2023/24 Plunket Shield: Second Stanza Youngster Report
The latest round of Plunket Shield involved lots of cricketing funk from a growing group of youngsters. Considering how Will O'Rourke and Ben Sears have slid into the Test group under new Blackcaps selector Sam Wells, this is an enticing phase to tap in with Aotearoa's wave of young cricketers.
Auckland had a draw with Otago and handed out two debuts to seamers. Jock McKenzie has already flashed his all-round ability in Super Smash/Ford Trophy and he got a crack alongside Harjot Johal. McKenzie hit 74 runs batting in Auckland's middle order and Johal snared 4 wickets in the first innings followed by 3w in the second dig.
Angus Olliver has also settled in Auckland's line up as another seamer, giving Auckland three young seamers in their team who played Otago. Add in Will O'Donnell who is a bit older in his mid-20s and scored 70 runs in the second innings. Also notable here is that leggy Adithya Ashok hasn't played for a few months after rolling through the first stanza of Plunket Shield.
The best career nugget is O'Donnell's First-Class average of 36.85. O'Donnell also averages 34 in List-A cricket and has a healthy T20 strike-rate of 130.
Will O'Donnell: 310 runs @ 34avg, 1 x 100, 1 x 50
Jock McKenzie: 74 runs @ 87sr | 21ov @ 2.4rpo
Harjot Johal: 7w @ 16avg/3rpo
Angus Olliver: 2w @ 46/3.4rpo
Adithya Ashok: 14w @ 35avg/3.7rpo
Northern Districts also had a draw with Central Districts and their youngsters to tap in with are seamers like their northern region homies. Kristian Clarke and Matt Fisher have been staples of the ND bowling attack across all formats this season and for good reason. Fisher snared 4w in the first innings against CD and Clarke took 2w as he gathers wickets in every innings.
Clarke has a FC average of 27.7 and he's trying to get that closer to his LA average of 21.8. Clarke is a heavy-length type of kiwi seamer while Fisher is slippery with his effortless pace, which has him averaging 24 in FC and LA cricket. Clarke and Fisher are both averaging in the early 20s this season.
Shout out Sandeep Patel as well who had a century earlier in the season and returned to the ND 1st 11 for the draw vs CD. Patel only scored 4 runs but along with his 145 to start the summer, Patel had a knock of 89 in a one-dayer against the touring Bangladesh team.
Kristian Clarke: 19w @ 20avg/3.4rpo
Matt Fisher: 14w @ 22avg/3.8rpo
Sandeep Patel: 170 runs @ 56avg, 1 x 100
Central Districts had their own stable of youngsters shining against ND and these lads all impressed with the bat. Curtis Heaphy had scores of 74 and 58* at the top of CD's line up. Will Clark hit 57 runs and Angus Schaw started his FC career with 114 runs with both those knocks coming in CD's first innings.
Heaphy is averaging 34.4 in FC and 39.5 in LA, with four 50+ scores in his last 10 games. Heaphy also has scores of 45* and 44 in this phase as a 20-years-old. Clark has made a hefty impact in CD's limited overs teams and he popped up for his first Plunket Shield appearance of the season. First outing in PS and he grabbed his first half-century in FC cricket which looks lovely alongside his LA average of 46.7.
Schaw is a bit older at 29-years-old but this was his FC debut and he scored a century batting seventh. Having played three Ford Trophy games and one Super Smash game, Schaw has now bowled in all three formats and has snapped up his opportunity while Doug Bracewell is out of the mix.
Curtis Heaphy: 164 runs @ 54avg, 2 x 50
Angus Schaw: 114 runs @ 114avg, 1 x 100
Will Clark: 57 runs @ 57avg, 1 x 50 | 12ov @ 2.8rpo
Wellington had an epic win over Canterbury with their young talent stepping up in key moments. Gareth Severin continues to impress this summer as he had scores of 61 and 53 batting third for Wellington. Nathan Smith ripped through the Canterbury batting group with 6w to set up a run chase for Wellington. Along with Severin's knock and 110* from Muhammad Abbas, Smith scored 75* to seal a win.
