White Ferns have been refreshed by emerging cricketers in the last two summers and there are plenty more on the rise in a domestic scene that continues to blossom. The Best Young Cricketer season wraps zone in on players who are younger than 25 throughout that season and are yet to play for Aotearoa.

These boundaries mean that there are a few enticing talents who don't quite fit the made up markers and still deserve a mention. Canterbury spinner Sarah Asmussen had one of her best seasons with 10+ wickets in both formats and averages around 20. She averages 26 in both formats and adds a unique spinning style to White Ferns depth.

Jess Simmons left Canterbury to join Wellington and she took 10w @ 24.3avg in HBJ Shield along with 5w @ 31avg in Super Smash. Simmons is a seamer who bowls quicker than most and gets heavy bounce. Also in that category is Louisa Kotkamp who is part of a group of young players who are on the rise to the top-10.

The Otago seamer was awesome in Super Smash and that's her best format so she will be eager to grow into a consistent all format seamer. Prue Catton had another solid season for Auckland with 200+ runs in both formats and she should start to dominate the domestic circuit in the coming seasons.

Other young players of note are 17-year-old Auckland all-rounder Ayaan Lambat, Northern Districts trio Natasha Wakelin, Eve Wolland and Holly Top (wk), Central Districts duo Cate Pedersen and Kate Gaging (wk), Wellington's Sam Mackinder and Isla McKenzie, Canterbury's lefty Stella Cornelius and Otago's Olivia Gain and Chloe Deerness.

Auckland

Amie Hucker - 23yrs

2025/26 HBJ Shield: 10w @ 35avg/5rpo
2025/26 Super Smash: 9w @ 25.5avg/6.9rpo
List-A: 38.14avg/5rpo
T20: 30.7avg/7rpo

Hucker continued her development with Auckland and played every game of the season after making this list at the end of last summer. Hucker bowled the most overs for Auckland in HBJ Shield and she was third for Super Smash overs, which was her best format last season. Hucker didn't need to bat very much so there weren't many opportunities to check in with her batting progress but she has flashed talent in that department. Most importantly Hucker has stacked up consistent game time as one of the best undercover seamers in Aotearoa and this will be useful in her development.

Northern Districts

Marama Downes - 23yrs

2025/26 HBJ Shield: 92 runs @ 13.1avg/97sr | 13w @ 20.5avg/3.3rpo
2025/26 Super Smash: 7 runs @ 7avg/140sr | 16w @ 12avg/5.3rpo
List-A: 14.45avg/67.6sr | 29.34avg/4.1rpo
T20: 11.25avg/80.3sr | 15.09avg/5.4rpo

Downes helped ND win the HBJ Shield championship and after taking 9w @ 41avg in the 2024/25 HBJ Shield season, she made a notable improvement in this format last summer. While she wasn't the leading wicket-taker for ND in HBJ Shield, Downes was their most economical seamer and this looks tremendous packaged alongside her Super Smash mahi where she was the leading wicket-taker for ND and their only bowler below 6rpo.

Downes played every game for ND and showed that her wobbly seam bowling is highly effective despite lacking the pace and bounce that saw Kayley Knight get promoted to White Ferns. Her style of bowling may slow down her path to White Ferns but Downes takes wickets with swing and seam, which is already approaching an undeniable territory in Aotearoa's seam bowling depth chart.

Lucy Boucher - 24yrs

2025/26 HBJ Shield: 10w @ 17avg/4.3rpo
2025/26 Super Smash: 8w @ 18.5avg/6.7rpo
List-A: 9.51avg/67.8sr | 26.69avg/4.9rpo
T20: 6.96avg/76.5sr | 27.61avg/7.8rpo

Boucher is the third ranked ND seamer behind Knight and Downes but her efficiency can't be overlooked. Boucher and Knight were the only ND seamers who averaged below 20 in both formats last summer with Boucher offfering traditional swing and appearing to sit between Knight and Downes for pace. Boucher has crept under the radar for ND but with career bowling averages below 30 in both formats and after an excellent season just gone, she has laid a nifty foundation to build upon moving forward.

Central Districts

Ashtuti Kumar - 22yrs

2025/26 HBJ Shield: 94 runs @ 13.4avg/53sr | 12w @ 32.4avg/4.8rpo
2025/26 Super Smash: 12 runs @ 12avg/150sr | 10w @ 15.1avg/6.8rpo
List-A: 14.23avg/58.5sr | 39.88avg/4.9rpo
T20: 7.66avg/95.8sr | 25.28avg/6.8rpo

As one of the more surprising inclusions on this list, Kumar stepped up as CD's best spinner across both formats last summer and plugged a hole left by leggy Ocean Bartlett who must have been injured as she didn't play a game. Kumar was the best kiwi bowler for CD in Super Smash and finished second for wickets behind English import Grace Scrivens and she was their only bowler to feature in all 10 innings of HBJ Shield.

