobs
Auckland defeated Canterbury in both of their crazy Super Smash game day and Wellington handled their business against Central Districts. Wellington Blaze are 2-0 and join Otago Sparks (2-1) as the only teams who have two wins so far, although Wellington are a spot behind Auckland Hearts on the ladder as they are bolstered by a no resulter.
Firebirds are 1-1 in a group of five teams who have one win in the men's competition. Canterbury Kings have lost both their games, making them the only men's team yet to win a game. CD Stags are 1-1 alongside Wellington and Otago. An Auckland Aces win puts them at the top of the table where they are 1-0 along with Northern Districts.
Bevon Jacobs continues to shine as one of the most impressive youngsters in domestic cricket. Jacobs hit 53 runs @ 160sr for Auckland and he is in a funky battle with ND's Brett Hampton to hit 10+ sixes in all three competitions...
The key thing about Jacobs is how has shown class and craft in his batting, along with effortless power. Don't put Jacobs in the T20 slugger box and his Plunket Shield mahi (41avg/60sr) this season will consistently be thrown up to frame his boundary hitting.
There are some strong whanau ties in other notable performances from the last two game days. The McKenzie brothers played against each other with younger bro Jock getting the win for Auckland, as well as churning out more runs and wickets than Angus.
Angus McKenzie (26yrs)
vs Auckland: 0 runs | 2w @ 14.7rpo
Super Smash: 4w @ 18avg/12.3rpo
T20s: 6avg/94sr | 21.7avg/8.3rpo
Jock McKenzie (23yrs)
vs Canterbury: 14 runs @ 140sr | 3w @ 9.3rpo
Super Smash: 30 runs @ 15avg/120sr | 3w @ 10avg/9.3rpo
T20s: 12.6avg/127sr | 20.4avg/99rpo
The Kerr sisters played important roles for Wellington once again, although Jess was the leader for Blaze as she was the only Wellington batter to score 20+ runs and snared 3w. Amelia didn't score many runs, although the Kerr sisters are the only batters who have 70+ runs in the women's competition. Both Kerr sisters have 4+ wickets with averages below 12.
Jess Kerr (26yrs)
vs CD: 59 runs @ 131sr | 3w @ 3.5rpo
Super Smash: 120 runs @ 120avg/143sr | 4w @ 11avg/5.7rpo
T20s: 14avg/130sr | 21.5avg/5.9rpo
Amelia Kerr (24yrs)
vs CD: 7 runs @ 87sr | 1w @ 5.2rpo
Super Smash: 74 runs @ 74avg/125sr | 5w @ 7avg/4.8rpo
T20s: 30.2avg/117sr | 16.9avg/5.9rpo
The Boyle brothers can't be overlooked with younger bro Matt almost steering Canterbury to victory, offering the highest strike-rate (205.5sr) in this game for batters who scored 10+ runs. Older bro Jack followed it up by leading the CD run-chase with 66 runs and in both games, their dismissals were crucial in Auckland/Wellington getting wins.
Jack Boyle (28yrs)
vs Wellington: 66 runs @ 147sr
Super Smash: 68 runs @ 34avg/133sr
T20s: 22avg/110sr
Matt Boyle (21yrs)
vs Auckland: 37 runs @ 205sr
Super Smash: 55 runs @ 27avg/162sr
T20s: 16.8avg/127sr
Henry Shipley and James Hartshorn both took their first 5-fers in T20 cricket. Shipley was the only Canterbury bowler to concede less than 6rpo vs Auckland (4.7rpo) and Hartshorn was the only Wellington bowler below 7rpo vs CD (6rpo). Shipley is building back into the Blackcaps mix after a long injury lay off and Hartshorn will be eager to add more Super Smash games after his debut, having played 16 Plunket Shield games for Wellington.
Henry Shipley
Ford Trophy: 1w @ 5.8rpo
ODIs: 23.9avg/5.5rpo
T20Is: 70.5avg/10.8rpo
FC: 29.1avg/3.4rpo
LA: 37.4avg/5.8rpo
T20s: 22.2avg/8.3rpo
James Hartshorn
Plunket Shield: 6w @ 38avg/2.8rpo
FC: 36avg/3.1rpo
LA: 98avg/6.5rpo
The three best bowlers in women's Super Smash are White Ferns spinners. Eden Carson is a wicket ahead of Fran Jonas after Jonas led Auckland's bowling mahi vs Canterbury (3w @ 3.2rpo) and Leigh Kasperek is third for wickets after she led Wellington with 4w @ 5.5rpo vs CD. Here's what these three have done in HBJ Shield..
Eden Carson: 13w @ 12.2avg/2.8rpo
Leigh Kasperek: 7w @ 26.5avg/3.9rpo
Fran Jonas: 4w @ 44.2avg/4.4rpo
Canterbury Magicians are slightly better off with a win and a loss compared to the blokes who have two losses. The Kings will have Zak Foulkes returning to Super Smash to help absorb the losses of Tom Latham and Will O'Rourke to the Blackcaps ODI team, which along with a talented group featuring Boyle, Shipley, Chad Bowes, Kyle Jamieson, Ish Sodhi etc should see the Kings improve.
Canterbury men have also made three consecutive finals which boosts their mana. Something to keep track of is how Canterbury women find ways to lose and they don't appear to be flush with confidence at the moment. Last summer Canterbury went 2-6 in Super Smash and 2-7 in HBJ Shield, which has been followed by a 1-5 start in HBJ Shield.
Add in their 1-1 start to this summer's Super Smash and Canterbrury are 6-19. Last summer Canterbury had an almighty capitulation vs Auckland which was covered in our newsletter (free every Monday/Friday so sign up) and while there are lots of similar performances in this tough patch of form, somehow Canterbury women whipped up another capitulation vs Auckland.
The most important wrinkles were how the overseas imports gave up their wickets. Aussie Madeline Penna walked past a Jonas delivery to be stumped and Indian Shikha Pandey was run-out without grounding her bat, with both giving up on each play to gift wickets to Auckland. Canterbury Magicians already have iffy vibes which has impacted how their emerging players sit in the women's pipeline and among a bunch of goofy things, their two imports offered diabolical plays to ensure another Canterbury loss.
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