Severin is 24-years-old averaging 48.2 in FC cricket and his mahi is more undercover than others as he is dominating Plunket Shield, while less productive in Super Smash. Abbas is a trendier talent thanks to his Super Smash exploits on telly but his best format is FC where the 20-year-old is averaging 44.9.
Smith has doubled-down on his status as the most impressive emerging player this season. Smith is the leading wicket-taker in Plunket Shield and his FC bowling average of 27 is matched by his batting average of 27.4. This is fantastic for a youngster and he is almost at the over 30avg/under 30avg combo for all-rounders, with a few games left this season before he sparks up the Kiwi County Tour.
Gareth Severin: 429 runs @ 47avg, 1 x 100, 3 x 50
Muhammad Abbas: 330 runs @ 55avg, 1 x 100, 1 x 50
Nathan Smith: 239 runs @ 29avg, 2 x 50 | 28w @ 15avg/2.9rpo
Despite Canterbury's loss to Wellington, their youngsters were impressive as well. This started with Rhys Marius hitting 145 runs at the top of Canterbury's heavy-duty batting unit. Angus McKenzie snared 4w for the Cantabs before Smith smoked their batting line up (all out for 109) ... well everyone except for Mitch Hay who finished on 35*. Zak Foulkes could only managed 2w as Wellington worked their way to victory and while this was not the best example of Canterbury's youngsters, they continue to chime in with runs and wickets.
Mariu is 22-years-old averaging 62 in FC cricket, with two centuries and three halfies in five games. Hay is now averaging 43.3 in FC and Foulkes is at 25.6avg with the ball in FC. McKenzie is intriguing because he has commanded 1st 11 selection for Canterbury despite their depth and the 25-year-old has a 50+ score in FC and LA cricket, while averaging 32 with the ball in both formats. McKenzie's best stat thing is his T20 bowling average of 22.3 and like younger bro Jock, these McKenzie lads are naturally slick cricketers who have already established themselves as nifty all-rounders.
Rhys Mariu: 153 runs @ 76avg, 1 x 100
Mitch Hay: 315 runs @ 45avg, 2 x 50
Zak Foulkes: 201 runs @ 22avg, 2 x 50 | 17w @ 24avg/3rpo
Angus McKenzie: 142 runs @ 17avg, 1 x 50 | 12w @ 27avg/2.rpo
Otago's draw with Auckland featured scores of 67 and 1* from Thorn Parkes, 174 runs for Dean Foxcroft and Luke Georgeson's 64 runs. 23-year-old Parkes was the only lad to go 50+ in Otago's first innings and he's already stacked up eight 50+ scores in 14 FC games, while averaging 53.1 in LA. Parkes' 1* in the second dig was glorious because it was a last wicket partnership with Jarrod McKay (0*) as Parkes went from opening the batting for Otago, to batting 10 - probably due to an injury.
Parkes' second innings mahi helped Otago salvage a draw, after hearty performances from Foxcroft and Georgeson who almost led Otago to victory before their dismissals. Foxcroft hasn't been as good this season as he was in previous campaigns but he has found form and has a solid FC average of 35.8. Georgeson has a LA record of 35.6avg (bat) and 23.5avg (ball) which dips down to 19.9avg (bat) and 44.1avg (ball) in FC. He has parlayed Ford Trophy dominance into a good Plunket Shield outing and hopefully he can maintain this in the longest format.
Dean Foxcroft: 263 runs @ 37avg, 1 x 100 | 7w @ 46avg/3.4rpo
Luke Georgeson: 247 runs @ 27avg, 2 x 50 | 7w @ 53avg/3.4rpo
Dale Phillips: 301 runs @ 30avg, 3 x 50
Thorn Parkes: 232 runs @ 25avg, 2 x 50
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