Northern Districts had two wins in Auckland and both Northern teams are tracking nicely ahead of Super Smash finals.

Northern's best seamers in Super Smash

Scott Kuggeleijn: 17w @ 13.9avg/8.4rpo
Marama Downes: 13w @ 11.7avg/5.4rpo
Lucy Boucher: 8w @ 15.8avg/6.3rpo
Kayley Knight: 8w @ 19.2avg/6rpo
Matt Fisher: 8w @ 26avg/7.7rpo
Zak Gibson: 6w @ 12avg/7.2rpo

Northern's wahine sealed the win over Auckland with crucial runs from their lower order. That was led by Knight's 18 runs @ 95sr and she is now on 83 runs @ 20.7avg/130sr in Super Smash, as one of Northern's most efficient batters. Skye Bowden (17* @ 106sr) and Marama Downes (5* @ 250sr) finished the innings with Downes hitting the winning runs, both have shown all-round skills in Super Smash and HBJ Shield along with Knight.

Boucher can't be overlooked in this bracket either as she has been excellent as well but didn't play vs Auckland. There are tweaks available to Northern to get these four wahine in the same team if they are all available with the best scenario being a bump up the order for Knight and Bowden, while bringing Boucher into the 1st 11. That's possible because these ladies have more to offer with the bat than some of the players ahead of them in the line up.

Knight has 17 runs @ 17avg/53sr in HBJ Shield as well as being their leading wicket-taker on 13w @ 11.6avg/3.6rpo. Her best bowling format is List-A (19.6avg/5.1rpo) and her T20 mahi is on the improve (28.9avg/7.1rpo) with Knight's 18avg/115sr in T20 batting showing the 22-year-old's ability.

Bowden has only played a few games in each format for Northern this season and she is averaging 12+ with the bat in both formats, which is better than Knight. The 24-year-old doesn't have a wicket this season across the formats but she has a 20.4avg/7.5rpo record in T20 bowling.

Downes also averages 10+ with the bat in both formats. The 23-year-old has 15.2avg/5.4rpo in T20 bowling which is the lowest average in either format for this Northern quartet and she now has a winning knock in Super Smash to boost her development.

Boucher averages 26-ish with the ball in both formats. While she averages below 10 with the bat in both formats, her best scores are 36* (LA) and 41* (T20) which makes her the only player in this quartet with 30+ scores in both formats.

The way the skills and strengths of these four players overlap is an asset for Northern. Aside from Auckland's Molly Penfold, Bree Illing, Amie Hucker and Josie Penfold seam bowling crew, Northern's seamers form the best unit in women's cricket and there is plenty of evidence to suggest they are capable of adding runs down the order.

Northern also have two spinners in Nensi Patel and Jess Watkin adding to the bowling funk. Both have 7 wickets with Patel on 21.5avg/6.8rpo and Watkin on 24.7avg/6.9rpo. Watkin is one of four Northern batters who have a 50+ score in Super Smash along with veteran Caitlin Gurrey and the young duo of Natasha Wakelin and Eve Wolland.

Watkin (5) and Gurrey (2) are likely six hitters, while Northern also have Wolland (3), Wakelin (2) and Knight (2) clearing boundary ropes.

New Zealand's highest T20 batting averages (20+ innings)

Chris Harris: 70.66
Bevon Jacobs: 40.13
Devon Conway: 40.05
Rob O'Donnell: 35.42
Dean Foxcroft: 35.58

O'Donnell is a Super Smash monster and he was the only batter to score 40+ runs in Northern's win vs Auckland. His return to the line up adds tremendous value to Northern's powerful batting unit and O'Donnell is in the group of five batters who have scored 100+ runs, with the youngster Xavier Bell being the only bloke below 170sr...

Katene Clarke: 360 runs @ 72avg/175sr
Brett Hampton: 301 runs @ 43avg/177sr
Rob O'Donnell: 135 runs @ 45avg/180sr
Xavier Bell: 114 runs @ 38avg/139sr
Scott Kuggeleijn: 112 runs @ 56avg/215sr

Kuggeleijn is leading Northern's bowling mahi, while Tim Pringle and Zak Gibson have joined Matt Fisher as the funkiest bowlers. Pringle took 3w @ 4rpo vs Auckland after two games without a wicket and while T20 bowling is Pringle's best pocket, an important wrinkle given the rise of Jayden Lennox in the Blackcaps pipeline is how Pringle's tracking this season...

Plunket Shield: 19w @ 25.5avg/2.5rpo - 2nd overall
First-Class: 33.94avg/3.1rpo
Ford Trophy: 5w @ 24avg/3.7rpo - tied for most Northern wickets
List-A: 42.75avg/4.8rpo
Super Smash: 9w @ 28.8avg/8.8rpo - 2nd for Northern wickets
T20: 24.82avg/7.2rpo

Gibson has snuck under the radar as one of Northern's most efficient bowlers in all formats this season with the lowest bowling averages for Northern in Super Smash and Ford Trophy, while second behind Pringle in Plunket Shield. Having only played three Super Smash games this season, Gibson has wickets in all of them and that's aligned with his career mahi, while the other formats highlight his form this summer...

Plunket Shield: 7w @ 27.2avg/2.8rpo
FC: 42.28avg/3.8rpo
Ford Trophy: 5w @ 18avg/3.4rpo - tied for most Northern wickets
List-A: 35.94avg/5.2rpo
Super Smash: 6w @ 12avg/7.2rpo
T20: 24.82avg/8.1rpo

Matt Fisher's career mahi

FC: 22.21avg/3.6rpo
LA: 26.67avg/5.6rpo
T20: 37.11avg/9.1rpo

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Peace and love.