2023/24 HBJ Shield: White Ferns Wrinkles
Wellington, Auckland and Otago grabbed two wins in the latest round of HBJ Shield and this is reflected in the ladder with these three teams snapping up the top three spots. Wellington are the best team and they defeated Central Districts twice last weekend, while Auckland was too good for Canterbury in Christchurch and Otago had two wins over Northern Districts. Here's how the HBJ Shield ladder shapes up...
Wellington: 6-2 | 27 points
Auckland: 5-2 | 24 points
Otago: 4-3 | 22 points
ND: 3-4 | 16 points
CD: 2-4 | 12 points
Canterbury: 1-6 | 6 points
The first thing to zone in on is Brooke Halliday and her century for Auckland. Halliday scored 108 runs @ 99sr in the Saturday win over Canterbury and this is only her fourth game of the summer, after putting up 48 runs @ 16avg/75sr in her three Super Smash appearances. Halliday is better in the one-day format than T20s and this is evident in her domestic mahi as well as her White Ferns performances...
List-A: 24.98avg/68sr
T20: 13.55avg/86sr
ODIs: 24.28avg/73sr
T20Is: 10.25avg/89sr
Another century was hit by Jess McFadyen (122* @ 92sr) and the Wellington wicket-keeper is now first for runs in HBJ Shield. McFadyen is the only player with 300+ runs this season and along with Halliday, they are joined by Georgia Plimmer and Saffron Wilson as HBJ Shield batters with hundreds this summer. While Wellington won another Super Smash championship, McFadyen was the only Blaze batter to score 50+ runs with a strike-rate below 100 (119 runs @ 13avg/80sr).
McFadyen is one of the rare wahine cricketers with domestic dominance, averaging 39 in LA cricket. This production saw McFadyen called up for a few White Ferns games but she hasn't been graced with a consistent opportunity despite being the best wicket-keeper in Aotearoa, who also has a superb LA record.
White Ferns have lacked middle-lower order runs throughout their demise and plateau, with various youngsters crumbling under the heat of international cricket. These spots need to be filled by confident stroke-players who can score freely and Lea Tahuhu's hitting ability has seen her gain prominence, although Tahuhu struggled in Super Smash with 58 runs @ 107sr.
Despite two losses for Canterbury, Tahuhu whacked 67* @ 159s in the Sunday game and this gives her the highest batting strike-rate for batters with 50+ runs. The highest strike-rate with no minimums goes to Jess Kerr who hit 35* @ 134sr in her first HBJ Shield game of the season and this follows on from her 74 runs @ 129sr in Super Smash.
A notable theme of this summer is Kerr's emergence as a confident hitter. Kerr has a six in both competitions and is capable of carving through the off-side like her Tawa homies, as well attacking the leg-side. Ideally another powerful hitter emerges in the lower order slots but at least Kerr has elevated her mahi to support Tahuhu as the best hitters in Aotearoa.
The two best bowlers in HBJ Shield right now are Otago's Emma Black and Eden Carson...
Emma Black: 14w @ 13avg/3.5rpo
Eden Carson: 12w @ 14avg/3.5rpo
Carson wasn't selected for the ODIs against Pakistan and she has responded with an excellent HBJ Shield campaign, sitting well ahead of her fellow young White Ferns spinner Fran Jonas (7w @ 22avg/4rpo). Along with Amelia Kerr, these three spinners should form a spin trio in the White Ferns 1st 11 regardless of the format.
Black continues to shine as the best emerging seamer below White Ferns. Black was the best Sparks bowler in Super Smash (13w @ 16avg/6rpo) and unlike more favoured White Ferns, Black has been consistently awesome in domestic cricket; Black has a LA record of 25.7avg/4.6rpo and T20 record of 19.9avg/6.6rpo.
Two other youngsters of note are Xara Jetly and Marama Downes...
Xara Jetly: 11w @ 22avg/4.1rpo
Marama Downes: 10w @ 19avg/4.3rpo
Jetly plays her role nicely in the Blaze Super Smash dynasty and Downes was the best youngster with bat or ball in Super Smash. Now they have backed it up with strong mahi in HBJ Shield as Jetly is the leading wicket-taker in a strong Wellington bowling unit and Downes leads ND for wickets after finishing as their best bowler in Super Smash.
Join the Niche Cache Patreon whanau to support our kiwi sports content straight up, get a karma boost and find extra podcasts.
Every Monday and Friday we fire off an email newsletter with bonus content. Sign up here!
Peace and love.