Northern Districts steamrolled Canterbury in Hamilton with two young batters shining in Xavier Bell and Natasha Wakelin. Bell was one of three Brave batters to pass 50 runs in their total of 240/4 alongside Katene Clarke (97 runs @ 167sr) and Brett Hampton (61 runs @ 265sr), finishing off their mahi with 53* @ 252sr.

Prior to that game, Bell was one of two battered who were retired to make way for other batters to have a crack. Bell had 9 runs @ 69sr when he was retired and after Tim Pringle was retired vs Canterbury on 5 runs @ 42r, ND have retired three batters in their last two games. Given how those moves played out with Ben Pomare (20 runs @ 200sr) and Scott Kuggeleijn (34 runs @ 283sr) boosting ND's run-chase vs Otago and then Bell sparking up Seddon Park, ND coach BJ Watling's in a retirement groove.

Bell smacked two fours and six sixes against Canterbury and after a slow start to his first season of domestic cricket, the 19-year-old finally showcased his talent. Keep in mind that ND also have NZ U19 World Cup squad members Snehith Reddy and Aryan Mann who had done more than Bell prior to this game, which fits into the grand theme of Aotearoa's young cricketers being awesome.

ND also have a grizzly group of veterans who handled the Plunket Shield duties after Bell got a crack in the opening phase of Ford Trophy. Bell scored 50 runs @ 10avg/43sr in his five innings of Ford Trophy and prior to being retired vs Otago, the Cambridge champ gave folks a glimpse of his ability with 26 runs @ 144sr vs Wellington.

Like Mann who hit two 50+ scores on Plunket Shield debut, as well as many other youngsters delivering excellent mahi to start their careers, Bell has a 50+ score in his first eight innings of domestic cricket. Wakelin is 20-years-old and she hit her fourth 50+ score at the domestic level with 86* @ 165sr for ND in their win vs Canterbury.

This was Wakelin's first 50+ score in T20 batting though and she had a duck in her only other Super Smash innings this season, yet her 86 runs were enough to make her the leading run-scorer for the Brave wahine. Wakelin had a knock of 62 runs in HBJ Shield earlier in the season and is the youngest ND batter who has 100+ runs in the one-day competition after the first stanza.

That's part of three consecutive HBJ Shield campaigns with a 50+ score for Wakelin. Her 14 boundaries vs Canterbury were far more than Wakelin's nine boundaries in six HBJ Shield innings and she currently has the highest batting strike-rate for ND in the Super Smash. Given that ND's best batters Jess Watkin and Caitlin Gurrey combined for 5 runs vs Canterbury, while also averaging less than 15, contributions from players like Wakelin are crucial for the Brave.

Emma McLeod didn't go as large as Wakelin but her 30 runs @ 136sr in a win for Central Districts vs Wellington was her best Super Smash knock. That's notable because McLeod has 342 runs @ 68.4avg/81sr with a century and two other 50+ scores in HBJ Shield this season as the best batter for Hinds.

With a List-A batting record of 31.38/70sr, McLeod drops to 12.53avg/87sr in T20 batting. She is showing clear growth in T20 batting and scored 19 runs @ 146sr vs Canterbury in the game before her 30 runs, which after a slow start gives her 57 runs @ 14.2avg/105sr in Super Smash right now. They probably sit among her fastest T20 knocks of her career so far and this is an important checkpoint for one of Aotearoa's best young wahine batters.

Toby Findlay is another funky CD player to highlight after they did the double in Wellington. He only took 1w @ 11.2rpo vs Wellington but this fits into an excellent start to the seamer's career in T20 bowling after he took 8w @ 19.6avg/7.8rpo in the the Stags' Super Smash championship last season. That included 3w @ 7.2rpo in the final where Findlay was the best bowler for CD.

That led to an appearance at the Global Super League where Findlay took 1w @ 5.6rpo and while his 4w @ 37.5avg/10.9rpo doesn't reflect his prowess, Findlay's 24.92avg/8.8rpo in T20 bowling as a 22-year-old certainly does. Findlay hasn't played Plunket Shield yet this season and in his three games of Ford Trophy he took 3w @ 52avg/6.5rpo as he builds out into the other formats.

Findlay has 7 wickets in his last six games and has back to back Super Smash games with a wicket, after taking a wicket in three consecutive games across Ford Trophy and Super Smash. Expect Findlay to stay in the Stags' 1st 11 and as he's already contributed to winning Super Smash mahi, he should continue to develop with a regular role.

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Peace and love.