Wellington went south to grab two wins vs Canterbury in Christchurch with the best Blazers joined by youngster Hannah Francis in serving up winning mahi and the Samuel Morgan/Oscar Jackson extravaganza keeps flowing for the Firebirds.

Georgia Plimmer and Rebecca Burns sparked up the Blaze batting innings, but Jess Simmons was the only other Wellington batter who scored 20+ runs. Simmons hit 24 runs @ 104sr and she is part of a lower order that will be in the spotlight as Wellington chase another Super Smash championship.

The status of Wellington's legend Amelia Kerr and imports is always a funky wrinkle when Blaze are pushing through finals cricket. While that's crucial for Wellington's hopes of adding another championship to their dynasty, they have laid foundations for emerging talent to contribute this season and this includes efficient slugging from Simmons down the order.

23-year-old Sam Mackinder scored 12 runs @ 80sr vs Canterbury which isn't super notable aside from being the fourth highest score in this win. Mackinder's overall contributions batting down the order for Wellington is notable though and in a Wellington team where the top order dominate their run-scoring, Mackinder's mahi is part of a role-playing group of swift scorers.

All the players listed below have strike-rates over 120...

Jess Kerr: 173 runs @ 19.2avg/120sr
Jess McFadyen: 66 runs @ 22avg/137sr
Jess Simmons: 54 runs @ 18avg/138sr
Sam Mackinder: 38 runs @ 19avg/127sr
Nicole Baird: 13 runs @ 144sr
Rachel Bryant: 5 runs @ 125sr

This balances out Rebecca Burns (156 runs @ 15.6avg/90sr) and Xara Jetly (130 runs @ 26avg/98sr) operating below 100sr. With Georgia Plimmer hovering around 100sr (224 runs @ 22.4avg/103sr), Wellington have balance in their batting and this means they are well poised as the hearty Blazers can fit around any additions to their team.

Kerr, Jetly and Baird are the leading wicket-takers for Wellington in Super Smash. Kerr and Jetly are in dominant grooves across both formats and Baird's on 11w @ 15.1avg/6.4rpo. Here is more information about Kerr and Jetly's season...

Jess Kerr

Super Smash: 14w @ 16.8avg/6.2rpo
HBJ Shield: 166 runs @ 33.2avg/82sr | 14w @ 12avg/3.1rpo

Xara Jetly

Super Smash: 14w @ 14.5avg/5.8rpo
HBJ Shield: 164 runs @ 41avg/52sr | 14w @ 16.2avg/4.4rpo

The most notable performance in Wellington's win vs Canterbury though came from 19-year-old Hannah Francis who took 3w @ 4.5rpo. Francis dismissed Kate Anderson, Izzy Sharp and Lea Tahuhu after each had faced 10+ deliveries which flipped the game in favour of Wellington and that's a nifty start to her Super Smash wicket-taking.

Given that Francis hasn't been in fabulous form this season, her winning mahi could offer her a boost moving forward. Francis is talented all-rounder who already has an HBJ Shield century and two 50+ scores in her short career, while averaging 25 with bat and all in List-A cricket.

This season she has 85 runs @ 16.2avg/64sr and 2w @ 50.5avg/4.8rpo in HBJ Shield. In Super Smash she has 75 runs @ 15avg/95sr which makes her the only Wellington batter in the middle/lower order scoring below 100sr and she bowled in four games without a wicket prior to her winning mahi vs Canterbury.

Francis has played every game this season for Wellington and this suggests that she will play a role in Super Smash finals. While Francis has played 16 games this summer, Morgan and Jackson have combined for five games for Wellington this season. Morgan has two 50+ scores in his first two games of Super Smash and Jackson's added efficient all-round mahi to the Firebirds in his three games.

Morgan smacked 71 runs @ 177sr vs Canterbury which takes him to 126 runs @ 63avg/173sr in Super Smash. The reports from his Wellington homies matches the viewing experience as Morgan has one of the most unique boundary hitting baggies in Aotearoa with flat bat strokes that look awkward sailing over boundaries and off-side shots that look like slices flying to the boundary.

Jackson has 51 runs @ 51avg/176sr and 3w @ 15.6avg/7.8rpo, after hitting 35* @ 219sr and taking 1w @ 9.3rpo vs Canterbury. He has two not-outs in his three innings and along with Morgan, they are the only Wellington batters who have 10+ runs and strike-rates over 160. That probably isn't sustainable but it shows how effective these two have been in different roles, adding plenty of juice to the Firebirds batting unit.

Jackson is one of three Wellington seamers who have averages below 20 and are tied with the lowest bowling strike-rates for Firebirds (12sr) who have bowled at least 5 overs. James Hartshorn has 6w @ 14.3avg/7.1rpo and Ben Sears is the leading wicket-taker for Wellington on 15w @ 17.9avg/8.9rpo.

Sears is highlighting Aotearoa's seam depth as he isn't part of the Blackcaps T20 wave and has responded in the best way with lots of wickets at the domestic level. Here the career mahi for Sears...

FC: 27.82avg/3.7rpo
LA: 31.56avg/5.6rpo
T20: 21.36avg/8.4rpo

Sears also has 24.73avg/8.5rpo in T20I bowling, none of which is in the same pocket as Hartshorn's 14.84avg/8.3rpo after eight T20s. Hartshorn appears to be bowling quicker than most, which along with Sears' obvious pace and Jackson's sneaky pace gives Wellington an enticing trio of seamers.

Like Zak Gibson for Northern, Hartshorn is in the mid/late-20s bracket of Aotearoa seamers who have battled injury which has limited their game time. Hartshorn has played less than 20 games in each format for Wellington with 38.8avg in FC bowling and 30.2avg in LA.

Tom Blundell isn't dipping out of the Blackcaps mixer for anyone who was trying to shuffle him along. Blundell struggled for Test runs vs West Indies and that was part of a longform struggle as his Plunket Shield mahi wasn't great but he is one of Wellington's two best batters in the shorter formats this season...

Plunket Shield: 68 runs @ 22.6avg/68sr
Ford Trophy: 177 runs @ 44.2avg/78sr - 2nd for Wellington (2x50)
Super Smash: 364 runs @ 40.4avg/155sr - 1st for Wellington (3x50)

Blundell's scores in Super Smash: 51, 18, 1, 63, 25, 73, 47, 41, 45.

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Peace and love.