Otago has sparked up an Hallyburton Johnstone Shield dynasty after winning this season's final vs Auckland to make it three HBJ Shield championships in the last four seasons. They aren't quite at the Wellington level in the Super Smash as they have won six of the last eight in the T20 format, but when Wellington has won a Super Smash championship in the last four summers they have been matched by Otago in the one-day format.

Auckland batted well to put up 291/5 in their 50 overs led by the best batter in HBJ Shield this summer Maddy Green who scored 126 runs @ 102sr. Lauren Down added 90 runs @ 101sr as Eden Carson took 2w @ 6.3rpo and Felicity Roberston took 2w @ 3.7rpo for Otago on their home deck in Dunedin.

Robertson then scored 53 runs @ 80sr at the top of the order for Otago which ensured she finished as Otago's best batter in HBJ Shield. Otago lost a couple quick wickets thanks to new White Fern call up Bree Illing (2w @ 4.6rpo) before Otago's second leading run-scorer this season Polly Inglis came to the crease and scored 86 runs @ 101sr.

Robertson and Inglis were dismissed by Brooke Halliday (3w @ 3.2rpo) in the space of a couple overs. When Caitlin Blakely was dismissed by Amie Hucker (1w @ 5rpo) and Anna Browning was dismissed by Halliday, it looked like Otago had let this game fall in favour of Auckland.

PJ Watkins was at the crease, batting sixth in her third HBJ Shield game of the season and just her fifth game of the summer. Eden Carson entered the arena with Otago 100 runs behind and with 14 overs to go, which is precisely the scenario that Carson has been building towards this summer.

Carson smacked 59* @ 137sr and Watkins finished on 47* @ 78sr to seal the win for Otago. Watkins hit the winning runs on the last ball but it was Carson who had to scamper back to the non-striker's end where the throw went, with her speed and instincts showing what an excellent all round cricketer she is.

Otago hit two sixes in their innings and both came from Carson's bat, giving her three sixes this season and the most for Otago. This was Carson's second 50+ score in HBJ Shield this summer and the other one was a few weeks ago, against Auckland. Here's Carson's mahi in the second stanza of HBJ Shield...

• vs Auckland: 1w @ 4.7rpo

• vs Auckland: 3w @ 4.7rpo | 54 runs @ 87sr

• vs CD: 2w @ 4.2rpo

• vs CD: 1w @ 4.4rpo | 2* @ 200sr

• vs Auckland: 2w @ 6.3rpo | 59* @ 137.2sr

Carson had hit a 50+ score before this season, back in the 2019/20 campaign. She was the only Otago batter who finished the HBJ Shield with a strike-rate over 100 and she had three not-outs in her five innings batted. Somehow, Carson's explosion of runs in the last chapter of the season isn't the funkiest storyline for her as she finishes this summer as the best bowler across both competitions.

• HBJ Shield: 22w @ 17.2avg/3.8rpo - 1st

• Super Smash: 18w @ 15.3avg/6.2rpo - 1st

The beauty of Otago's championship season is the spread of contributions with a wide mix of players scoring runs and taking wickets. This is amplified three of Otago's White Ferns in Suzie Bates, Hayley Jensen and Bella James not playing in the final, after all three played key roles in Otago finishing the regular season with a 9-1 record and 20 points clear of second placed Auckland.

Bates had two 50+ scores and a century in her three innings. James finished with 332 runs @ 47.4avg and didn't have a score over 15 in her three games of the second stanza, highlighting how easy the runs flowed for her earlier in the season. Jensen returned from injury niggles and a wee dip out of the White Ferns mix to have a dominant season with the ball, finishing with the lowest average (13.4) of the eight bowlers who took 15+ wickets.

Robertson is a sneaky presence in the Otago team as a veteran who is always available, playing at a high level. Robertson has averaged 40+ with the bat and below 25 with the ball in back to back HBJ Shield championships, driving a winning standard as well as leading an Otago group that has a settled crew of experienced cricketers and a steady flow of Aotearoa's best emerging talent.

