Northern Districts were having none of Otago's road trip excellence with two wins for the Brave in Dunedin, then Central Districts held down it down in Napier with two wins over Canterbury.
The Champions Trophy is back and it comes at an intriguing time for New Zealand cricket as the Blackcaps have transitioned towards a younger, fresher group.
Otago Sparks and Volts are the hottest Super Smash teams right now, while Jess Kerr is the most dominant women's player and Michael Bracewell is whacking boundaries.
Otago brushed aside Central Districts in both games in Palmerston North and Northern Districts did the double against Auckland in Hamilton in the last two Super Smash game days.
Central Districts Stags are the best men's team in Super Smash right now, while that honour is shared between Wellington Blaze and Otago Sparks in the women's competition.
The Super Smash rolls along with Canterbury's Matt Boyle sitting as the best youngster across both competitions, although White Ferns spinners Eden Carson and Fran Jonas would be in contention if they weren't international cricketers already.
Central Districts split their Super Smash game day vs Northern Districts in Nelson with a win in the men's game and a loss in the women's game.
Auckland defeated Canterbury in both of their crazy Super Smash game day and Wellington handled their business against Central Districts.
New Zealand has gone 3-2 in T20Is against Sri Lanka over the past few months and now the away/home double up with Sri Lanka heads into ODI mode.
Northern Brave men and Wellington Blaze started their Super Smash campaigns with wins, which for the Blaze usually means more Amelia Kerr excellence.
The Super Smash festivities in Alexandra have finished with Otago Sparks going 2-1 and Volts going 1-1 as they had a game washed out.
Super Smash cricket is underway in Aotearoa with rain rubbing out most of the first game day between Northern Districts and Auckland, then Canterbury women and Otago men grabbed wins in Alexandra.
Outside of their T20 World Cup success, New Zealand's White Ferns went 3-21 this year across both formats and the Rose Bowl series loss offered a familiar feeling for kiwi cricket fans.
The Blackcaps T20 squad named to play Sri Lanka in three games starting this Saturday features Aotearoa's best young talent and it's the perfect opportunity to roll out a fresh T20 group after New Zealand struggled to hit their potential in T20Is this year.
The Blackcaps year of Test cricket has wrapped up and they finish 2024 with a 6-6 record, which holds steady at 7-7 in the World Test Championship where New Zealand is currently fourth.
No one should be expecting Aotearoa's White Ferns to win the ODI series vs Australia in Wellington but they have the opportunity to shake up women's cricket once again and move into a fresh phase full of confidence.
Otago is 6-0 after the first stanza of HBJ Shield after two wins over Northern Districts and there is a bonus Young All Stars team named featuring the best emerging players before entering Super Smash.
Canterbury is first on the Plunket Shield ladder and second on the Ford Trophy ladder with Aotearoa's strongest concentration of young talent leading their mahi.
Rhys Mariu is piling up runs and he isn’t alone as a youngster shining in Plunket Shield as Zak Foulkes, Mitch Hay, Matt Fisher, Will Clark, Luke Georgeson, Max Chu and Adithya Ashok all impressed in the last round.
An English dose of reality has smoked Blackcaps and it serves as a word of warning for New Zealand Cricket with White Ferns hosting Australia for an ODI series later this month.