The Five Most Notable Movers In Domestic Cricket Ahead Of The 2026/27 Season
Henry Shipley Moves From Canterbury To Wellington
This is the funkiest move in domestic cricket because of the possible impact it could have for Blackcaps, as well as Wellington. Shipley has played ODIs and T20Is for Aotearoa but his last game was mid-way through 2023 and it was followed by a stint in County Championship with Sussex. His last game for Canterbury was early in 2025 and he hasn't played Plunket Shield for a few summers now.
That's the yarn for a talented all-rounder who has battled plenty of injury adversity. An ODI bowling average of 23.9, First-Class average of 29.1 and T20 average of 22.1 highlight how effective Shipley's quirky style of seam bowling has been. Having first appeared for Canterbury back in 2016, Shipley found a groove that led to Blackcaps selection and then suffered another hefty injury setback.
Now Shipley enters the 'change of scenery' bucket with Wellington. He will work with former Blackcaps bowling coach Shane Jurgensen who leads the Wellington team, along with their bowling coach Azhar Abbas. This should give Shipley a fresh perspective and whether it's Logan van Beek, Michael Bracewell, Nick Kelly or Nathan Smith there is a solid history of players improving when moving to Wellington.
Shipley is still a wee way off returning to the Blackcaps mix because Aotearoa has the best seam depth ever and there is no shortage of all-rounders competing for selection. Shipley's not in the top tier for either of those roles right now, yet there is an opportunity for him to make a selection case primarily with wickets but also with useful runs down the order.
Rishika Jaswal Moves From Auckland To Northern Districts
19-year-old Jaswal was already one of the most exciting spin bowling talents in Aotearoa and that intrigue around the leg-spinner's development has increased with her move to ND. She made her debut for Auckland as a 17-year-old and Jaswal has been effective in her limited game time since then.
Auckland's spin department is led by Fran Jonas who has had a rather confusing year or so. Jonas also has a few spinners ahead of her in the White Ferns mix now so she is likely to play plenty of cricket for Auckland this summer, while Bella Armstrong's switch from seam to spin has worked well and she will be an all-rounder to watch out for in pushing for more White Ferns games.
Add in Maddy Green when she is available and Auckland can easily get three spin options in their 11st 11 without Jaswal. Young spinner Anika Tauwhare adds more depth and while there's a chance that Jaswal is the best spinner of them all, she needs consistent game time. ND have Nensi Patel and Jess Watkin as their lead spinners and they are both all-rounders who can bat in the top-six, allowing space down the order for a specialist like Jaswal.
Patel will probably move up to a regular White Ferns role and that will create more space for Jaswal, who averages 27.3 in List-A bowling and she took 1w @ 4rpo in her only T20 game. She has also played for NZ U19s and took 8w @ 8.6avg/5rpo at their T20 World Cup early in 2025.
Eve Wolland and Natasha Wakelin are young spinning all-rounders on the rise for ND who will maintain competition for overs with Jaswal. They fall closer to the Patel/Watkin style though as they are among the best young batting talents and this could see them focus more on their batting, while being handy bowling options after Jaswal.
Olivia Gain Moves From Otago To Canterbury
After showing signs of a powerful batting style in almost 10 years with Otago, Gain moves to Canterbury where she will be aiming to find consistent production in both formats. Gain had two seasons back to back averaging 30+ in one-day batting in 2022/23 and 2023/24 but that only led to two seasons of List-A batting below 20avg.
There is a similar pattern in her T20 batting as Gain scored 100+ runs for the first season in 2022/23 with an average of 14, followed by a summer well below those markers. Then she had her best season of T20 batting in 2024/25 (164 runs @ 18.2avg) and dropped back down to 69 runs @ 9.8avg last summer.
All of which is evident in Gain not having a 50+ score and 11.1avg/94sr in 45 T20 innings. She has been better in LA batting with four 50+ scores and 17.5avg/62sr in 65 LA innings. Last season Gain finished with eight scores below 20 runs and after dips in her recent seasons with Otago, this is a intriguing change of scenery move for the 24-year-old.
Gain will work with coach Amy Satterthwaite which should offer a boost to her batting. Canterbury add Gain to a middle order that will feature Izzy Sharp when she is available and she could quickly settle in as a senior batter as there isn't much experience in the Canterbury batting unit.
Kate Anderson will be chasing White Ferns selection with another dominant season and then there are Sharp, Gain, Kate Irwin and Abigale Gerken who will be relied on to help Anderson with the run-scoring. All-rounder Missy Banks showcased her batting talent last summer as a powerful hitter as well and her combo with Gain will be one to track throughout the season.
Nick Kelly Moves From Wellington To Northern Districts
This year Kelly has worked his way into the all-format mixer for Blackcaps and made a sneaky appearance during the Test series win against a cricket cartel nation. Kelly has been impressive in all three formats for Leicestershire this winter and all that of stems from the foundations he laid with Wellington as one of Aotearoa's best batters below the Blackcaps level.
Now Kelly moves back to ND where his career started. A player of Kelly's quality making a move between domestic cricket teams is notable but this is unlikely to impact Kelly's status in the Blackcaps ranks. The funkiest thing for Kelly right now is how he performs for Aotearoa when selection swings his way and based on how he has been a constant presence in Blackcaps groups this year, his mahi for ND probably won't much influence ... unless his run-scoring vanishes all together.
Kelly makes a similar move as Rob O'Donnell did a few seasons ago as mature batters who join an experienced ND batting unit. Bhart Popli has retired and Jeet Raval will probably play a diminished role this season, both of whom were mainly Plunket Shield batters last summer. Kelly adds all-format skills to those of O'Donnell, Joe Carter and Henry Cooper who can then help youngsters like Xavier Bell and Snehith Reddy develop as they take on bigger roles.
Yasmeen Kareem Moves From Northern Districts To Central Districts
Lefty batter Kareem was a regular member of ND's HBJ Shield team with 10+ games in her last two seasons but she only played two games of Super Smash. Now she moves to CD where she will be add consistent T20 game time to her solid one-day batting and Kareem is likely to be a key batter alongside Kerry Tomlinson, Flora Devonshire, Emma McLeod and Cate Pedersen.
Kareem scored 150+ runs in her last two LA seasons and while she only has one 50+ score in her five seasons, there are encouraging signs. This includes scores of 23, 36, 11, 20, 17, 2, 19, 6, 12 and 16 throughout the HBJ Shield. Nothing spectacular but Kareem helped ND win the HBJ Shield last season with solid scoring, after hitting 242 runs @ 24.2 in the season prior.
She looks like a good batting talent, played her role in a championship and now moves to CD who need those skills. CD will have two lefties in their line up with Devonshire on the rise as a swift scoring lefty. Kareem will need to show an increased scoring rate to command Super Smash selection and as this development pattern is clearly present throughout women's domestic cricket in Aotearoa, Kareem should make the most of her freshen up with CD.
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Peace and love.