Domestic Cricket Daily: Plunket Shield Preparation
Thursday marks the return of Plunket Shield cricket and after the plodding Super Smash, some Plunket Shield rhythm couldn't come soon enough.
Thursday marks the return of Plunket Shield cricket and after the plodding Super Smash, some Plunket Shield rhythm couldn't come soon enough.
Boasting teams stacked to the brim with kiwi cricketing talent, Central Districts Stags and Northern Districts Knights went to battle in the Super Smash final over the weekend.
Another ODI vs Bangladesh in Aotearoa, another win, another strong bowling display, another Guppy century and another half-century in support.
Aotearoa White Ferns coach Haidee Tiffen won't be at the helm come Rose Bowl time as the coach of the kiwi women's cricket team takes some time off to ponder an apparently rough review via NZC.
We've been here before right? A touring Asian team comes to Aotearoa with limited preparation and the Blackcaps win, with enough blokes finding runs/wickets to leave everyone's puku full.
Today Aotearoa's Blackcaps take another step towards the World Cup, sparking up their ODI series vs Bangladesh like a buckie.
Let the good vibes of some International T20 buzz wash over you, diluting the shenanigans of the ODI series vs India and filling you with hope of positive progress for Aotearoa's Blackcaps.
Fresh off a horrible ODI series vs India, we've got a Blackcaps ODI squad named to take on Bangladesh.
Join me on this journey as I try to waltz down a treacherous path, dabbling in thoughts about a distant World T20 while the ODI World Cup offers a map that I don't fully trust.
The similarities between Aotearoa's Blackcaps and White Ferns is extremely weird at the moment and while they were both torched by India to lose the series, the kiwis then went on to win their next games with the series already wrapped up.
The final ODI of the series between Aotearoa and India, reflected the difference between the two teams not only in terms of what they are currently capable of on the field but also where they sit on their journeys towards the World Cup.
As Kane Williamson and Trent Boult assessed conditions ahead of the fourth ODI, on their quasi home pitch, they were without their third Northern Districts Knights amigo Tim Southee.
For a joker like me, the Blackcaps winning the fourth ODI vs India via Trent Boult's magic and doing so by such a hefty margin doesn't offer a whole lot of funk.
This was nothing more than a coincidence, but to have the Blackcaps T20 squad named to face India around the same time as the 2020 World T20 tournament's draw was unleashed, was a glorious coincidence.
Today, Aotearoa's Blackcaps take on India in the fourth ODI with the series already on it's way into the cricketing heavens.
While the slump that Aotearoa's Blackcaps have found themselves in is a bit of a shock, the White Ferns' slump is more a case of the status-quo against the world's better nations continuing.
That was fun wasn't it? A trio of ODI's vs India and a trio of rather emphatic losses for Aotearoa's Blackcaps, reminding us all of how easy it is for the Blackcaps to go from bullies to being bullied.
The second ODI between Aotearoa's Blackcaps and India wasn't quite a repeat of the hiding dished out by India in the first fixture, although the kiwis were dismantled in classy fashion by the tourists.
Unfortunately for Aotearoa's White Ferns, losses in T20I and ODI cricket are becoming the status-quo and the start to Amy Satterthwaite's tenure as ODI captain has followed on from a lacklustre World T20 campaign.
Heads up: India's pretty good.