Kumar was solid in HBJ Shield and while she didn't take as many wickets as Elizabeth Cohr, she did out-perform Flora Devonshire in the one-day format. Kumar took 10+ wickets in each competition for the first season of her career, with previous bests of 6 wickets in a Super Smash season and 4 wickets in an HBJ Shield season. Kumar has a similar style to Eden Carson, Nensi Patel and Xara Jetly as a shorter offie, who is also an excellent fielder and she showed a few promising sprouts as a batter last season.

Wellington

Xara Jetly - 24yrs

2025/26 HBJ Shield: 223 runs @ 27.8avg/54sr | 19w @ 21.2avg/4.3rpo
2025/26 Super Smash: 131 runs @ 21.8avg/94sr | 16w @ 14.4avg/5.9rpo
List-A: 16.32avg/52.3sr | 22.46avg/4.1rpo
T20: 14.16avg/93.4sr | 18.09avg/5.9rpo

Having already established herself as one of the best spinners at the domestic level, Jetly added a bigger batting role to her skillset last season. Jetly was tied for second in wickets for both competitions last summer and took the most wickets for spinners in Super Smash, as well as being tied with Sarah Asmussen for the most spin wickets in HBJ Shield. All of which is reflected in Jetly averaging below 25 in both formats.

Jetly's spin bowling was good enough to put her in the 2024/25 list and it was the same again last summer, however she also scored 100+ runs in each format for the first season of her career. She also averaged 20+ in both formats and while her promotion up Wellington's batting line up would usually lead to more runs being scored, Jetly snapped up this opportunity and showed her batting potential in her best all-round season of her career.

Hannah Francis - 20yrs

2025/26 HBJ Shield: 244 runs @ 22.1avg/76sr | 8w @ 27.2avg/4.8rpo
2025/26 Super Smash: 75 runs @ 12.5avg/91sr | 3w @ 28.3avg/6.5rpo
List-A: 26.95avg/65.8sr | 23.47avg/4.2rpo
T20: 12.5avg/91.4sr | 28.33avg/6.5rpo

Francis has jumped from an honourable mention after the 2024/25 season to be the best-youngest player in this group. In the 2024/25 HBJ Shield season Francis scored a century and two 50+ scores, as well as taking 12w @ 19.8avg. She added two more 50+ LA scores to that last summer and another season as a reliable seamer for Wellington, but the most progress was shown in Super Smash.

Having played two Super Smash games prior to last summer, Francis played all 11 games in another championship campaign for Wellington. Her best T20 pocket was her bowling where Francis had a limited role but was still efficient and while she didn't score many runs in Super Smash, Francis commanded selection and played her role in a successful team. One-day cricket is clearly her best format and Francis has already laid better foundations that many other impressive LA players, as well as being in a Wellington system that has proven itself to be the best development farm in women's cricket.

Canterbury

Missy Banks - 24yrs

2025/26 HBJ Shield: 139 runs @ 19.8avg/58sr | 17w @ 17.6avg/4rpo
2025/26 Super Smash: 75 runs @ 9.3avg/99sr | 14w @ 19.2avg/8rpo
List-A: 16.05avg/67sr | 38.41avg/4.6rpo
T20: 9.56avg/86.2sr | 21.43avg/7.4rpo

Canterbury's best emerging cricketer is Banks, who had her best bowling season across both formats and also had her first 50+ score of her career. Only four Canterbury batters had a 50+ score in HBJ Shield and Banks was one of them, finishing fourth for Canterbury runs and second for wickets behind Asmussen.

Banks played every game for Canterbury last summer and she was their best Super Smash bowler. Banks and Asmussen were the only Canterbury bowlers who took 10+ wickets in both competitions last season, with Banks showing the most progress in her LA bowling. Her T20 career bowling average of 21 shows how consistent she has been since her debut in 2017/18 and while she averaged below 20 in four of her first five seasons, her 16 wickets in Super Smash last season was a career high.

Banks has only taken 10+ LA wickets in two seasons and they are her most recent seasons with a notable improvement between them. In 2024/25 she took 12w @ 34.4avg and then took 17w @ 17avg last summer, which was her first LA season averaging below 25 in the eight seasons she has taken a wicket.

