Baggies Of Wickets
Blackcaps notebook, Wellington Phoenix development, Plunket Shield begins, NZ Kiwis A rugby league, Breakers vibe check & WNL Team of the Week
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2023 Men’s National League – Week 4 (Football)
2023 Women’s National League – Week 4 (Football)
Flying Kiwis – October 19 (Football)
2023 Aotearoa Kiwis Squad Breakdown (Rugby League)
2023 Aotearoa Kiwi Ferns Squad Breakdown (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Aotearoa A vs Tonga A Breakdown (Rugby League)
How Kiwi Ferns Laid Down Exciting Building Blocks In Loss To Australia (Rugby League)
Aotearoa Kiwis vs Samoa Preview (Rugby League)
Winter Notes & Nuggs For Each Domestic Cricket Team (Cricket)
Aotearoa A vs Australia A (The Re-Up): Game One Debrief (Cricket)
Aotearoa A vs Australia A (The Re-Up): Game Two Debrief (Cricket)
The Rise Of William O'Rourke & Canterbury's Funky Seamers (Cricket)
White Ferns vs South Africa ODI Series Debrief/T20I Series Preview (Cricket)
27fm Weekly Playlist: October 9 (Music)
Scotty’s Word
We discussed the Blackcaps win over Afghanistan and I'm not sure if there will be time for a written update before their next game against India on Sunday night, so let's start this bumper newsletter dispatch with some Blackcaps notes. First the stats...
Batting
Devon Conway: 249 runs @ 83avg/104sr
Rachin Ravindra: 215 runs @ 71avg/107sr
Daryl Mitchell: 138 runs @ 69ag/114sr
Will Young: 124 runs @ 41avg/85sr
Tom Latham: 121 runs @ 60avg/101sr
Glenn Phillips: 91 runs @ 45avg/95sr
Kane Williamson: 78 runs @ 73sr
Mark Chapman: 30 runs @ 120sr
Mitchell Santner: 43 runs @ 195sr
Matt Henry: 10 runs @ 250sr
Bowling
Mitchell Santner: 11w @ 15avg/4.4rpo
Matt Henry: 9w @ 18avg/4.8rpo
Lockie Ferguson: 6w @ 16avg/4rpo
Trent Boult: 5w @ 29avg/4.1rpo
Glenn Phillips: 3w @ 18avg/5.4rpo
Rachin Ravindra: 3w @ 64avg/6rpo
The win over Afghanistan was pure Blackcaps excellence. Good fielding - recent podcasts have seen us chat about how Blackcaps are aggressive in deploying Mitchell Santner and Glenn Phillips in the circle. Blackcaps were fantastic with the ball and another theme of our recent podcasts chats has been the discipline in not conceding many extras (only 5 wides vs Afghanistan). Blackcaps bowling also features top-notch skill as Trent Boult and Mitchell Santner can move the ball both ways with their quiver of tricks, Matt Henry genuinely bangs a top-of-off line and length while Lockie Ferguson has found wicket-taking form with his accuracy while bowling fast.
Rachin Ravindra is the loosest Blackcaps bowler and yet he snares key wickets. All three of Ravindra's wickets were top-five batters in the opposition line up all three were just starting to settle; Harry Brook (25 off 16 batting #4), Bas de Leede (18 off 25 batting #4), Rahmat Shah (36 off 62 batting #3). Timely and important wickets are just as important as baggies of wickets.
Glenn Phillips is also playing his role and his bowling role ain't easy. Phillips has bowled 3ov or less in all four games and teams must be eager to target him given the pressure built by the leading Blackcaps bowlers. Phillips also played a lovely knock to set up the batting innings against Afghanistan alongside Tom Latham and this partnership is another typical Blackcaps wrinkle; adapting to the situation.
Ravindra is the only lad younger than Phillips in this World Cup squad and both are mature, fitting seamlessly into a squad full of players over 30-years-old. Ravindra's class is evident in everything he does and these quotes from Phillips after his mahi against Afghanistan highlight everything I've come to love about Blackcaps cricket...
"It's [about] understanding where my strengths and weaknesses lie," Phillips said after winning the Player-of-the-Match award. "I guess the way a lot of boys play over here - sweeping really well and reverse-sweeping really well - but unfortunately I don't have that quite in my game plan or to the level I'd be happy to use it consistently in a match.
