Central Districts are Ford Trophy champions and Northern Districts are HBJ Shield champions. Here are three funky pockets for both teams from their one-day campaigns...

Central Districts Men

Curtis Heaphy scored 105 runs in the final and the 22-year-old has quietly won all three domestic cricket competitions in the opening chapter of his career. Not only has Heaphy earned selection in a CD batting line up that doesn't have many openings, he's cruising along with averages over 45 in First-Class and List-A cricket. After his century in the final and a century in the last game of the regular season (both vs Canterbury), Heaphy has three LA centuries and seven half-centuries.

Heaphy also has four FC centuries and 11 halfies, as well as sneaky impressive mahi in T20 cricket where Heaphy can play any role and adapt to any situation. As part of the NZ-A squad last year, Heaphy had a knock of 190 runs in one of the longform games and he deserves to be a leading contender for the best emerging batters in Aotearoa.

Heaphy in CD championships

2022/23 Plunket Shield: 249 runs @ 27.6avg/34sr
2024/25 Super Smash: 195 runs @ 27.8avg/111sr
2025/26 Ford Trophy: 363 runs @ 60.5avg/68sr

List-A seasons

2023/24: 277 runs @ 39.5avg/57sr, 3 x 50
2024/25: 502 runs @ 71.7avg/78sr, 1 x 100, 3 x 50
2025/26: 363 runs @ 60.5avg/68sr, 2 x 100, 1 x 50

Career

FC: 46.71avg/41sr
LA: 53.13avg/68sr
T20: 25.86avg/109sr

Josh Clarkson took 2w @ 4.4rpo in the final and finished Ford Trophy as the leading wicket-taker. He was the only bowler who took 15+ wickets and averaged below 20, as well as scoring 293 runs @ 122sr which was the highest batting strike-rate for those with 70+ runs. Clarkson hit a century, a halfie and took a 5-wicket-baggy in Ford Trophy this season as a lovely indicator of his all-round ability. He also hit 14 sixes which was tied for the most along with Bevon Jacobs.

LA is Clarkson's best format and he has already played three ODIs, as well as eight T20Is. He was part of the ODI squad that toured India and didn't play in that series, while also sitting on 13w @ 225avg/3.6rpo in Plunket Shield this season. Clarkson will appear in more Blackcaps squads over the next year and he is another seaming all-rounder who is in a highly competitive battle for game time.

Ford Trophy: 293 runs @ 41.9avg/122sr | 23w @ 19.4avg/4.9rpo
LA career: 29.75avg/97sr | 26.78avg/5.3rpo

Jayden Lennox didn't do much in the final with 6ov @ 7.5rpo but with impressive mahi for Blackcaps in the ODI series win vs India, Lennox continues to build into a more regular role for Aotearoa. Peep the alignment of Lennox's mahi this season...

ODIs vs India: 3w @ 28avg/4.2rpo
Plunket Shield: 2w @ 25.5avg/1.8rpo
Ford Trophy: 15w @ 29.9avg/4.8rpo
Super Smash: 7w @ 24.1avg/8.9rpo

T20 cricket is clearly his best format but his over averages are dropping closer to 30 and as he has settled into CD's Plunket Shield team over the last few seasons, folks should expect more improvement across the formats. Lennox was also involved in both NZ-A tours to Bangladesh and South Africa last year where he did the following...

Bangladesh FC: 7w @ 27.7avg/2.4rpo
Bangladesh LA: 2w @ 58avg/4.1rpo
South Africa FC: 4w @ 68.7avg/4.5rpo
South Africa LA: 4w @ 21avg/4.2rpo

Career

FC: 37.12avg/3rpo
LA: 31.5avg/4.8rpo
T20: 18.61avg/7.3rpo

Northern Districts Women

Nensi Patel scored 7 runs and took 1w @ 2rpo in the final but her mahi throughout the season with bat and ball in both formats is aligned with her selection for White Ferns. Patel may be the smallest player in Aotearoa cricket and she had the second highest batting strike-rate in HBJ Shield as one of only two batters over 100sr...