The combination of cricket skills and athleticism that Banks has should put her in the wider White Ferns mix, especially if she can continue to develop as a batter. She has a similar bowling style to Jess Kerr and Emma Black, which along with lots of seam bowling depth in Aotearoa will limit her opportunities but Banks is primed to make significant development leaps based on how she performed last summer.

Otago

Emma Black - 24yrs

2025/26 HBJ Shield: 21w @ 15.6avg/3.4rpo
2025/26 Super Smash: 13w @ 21.6avg/7rpo
List-A: 23.94avg/4.3rpo
T20: 18.47avg/6.5rpo

The best young female cricketer in Aotearoa had another excellent season with the ball for Otago. Black was the leading wicket-taker for Otago in both formats and by a hefty margin with 21 wickets in HBJ Shield while the next best was PJ Watkins on 11 wickets and 13 wickets in Super Smash with Louisa Kotkamp next best on 9 wickets.

Black led all HBJ Shield bowlers for wickets and was the only player with 20+ wickets in the one-day format. She was also sixth for wickets in Super Smash and averages below 24 in both formats, as well as showing progress with the bat. Her runs weren't enough to be listed above but Black scored 33 runs in Super Smash which was her first time over 20 runs and her 67 runs in LA cricket last season is the most since her 76 runs in her second season.

White Ferns have a crop of hostile/bouncey seamers in addition to Jess Kerr and this may hinder Black's opportunities in the short-term. She is the best seamer yet to play for White Ferns though and her consistency will be rewarded at some point.

Anna Browning - 22yrs

2025/26 HBJ Shield: 237 runs @ 33.8avg/73sr | 8w @ 37.7avg/4.4rpo
2025/26 Super Smash: 70 runs @ 14avg/98sr | 7w @ 17.2avg/7.1rpo
List-A: 21.34avg/67sr | 29avg/4.5rpo
T20: 13.68avg/99sr | 25.45avg/6.7rpo

There aren't many more talented cricketers than Browning and she seems likely to be the next spinning all-rounder chasing White Ferns selection. Browning was one of five Otago batters who scored 200+ runs in HBJ Shield and she had the second highest average, while also finishing tied-third for Otago wickets.

That flipped in Super Smash as Browning scored less runs and was the only Otago bowler who took 3+ wickets and averaged below 20. Browning has scored 150+ runs in her last two seasons of LA batting and had her first 50+ score last summer, averaging over 30 for the first time in her five seasons. Add in the 2024/25 season and Browning has averaged 20+ in the last two LA seasons and the two highest scores of her LA career have come in these two seasons.

Browning's 7 wickets in Super Smash was a career high and her first season averaging below 20. This is the same skillset that has seen Flora Devonshire and Nensi Patel add value to White Ferns and while Browning still needs to add more runs/wickets to her selection case, her talent will ensure that she gets an opportunity at some stage soon.

PJ Watkins - 22yrs

2025/26 HBJ Shield: 72 runs @ 10.2avg/51sr | 11w @ 33avg/5.4rpo
2025/26 Super Smash: 143 runs @ 28.6avg/103sr | 7w @ 30.1avg/5.8rpo
List-A: 17.35avg/68.2sr | 37.66avg/5.4rpo
T20: 18.83avg/100sr | 23.47avg/5.9rpo

Having morphed from a lefty seamer to a lefty spinner in recent seasons, Watkins has also grown into an all-rounder for Otago with a bigger batting role. Watkins was second to Black for Otago wickets in HBJ Shield and while she didn't score many runs in the longer format, Watkins had the first 50+ score of her career in Super Smash.

Watkins scored 143 runs @ 103sr in Super Smash while also offering tidy spin bowling. She had her best LA bowling season last summer taking 10+ wickets for the first time and she was Otago's only Super Smash bowler who conceded less than 6rpo. Watkins (67ov) and Browning (68ov) were the next busiest Otago bowlers behind Black (95ov) in HBJ Shield but Watkins (36ov) stood alone as the next busiest bowler behind Black (40vo) in Super Smash.

Watkins' workload is relevant because she changed from seam to spin and that seems to involve injuries as she didn't bowl in Super Smash in 2024/25. She scored 100+ runs in one of her last two seasons in both formats as well, showing that she has made the most of more batting opportunities. The fact that Watkins has tweaked her role with Otago and found ways to be effective is a strong indicator of her talent.

Support our cricket coverage by joining the Patreon whanau or donate through Buy Me A Coffee. A little goes a long way to fund our mahi. Smash an ad.

Peace and love.