"So for me it's about sticking to my strengths: play from the crease and I do have power. So I can wait for the guys to miss [their line or length] a little bit more. But also the beauty of batting at No. 6 means that you have the opportunity to soak pressure or mount pressure [on the opposition] depending on the time you come in. So, [it's] about being able to flip between the two depending on what the team needs."
"At that point of time, our game plan was we had wickets in hand, with six overs to go," Phillips explained. "For us, it's the perfect time for us [Phillips and Latham] to both launch. I've faced a lot of Farooqi in the [Sunrisers Hyderabad] nets albeit with the new ball most of the times. But I do know he's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve and he's a really talented bowler. So to be able to get those two away off him, and to have a big over to start our launch, that was really crucial to get to 289 [288] as opposed to 260."
That's the second youngest player in the Blackcaps squad right there. Insightful stuff. One last Blackcaps thing is how much rotation of the 1st 11 we see in the next stanza of games. Kane Williamson and Jimmy Neesham have played one game, Tim Southee and Ish Sodhi are yet to play. Blackcaps already have four wins and may tinker with their 1st 11 for games against India, Australia, South Africa and Pakistan to ease workloads and give these opponents a different look before the semi-finals ... assuming Blackcaps can get that far again.
Plunket Shield cricket starts today. My hype for Canterbury's seam attack led to Henry Shipley, Will O'Rourke and Sean Davey (17.6avg in FC) not playing but the thing about Canterbury is that their stacked seam depth offers a hearty unit despite those absences; Fraser Sheat, Ed Nuttall, Michael Rae, Angus McKenzie, Zak Foulkes.
As noted recently, Foulkes is listed to open the batting for Canterbury - not bad for a bloke averaging under 27 with the ball in all three formats. Canterbury have also selected Dylan Hunter who is a batter from Australia and he has moved to Aotearoa to pursue the kiwi cricket pathway which stems from his kiwi father. Hunter has mainly played cricket in New South Wales but he also featured in the Queensland T20 Max competition (where Foulkes' clip from last week came from).
Ben Sears is back in the Wellington team and he is another funky seamer to keep track of. Finn Allen and Cameron Fletcher are in the Auckland team. Luke Georgeson is making his first appearance for Otago after leaving Wellington. Northern have selected youngster Ben Pomare as their wicket-keeper and Sandeep Patel is also getting a crack in their top-order having been brewed in the Northern system for a while.
Women's Big Bash League has started but there aren't enough kiwi ladies to whip up regular updates for theniche-cache.com. I'll be tracking WBBL in these newsletters and here are the White Ferns involved...
Heat: Amelia Kerr
Perth: Sophie Devine
Sixers: Suzie Bates, Jess Kerr
J-Kerr didn't play in last night's loss for Sixers with Bates scoring 6 runs @ 54sr. A lack of kiwi and ho-hum White Ferns form may be related. I’m curious how these White Ferns perform in WBBL and a lack of kiwis here amplifies my fizz for HBJ Shield.
I've been fascinated by the White Ferns spin guru Craig Howard and have mentioned this a few times over the past month as White Ferns spinners struggle. I have highlighted a lack of wickets from White Ferns in their tours of Sri Lanka and South Africa in recent deep dives. The spin guru hype came from this yarn from Newsroom which was published in December last year and here is how the two young spinners for White Ferns have responded...
Fran Jonas (ODIs | T20Is)
2022: 35.75avg | 13.46avg
2023: 56avg | 143avg
Eden Carson (ODIs | T20Is)
2022: 10.33avg | 11.81avg
2023: 69.33avg | 17.22avg
Meanwhile Amelia Kerr took 2w @ 33avg/6rpo over three T20Is in Sri Lanka followed by 1w @ 58avg/7.2rpo in the South Africa T20Is. This is her worst year of ODI bowling. Kerr averages 77.66 in 2023, her first year over 45avg. That Newsroom spin guru yarn also specifically mentioned Suzie Bates as an "essential part of the White Ferns spin group". Bates didn't bowl in the T20Is vs South Africa and churned out 3ov @ 6.6rpo in the ODIs vs South Africa.
I recently came across this 2019 yarn from cricket.com.au which also celebrated Howard as a spin guru. Two different yarns from two different countries and four years apart have labelled Howard as a spin guru. Either he refers to himself as a spin guru or his reputation blazes ahead of him. I won't get into the Aussie spin situation aside from suggesting that Ravindra and Phillips are better spinners than Glenn Maxwell. I will double down on how White Ferns spinners have got worse over the past year and none of this reflects well on Howard or coach Ben Sawyer.