Izzy Gaze: 89 runs @ 105.9sr
Nensi Patel: 290 runs @ 103.2sr
Polly Inglis: 300 runs @ 99sr

Patel also scored 200+ runs and took 10+ wickets in both formats this season...

HBJ Shield: 290 runs @ 29avg/103sr | 14w @ 21.1avg/3.7rpo
Super Smash: 203 runs @ 22.5avg/98sr | 10w @ 18.1avg/6.7rpo

In LA cricket, Patel has scored 190+ runs in four of her last five seasons and five of her seven 50+ scores have come in the last two seasons She has taken 10+ wickets in five consecutive seasons and current has LA career mahi of 24.3avg/81sr with the bat and 27.5avg/4.2rpo with the ball.

Marama Downes took 3w @ 2.6rpo in the final and Kayley Knight took 2w @ 2.8rpo, which reflects their status as two of the best emerging seamers in Aotearoa. Knight was called into the White Ferns squad prior to the final and her style is better suited to international opportunities right now, but Downes won't be far behind her if she keeps piling up wickets with her nibblers.

HBJ Shield

Kayley Knight: 17w @ 13.7avg/3.8rpo
Marama Downes: 13w @ 20.5avg/3.3rpo

Super Smash

Marama Downes: 16w @ 12avg/5.3rpo
Kayley Knight: 10w @ 19.3avg/6.1rpo

These two were excellent in both formats this summer with the ball but also showed their batting ability. Downes scored 25 runs @ 114sr in the final and Knight added 14 runs as they helped boost the ND total to 182 and they both finished with 50+ runs in HBJ Shield, as well as flashing these skills in Super Smash as Knight scored 86 runs @ 121sr and Downes won a game for ND with the bat, along with four not-outs in five innings.

Knight has made clear improvements in one-day bowling and she also had her first Super Smash season bowling 10+ overs with 10+ wickets...

2020/21: 5w @ 27.8avg/5.5rpo
2021/22: 5w @ 30.2avg/6.8rpo
2022/23: 1w @ 71avg/6.4rpo
2023/24: 18w @ 15.4avg/5.1rpo
2024/25: 17w @ 13.7avg/3.8rpo

Downes' best format is T20 bowling and her one-day seasons alternate between awesome and ho-hum. This sets up intrigue for next season as Downes' fine-tunes her ability to target the stumps with movement both ways...

Career

LA: 29.34avg/4.1rpo
T20: 15avg/5.4rpo

List-A seasons

2022/23: 4w @ 51.5avg/5rpo
2023/24: 12w @ 22.1avg/4rpo
2024/25: 9w @ 41.7avg/4.7rpo
2025/26: 13w @ 20.5avg/3.3rpo

Holly Topp’s 39 runs for ND was the highest score in the final. The only other batter who scored 30+ runs was Isla McKenzie (32) who was batting eight for Wellington. None of the batters ahead of them in either team scored 20+ runs and Topp’s knock helped ND set a competitive target of 182 after being 61/5 in the 3th other.

Topp didn’t hit a boundary and scored at 64sr but those runs were just as important as the crisp bowling effort from ND. Topp had scores of 40* and 16* in the games prior to this, plus this is her first season with 100+ runs and 20+ average...

2021/22: 84 runs @ 16.8avg
2022/23: 36 runs @ 7.2avg
2023/24: 88 runs @ 14.6avg
2024/25: 45 runs @ 11.2avg
2025/26: 237 runs @ 33.8avg, 1 x 50

While behind Izzy Gaze and Polly Inglis, Topp is a talented wicket-keeper on the rise and is in an intiguing battle with CD's Kate Gaging as the next best emerging wicket-keeper/batters. Topp and Gaging haven't done as much with the bat the Gaze/Inglis tier but they have sharp keeping skills and there are signs of progress with Topp as she settles into a regular flow as ND's leading wicket-keeper.

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