Ford Trophy enters finals mode with Otago hosting Auckland in Dunedin on Wednesday and the winner will go on to face Canterbury in Christchurch on Saturday. The three teams who didn't make finals have players at the top of the batting and bowling charts, especially with the ball as Northern Districts' Kristian Clarke is the leading wicket-taker followed by Central Districts duo Blair Tickner and Ray Toole.

Clarke finishes the FT season with a List-A career record of 21.88avg/5.4rpo. Young seamers such as Will O'Rourke, Zak Foulkes and Luke Georgeson are shining at the Blackcaps and FT finals level, yet 22-year-old Clarke combines a dominant FT season with a tremendous one-day career thus far.

Another emerging cricketer who fits into this zone is Wellington's Troy Johnson. Brad Schmulian (45.8avg) and Joe Carter (38.7avg) are older lads with fabulous LA records, while 26-year-old Johnson finishes as Wellington's best batter by a heft margin. Johnson's been in and out of the Wellington 1st 11 across formats this season but continues to build a solid one-day career (35.8avg/80sr) and could slide into Plunket Shield form to finish the season.

Here are the best players from teams not playing finals...

Batting

Brad Schmulian: 354 runs @ 50avg/79sr - 3rd - CD
Joe Carter: 350 runs @ 43avg/82sr - 4th - ND
Brett Hamptopn: 346 runs @ 86avg/116sr - 5th - ND
Troy Johnson: 333 runs @ 41avg/72sr - 6th - Wellington

Bowling

Kristian Clarke: 18w @ 22avg/5.3rpo - 1st - ND
Blair Tickner: 17w @ 20avg/4.2rpo - 2nd - CD
Ray Toole: 17w @ 23avg/4.9rpo - 3rd - CD

Finn Allen won't be playing for Auckland against Otago after hitting 394 runs @ 56avg/123sr this season. Auckland do have Rob O'Donnell though and he is first for runs, the only bloke with 400+ runs this season. O'Donnell is the only batter with three 50+ scores and a century and it's an O'Donnell extravaganza as Will is Auckland's next best batter...

Auckland

Batting

Rob O'Donnell: 457 runs @ 57avg/78sr
Will O'Donnell: 324 runs @ 40avg/73sr
Cam Fletcher: 230 runs @ 46avg/78sr
George Worker: 199 runs @ 24avg/65sr
Sean Solia: 125 runs @ 20avg/85sr

Bowling

Danru Ferns: 12w @ 41avg/6.5rpo
Ben Lister: 11w @ 22avg/4.5rpo
Sean Solia: 8w @ 34avg/5.4rpo
Ryan Harrison: 7w @ 36avg/6.3rpo
Jock McKenzie: 6w @ 33avg/5.2rpo

Ben Lister is a key figure for Auckland with the ball and he will continue to push for more Blackcaps opportunities with finals mahi. A funky wrinkle for Auckland will be their spin bowling as Adithya Ashok hasn't played this year and the best Super Smash spinner Louis Delport has taken 6w @ 79avg/5.3rpo this season.

In keeping with the young seamer theme, Jock McKenzie will be an interesting lad as well. First he will need to crack the 1st 11 and if he does, the southern conditions in Dunedin should suit his swing and nibble. McKenzie hasn't been as influential as ND's Clarke, Otago's Luke Georgeson or Canterbury's O'Rourke and Foulkes, but he has similar skills in a long list of funky young seamers.

As noted below, 24-year-old Georgeson is Otago's leading wicket-taker and despite not being dominant with the bat this season he has a LA record of 32.3avg/74sr. Georgeson has two baggies of 5w in his last three games, with both coming against his former team Wellington. This rounds out to 12w in in his last three games and while he doesn't have a 50+ score this season, Georgeson has three scores of 25-30 runs in his last four games.

Luke Georgeson 5 wickets vs Wellington #FordTrophy pic.twitter.com/QaVAwG6zOq
— The Niche Cache (@thenichecache) February 10, 2024

Luke Georgeson 5 wickets vs Wellington (12w in last 3 games) #FordTrophy pic.twitter.com/KATgoQgZZH
— The Niche Cache (@thenichecache) February 19, 2024

Otago also have the best young batter in 23-year-old Thorn Parkes, who leads Otago for runs in FT. Parkes doesn't score quickly but he is consistently among the runs and this is his first FT campaign, while also averaging 30 in First-Class cricket. Matt Bacon returned from injury with 6w in his last three games. With Bacon back in the mix, Otago offer an enticing seam unit alongside Georgeson, Jacob Duffy, Andrew Hazeldine.

Otago

Batting

Thorn Parkes: 298 runs @ 59avg/69sr
Dale Phillips: 224 runs @ 32avg/84sr
Llew Johnson: 168 runs @ 28avg/86sr
Dean Foxcroft: 148 runs @ 21avg/54sr
Luke Georgeson: 133 runs @ 16avg/80sr

Bowling

Luke Georgeson: 15w @ 13avg/4.2rpo
Matt Bacon: 12w @ 19avg/4.7rpo
Ben Lockrose: 11w @ 26avg/4.7rpo
Jacob Duffy: 11w @ 28avg/46rpo
Andrew Hazeldine: 7w @ 22avg/4.5rpo

Canterbury may be boosted by the presence of O'Rourke who won't be playing T20Is against Australia. This pocket of Canterbury seam bowling reflects the state of Aotearoa seamers as Foulkes has been simmering beneath the WOR radar for Canterbury in all three formats this season. Foulkes averages below 23 in all formats with 15.8avg in T20s as well as 22avg in FC and LA

Zak Foulkes vs Sean Solia #FordTrophy pic.twitter.com/Whr3trVJFI
— The Niche Cache (@thenichecache) February 6, 2024

Zak Foulkes stopppit #FordTrophy pic.twitter.com/CPuwrckS3v
— The Niche Cache (@thenichecache) February 10, 2024

Zak Foulkes 3 wickets vs CD #FordTrophy pic.twitter.com/1znZYL3G7u
— The Niche Cache (@thenichecache) February 14, 2024

Fraser Sheat may not crack the 1st 11 for the final but he has taken 6w in three games over the past few weeks. Leo Carter has swung back into a domestic flow for Canterbury after hitting 100* vs South Africa in a tour game. Carter has scores of 13*, 80, 0, 107 and 33* in his five FT games so far.

Canterbury have ample batting funk. Chad Bowes has the highest strike-rate of FT batters with 300+ runs not named Finn Allen or Brett Hampton, but it's only a smidge higher than Henry Nicholls who is dominating domestic cricket after dipping out of Blackcaps cricket. Nicholls has runs in all three formats and he enters the final with scores of 138 and 85* in his last two innings. Here's Nicholls' mahi this season...

Plunket Shield: 393 runs @ 78avg/58sr
Ford Trophy: 295 runs @ 98avg/93sr
Super Smash: 317 runs @ 39avg/142sr