The NZ Kiwis A team was named for their game against Tonga A...
Kalani Going is the skipper which means both Kiwis teams will be captained by Northlanders. Going is from Mid-Northern rugby and James Fisher-Harris is from Kohukohu in Hokianga. Another Northlander Wiremu Greig is named and the regional funk continues with Will Warbrick (Kawerau), Rocco Berry (Greytown), Taine Tuaupiki (Taharoa), Zach Dockar-Clay (Bell Block), Danny Levi and Jacob Laban (Randwick) selected.
After the note about Josh Curran last week, I'm most interested in Laban starting at edge forward. There are no coincidences in Laban's rise to this position as he was a standout junior in Wellington before rising through the Warriors-Redcliffe pipeline, consistently playing above his age. Last year Laban played U21 in Queensland for Redcliffe while still being U19 SG Ball (NSW) this year and after a dabble in SG Ball he played a bunch of games of NSW Cup.
Laban is the only U19 eligible player in the starting 13 for NZ A. That's how good he is and as mentioned all year, NZW are stacked with similar talent - Leka Halasima is also U19 and he is likely to be in Tonga A's top-17.
Musical jam...
Wildcard’s Notebook
The Wellington Phoenix Blokes begin their A-League season on Sunday as part of a Western Sydney Wanderers hosted double header. WSW vs Nix men kick off at 5pm and then WSW vs Nix women kick off at 7.45pm. Both of those are NZ times. Nice of them to arrange it like that for a nice and comprehensive Sunday evening of Phoenix football.
The Wanderers and Phoenix women both lost in week one, though both defeats were against title contending teams. Nix lost 1-0 to Melbourne City. Wanderers 2-0 against defending champs Sydney FC. I do suspect that Melbourne City will be the stronger of those two given the respective squads they’ve put together this season. No Annalie Longo again for the Nix but no fresh injuries either. No Milly Clegg for WSW either but it’ll be the last one she has to miss.
We’ve got a bit of an idea of what to expect from the SheNix thanks to last week’s game. The HeNix on the other hand... wouldn’t have a clue. This is the season that they’ve fully embraced their Development Club identity. Almost all of their new signings having been made internally – including the new head coach.
Giancarlo Italiano has been working hard to implement an evolved style of play which we got glimpses of during the Aussie Cup but with almost two months having elapsed since then they’ll be way further along. There was a 1-0 win over Newcastle Jets in a preseason game recently. The Jets look like they could be quite average but then that’s what folks are saying about the Phoenix too so that was a good result. Especially since Kosta Barbarouses scored the goal – gotta get him and David Ball firing this year if the team’s going to challenge for the finals again.
It’s a fascinating experiment. The idea is that the Nix can operate more sustainably by developing local youngsters from within and then, every now and then, selling the best of them overseas for a hefty sum which then goes back into the club to help pay for the whole process. Only a rare few will ever draw such transfer fees... but the Nix aren’t doing this blindly. Sarpreet Singh, Libby Cacace, and Ben Waine have already achieved this as Phoenix players. There’s so much money in European footy, might as well see if we can pocket some of the excess (we talked about this on the latest podcast by the way, links at the top of the page).
What does that mean in terms of immediate results though? It’s a known thing in sports that experience wins games. That’s where the ability to make the right decision at the right moment stems from. The Nix do have some great experience in there from their four imports and guys like Barbarouses and Alex Rufer but they’re also going to have some absolute rookies on the pitch who will be prone to occasional errors. The vets can’t carry this team alone. Oskar Zawada will do his best but he’ll have a target on his back.
How this team tracks depends massively on how ready for this level guys like Alex Paulsen, Finn Surman, Lukas Kelly-Heald, Fin Conchie, Oskar Van Hattum, Isaac Hughes, and Luke Supyk are for this stage (I’ve listed them there in order of my predictions of that readiness). Probably going to see three of them starting against Wanderers – given that Sam Sutton is out injured (Supyk and Ball are also doubts).
