One Funky Player For Each Domestic Cricket Team Ahead Of The 2026/27 Season

Auckland: Jock McKenzie | Bella Armstrong

McKenzie is an excellent seaming all-rounder who battled injuries last summer and played his last game of the season in early December. He was tracking pretty well up until that point in Ford Trophy and Plunket Shield with solid scores and regular wickets. I’m curious to see if he can be a consistent presence in all formats and how big his role is because he has top-six batting and leading seamer potential.

Jock McKenzie - 24yrs

  • FC: 28.6avg/45sr | 37.2avg/3.4rpo

  • LA: 24.2avg/78sr | 35.5avg/5.4rpo

  • T20: 28.4avg/124sr | 20.2avg/9.3rpo

Armstrong made a good switch from seam to spin last summer. There are lots of offies who are good fielders and improving batters around the women’s circuit, but Armstrong has the most batting power and is closest to the White Ferns fringe. If Armstrong can stack up a few scores, which will probably have relatively high strike-rates, she could earn a promotion to White Ferns.

Bella Armstrong - 26yrs

  • LA: 24.8avg/84sr | 23.4avg/32sr

  • T20: 17.6avg/108sr | 26.7avg/6.6rpo

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Northern Districts: Zak Gibson | Marama Downes

Two seamers for ND and they are both on the cusp of representing Aotearoa. Gibson had an excellent all-format season and was recently selected for NZ-A in the T20s. This makes Gibson one of the best seamers who isn’t on most folks’ radar and given how his younger ND comrades in Matt Fisher and Kristian Clarke have progressed, Gibson has a clear path to follow.

Zak Gibson - 29yrs

  • FC: 36.4avg/3.7rpo

  • LA: 34.5avg/5.1rpo

  • T20: 25.4avg/8.1rpo

Downes doesn’t fit the fast/bouncy profile that I think White Ferns prefer but her command of nibble is undeniable. It would be a useful skill to have alongside Bree Illing, Molly Penfold and Kayley Knight, even offering a completely different style of movement to Jess Kerr. Downes has shown signs that her method can be effective at higher levels and a strong start to the summer will add even more wicket-taking weight to her case.

Marama Downes - 23yrs

  • LA: 27.3avg/4.1rpo

  • T20: 15.3avg/5.4rpo

Central Districts: Toby Finday | Ashtuti Kumar

Findlay worked his way into all-format selection last season and has the tools to be an emerging player of note. His stats aren’t quite there but he has played less than 15 games in each format and has similar natural skills to McKenzie or Cameron Paul. Findlay is 23yrs and made his FC debut at 19yrs for CD, so they have clearly got high hopes for him too.

Toby Finlday - 23yrs

  • FC: 46.8avg/4.1rpo

  • LA: 58.6avg/5.8rpo

  • T20: 28.6avg/8.5rpo

Kumar added herself to the group of talent offies/good fielders with a strong season last summer. She should have the chance to establish herself as a leading spinner for CD along with lefty Flora Devonshire and I’m curious to see if she can add a few runs down the order as well.

Ashtuti Kumar - 23yrs

  • LA: 39.8avg/4.9rpo

  • T20: 25.2avg/6.8rpo

Wellington: Samuel Morgan | Xara Jetly

Morgan only played T20s last season. He did have scores of 55 and 71 with a strike-rate of 173 though and looked fantastic doing so. Morgan will need to earn selection in the other formats to reach the next level but we have also seen dominant Super Smash campaigns catch the eye as well. It looks like he has the talent to score in the longer formats so watch out for Morgan’s mahi.

Samuel Morgan - 22yrs

  • T20: 126 runs @ 63avg/173sr

Jetly had a much bigger batting role last season and leads the offie/good fielder group below White Ferns. The intrigue for Jetly revolves around her scoring rate and this is a notable wrinkle to keep an eye on throughout the women’s circuit. White Ferns want quicker scoring and players like Emma McLeod have shown that good development is happening in the pipeline, as lots of them have increased their scoring rates in both formats. Jetly is a slow scorer and that’s handy for her role with Wellington but her White Ferns role would be down the order where she needs to operate around 100sr.

Xara Jetly - 25yrs

  • LA: 16.3avg/52sr | 22.5avg/4.1rpo

  • T20: 14.1avg/93sr | 18avg/5.9rpo

Canterbury: Cameron Paul | Kate Anderson

Paul is one of the most hyped players in the Niche Cache and this has only increased with his stint with NZC at the Chennai Super Kings Academy, as well as being mentioned in the NZ-A squad announcement as being injured. He is likely to be an all-format player for Canterbury and should have a prominent role as a genuine all-rounder following on from Darfield homie Zak Foulkes

Cameron Paul - 21yrs

  • FC: 18.5avg/33sr | 21.7avg/3.9rpo

  • LA: 14.8avg/4.3rpo

  • T20: 6.2avg/89sr | 25.8avg/9.4rpo

There are spots up for grabs in the White Ferns batting unit and Anderson is the best batter in domestic cricket. Anderson has already played for White Ferns but they shuffled her out pretty quick and she kept scoring runs for Canterbury. Now a few batters have dipped out of the mix and others are struggling for form, so Anderson has an opportunity to blow all other contenders out of the contest to start this season.

Kate Anderson - 30yrs

  • LA: 36.3avg/86sr | 27.9avg/5.1rpo

  • T20: 22.5avg/102sr | 26avg/7.1rpo

Otago: Jacob Cumming | Louisa Kotkamp

Cumming is one of the best opening batters creeping below the radar with a similar style to Tom Latham as a lefty who skews towards longform cricket. He earned all-format selection last season though and showed the skills to score quicker, which are strong indicators of his talent. Cumming has traditional opening batter ability and I think he will soon join the likes of Rhys Mariu and Curtis Heaphy as the best in this emerging pocket.

Jacob Cumming - 22yrs

  • FC: 28.6avg/46sr

  • LA: 22.3avg/69sr

  • T20: 20.3avg/131sr

Kotkamp seems to have the fast/bouncy style that makes her an interesting emerging seamer. Last season she was good in Super Smash and less effective in HBJ Shield so I’m curious to see how she grows into a more prominent role for Otago, especially as they have overs up for grabs in the seam department.

Louisa Kotkamp - 20yrs

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