2025/26 HBJ Shield: First Round Basics
Auckland and Central Districts started the women’s domestic cricket season with a couple of wins, while Northern Districts and Wellington shared their weekend series with a win each.
Auckland
2-0 vs Otago | 9 points
Best Performers
Prue Catton: 112 runs @ 112avg/82sr
Maddy Green: 74 runs @ 74avg/72sr
Brooke Halliday: 52 runs @ 73sr
Fran Jonas: 5w @ 9.6avg/3.4rpo
Amie Hucker: 5w @ 12.2avg/3.5rpo
Notebook
Auckland had the most 50+ scores with three (Catton, Green, Halliday) and the most bowlers who took 3 wickets across the weekend with five (Jonas, Hucker, Green, Josie and Molly Penfold).
Jonas has 2+ wickets in eight of her last 10 games.
Green has a List-A batting average of 34.6 and bowling average of 29.
Catton scored less than 5 runs in six consecutive games before scores of 25 and 87* vs Otago.
Hucker took 3 wickets in eight games prior to her 3 and 2 wickets vs Otago.
Halliday has three 50+ scores in her last four innings.
Penfold sisters in LA cricket...
Josie: 18.5avg/66sr | 42avg/5.5rpo
Molly: 5.5avg/50sr | 31.5avg/5.3rpo
Northern Districts
1-1 vs Wellington | 5 points
Best Performers
Natasha Wakelin: 73 runs @ 36.5avg/70sr
Holly Topp: 52 runs @ 26avg/62sr
Lucy Boucher: 5w @ 6.2avg/2.5rpo
Kayley Knight: 2w @ 14.5avg/3.2rpo
Notebook
Wakelin has a LA batting average of 14 and is trending towards the light...
2022/23: 44 runs @ 8.8avg
2023/24: 92 runs @ 13.1avg, 1 x 50
2024/25: 137 runs @ 13.7avg, 1 x 50
2025/26: 73 runs @ 36.5avg, 1 x 50
Boucher has always been good in HBJ Shield but played five games in each of the last two seasons. Career average of 26.5 in LA bowling and she took 10 wickets in those 10 games across the last two seasons.
Knight took 2w @ 1.5rpo in the second game. She has a LA bowling average of 22.6 which is among the lowest averages for younger seam bowlers.
Halliday, Cattion and ND's Eve Wolland were the only players to hit a six in the first two games. She also hit a six last season and scored 157 runs @ 26.1avg/66sr.
Topp's scored 45 runs in five innings last season, then she scored 52 runs vs Canterbury. She may soon pass her career-high 88 runs from 2021/22.
Central Districts
2-0 vs Canterbury | 8 points
Best Performers
Hannah Rowe: 96 runs @ 48avg/74sr
Kerry Tomlinson: 85 runs @ 42.5avg/84sr
Georgia Atkinson: 69 runs @ 34.5avg/78sr
Kate Gaging: 63 runs @ 31.5avg/78sr
Elizabeth Cohr: 4w @ 8.7avg/3.5rpo
Rosemary Mair: 4w @ 13.2avg/3.7rpo
Claudia Green: 4w @ 22.5avg/7.5rpo
Notebook
Rowe has a LA batting average of 21.4 and bowling average of 26.1.
Tomlinson's last 10 scores: 48, 12, 9, 30, 39, 25*, 39*, 39, 70, 15. She scored 312 runs @ 104avg/102sr in HBJ Shield last season.
Green took 6 wickets in HBJ Shield last season and started this season with 4 wickets in 12 overs.
Cate Pederson doesn't have a 50+ score in LA batting but she does have four 20+ scores in her last 10 innings, including scores of 43 and 42. Pederson hit 42 runs @ 100sr in the first game vs Canterbury and her overall strike-rate of 95.8 is second in HBJ Shield (behind Anderson's 110.9sr).
Wellington
1-1 vs Northern Districts | 5 points
Best Performers
Georgia Plimmer: 48 runs @ 48avg/70sr
Xara Jetly: 41 runs @ 41avg/41sr
Jess Simmons: 4w @ 12avg/4.7rpo
Natasha Codyre: 4w @ 17.2avg/3.8rpo
Jess Kerr: 3w @ 17.3avg/3.2rpo
Notebook
Jetly has a LA bowling average of 22.9. Here are her last five seasons with the bat...
2021/22: 13 runs @ 6.5avg
2022/23: 2 runs @ 0.6avg
2023/24: 34 runs @ 17avg
2024/25: 98 runs @ 19.6avg
2025/26: 41 runs @ 41avg
Codyre has 3+ wickets in three of her last five innings.
Simmons took 9w @ 47.5 last season for Canterbury and had 2 wickets in each of her first two games for Wellington.
Kerr's LA career mahi: 18.6avg/92sr | 24avg/4.1rpo.
Canterbury
0-2 vs Central Districts | 0 points
Best Performers
Kate Anderson: 172 runs @ 172avg/111sr | 3w @ 10avg/8.1rpo
Jodie Dean: 53 runs @ 26.5av/62sr
Gabby Sullivan: 4w @ 15.7avg/3.3rpo
Notebook
Anderson has five centuries and 12 halfies in LA batting with an average of 33.7. She has back to back LA seasons with a century and she has a century in three of her last four seasons. Anderson's century last season came in her last round of HBJ Shield and she scored 62 runs in the next game so she had three consecutive 50+ scores before her knock of 1 run last Sunday.
Dean has LA batting and bowling averages of 23. She doesn't have a 50+ score in LA batting but she has four 20+ scores in a row.
Sullivan took 7w @ 55avg last season, then she took 1 and 3 wickets vs CD. She also took 5w @ 6avg/3rpo for Cook Islands in the recent Kartini Cup (T20).
Otago
0-2 vs Auckland | 0 points
Best Performers
Saffron Wilson: 92 runs @ 46avg/76sr
Louisa Kotkamp: 2w @ 18.5avg/5.2rpo
Notebook
Wilson was the only Otago batter who scored more than 41 runs in the first two games. She has already scored more runs this season than she did in six innings last season (78 runs).
20-year-old Kotkamp has a LA bowling average of 23.9 in eight games.
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