Inglis played another fabulous knock in the final and around these estuaries, we view her as the best wicket-keeper/batter in Aotearoa. Averaging less than 35 in her first 10 seasons, Inglis averaged 40+ in back to back HBJ Shield championships and there is an opportunity to parlay that into a White Ferns debut in the coming weeks.

Watkins offers a funky story as well with a composed knock to keep Otago's run-chase together. When Watkins emerged on the domestic circuit she was a lefty seamer from England who offered a point of difference thanks to that skillset. We didn't get the battle of lefty seamers in this HBJ Shield final between Illing and Watkins though as Watkins has switched to lefty spin, something that also appears to have happened with Kate Ebrahim who was bowling seam in Super Smash and then spin when HBJ Shield swung back around.

This didn't make Watkins a frontline bowler for Otago though and she earned selection as a batter in the Super Smash, batting in the middle order and as an opener. In her last 10 games, Watkins didn't bat in the first five and then had scores of 16, 11, 3*, 19 and 47* in the next five games. Watkins had a high score in List-A batting of 29 before the final and she hit the winning runs with a LA average of 13.2, along with a T20 batting average of 5.8.

That's Otago women's cricket for you. Otago has the legend of Suzie Bates, while the trio of Carson, James and Inglis have earned their White Ferns selections through winning mahi over a long period of time. Others have been selected having done very little in domestic cricket, but these wahine from Otago have stacked up runs and wickets in a winning team to propel them to the higher level.

Robertson could add to her White Ferns caps and plug a hole as an experienced role-player, but the stars would need to align in Matariki fashion for that to happen. She is one of the best domestic cricketers in Aotearoa though, then there are players like Blakely and Black who have the potential to follow the route taken by James and Inglis to White Ferns selection.

We must now consider the Otago development pipeline just as good as Wellington's and depending on your location, you may say it's better. Otago have made nifty pick ups in getting Watkins from England and a talented all-rounder from Auckland in Anna Browning, yet there is a distinct Otago flavour in their squad.

The first wave featured James, Inglis, Blakely, Black and Carson. Now there is a fresh wave led by Molly Loe and Olivia Gain who have already rolled through multiple domestic seasons, along with Saffron Wilson, Chloe Deerness, Harriett Cuttance and Louisa Kotkamp who are in the younger bracket.

16 players were used by Otago in HBJ Shield. Seven had 50+ scores, five had two or more 50+ scores including three who hit centuries. 11 of the 16 players scored 50+ runs this season. Seven finished with 5+ wickets and 11 of the 16 players took at least a wicket. That flows across every tier of Otago's squad with Gain hitting a 50+ score for example among the more experienced players meanwhile Browning, Deerness and Kotkamp were part of the 5+ wickets group.

This is coach Craig Cumming's last season with Otago as he is off to coach in England. Cumming's influence is pretty obvious on Otago as they won the first of their three HBJ Shield championships soon after he got involved and there is a consistent record of established players getting better, as well as emerging players contributing to a winning team.

Otago's excellence in women's cricket runs far deeper than Cumming as Otago's coach though. They consistently produce players who can step up to domestic cricket and that stems from Otago schools finishing in the top-five at the national girls 1st 11 competition in 11 of the last 12 seasons. Usually that has been St Hilda's College who have won the Venus Cup twice during this period. In one of the two years in which they didn't finish top-five, Otago Girls High School finished third.

Cumming deserves plenty of credit for the high performance elements of Otago as well as the culture and environment of this group over the last five years. Otago's success is rooted in their grassroots cricketing environment and while Otago has a steady supply of exciting talent in the men's pipeline, their women's system is better. This should ensure that Otago will keep on rolling without Cumming, along with their best players snapping up opportunities for White Ferns and younger players elevating to fill those spots.

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