NZers in the NBL, Ranked By Mins Per Game
(Prior to week four)
Sam Waardenburg (Cairns Taipans) – 32min/g
Finn Delany (NZ Breakers) – 29min/g
Tom Abercrombie (NZ Breakers) – 26min/g
Shea Ili (Melbourne Utd) – 25min/g
Izayah Le’Afa (NZ Breakers) – 24min/g
Corey Webster (Perth Wildcats) – 24min/g
Speaking of the NBL, we’re sadly nearing the end of Rob Loe’s time with Melbourne United... which potentially means the end of his professional career. He only came out of retirement for this short term gig while Jo Lual-Acuil was out injured and JLA is slated to return this weekend. However Loe will get two more games thanks to a Matthew Dellavedova concussion. Maybe we just arrange for a different Melbourne Utd player to get injured each week so that Loe can remain with the team on a rolling basis?
Because, tell ya what, for a retired bloke he’s been magic for them. In 89 minutes he has a defensive rating of 93, the third best in the league prior to round four. Tells you what an immense defensive unit he’s been part of that the two blokes ahead of him are teammates of his. He’s got an offensive rebounding percentage of 14% too so it’s not only the other end that he’s bossing it at. Loe’s been getting 18 mins per game off the bench which would be the most he’s had since 2019-20 (if you didn’t know, now you do: the Breakers woefully underused him these last few seasons), with a three pointer and at least one assist in all five games. He’s not the star player there by any means but for a bloke they picked up late as an injury replacement he’s been incredible.
(Shout out to Spatial Jam for the stats)
On the flipside, one thing I’ve been tracking is how the Breakers use their New Zealanders. It’s been a valid criticism in recent years that they’ve ignored the local talent but they did make a big point of finally filling out their development player spots with kiwis for this season. Beautiful stuff... although be aware that the Breakers don’t really use those depth players at all. They’re effectively training guys. They also didn’t really use rostered fellas like Dan Fotu or Sam Timmins last year... and you can bet that Rob Loe’s retirement was an easier decision given how the Breaks were only giving him limited minutes.
NZB have recently been over in the United States wasting their time and backloading their NBL schedule with double-headers to make up for missed games because they wanted to lose to some NBA teams. A couple of non-playoff teams at that. Really not sure what they gain by this – most of these players have done NBA Summer League and/or played internationally so it’s not a unique experience for them to see NBA players on a basketball court. Anyway, they mostly just leant on the Americans in those games. Tom Abercrombie came off the bench in the second of those NBA friendlies so that new signing Anthony Lamb could start at small forward.
Honestly, these are frisky times with that club. Already mentioned the ugly situation around Lamb in a previous email. That’s a mess they could easily have avoided. Also have to admit that there’s a strong Israeli connection at the Breakers through their coaching staff which is very awkward right now for obvious reasons.
NZB did what all these sports teams seem to feel they need to do at the moment and put out a statement regarding the tragic losses of life in the Middle East lately. Except theirs was very much on one side of the fence...
The NZ Breakers are deeply saddened and mourn the senseless loss of life as a result of the terrorise attacks in Israel by Hamas. The NZ Breakers stand with the people of Israel.
Compare that language to the English Premier League which was reportedly under a lot of pressure from various groups to say something and this is what they ended up with...
The Premier League is shocked and saddened by the escalating crisis in Israel and Gaza, and strongly condemns the horrific and brutal acts of violence against innocent civilians. We hope for peace, and our heartfelt sympathies are with the victims, their families and the communities impacted.
But let us step no further into that murky territory. The Niche Cache is for peace... and I’m definitely not educated enough to comment on decades of geopolitical implications.
Anyway, against Portland we got 23 minutes for Le’Afa, 18 minutes for Fotu, 16 for Abercrombie, and 4 for McNaught. Against the Jazz there were 27 mins for Le’Afa, 24 for Abercrombie, 3 for Fotu, and 1 each for McNaught and Kelman-Poto. Finn Delany sat out both games as an injury precaution. No sign of Carlin Davison or Max Darling.
During the games that actually matter, here’s how the Breakers kiwis are tracking after two games...
Tom Abercrombie – 51 mins
Izayah Le’Afa – 49 mins
Finn Delany – 29 mins (missed one game through injury)
Dan Fotu – Less than 1 min
Alex McNaught – Less than 1 min
Dom Kelman-Poto, Carlin Davison, Max Darling – 0
Here’s how things tracked last season for the local lads...
Izaya Le’Afa – 957 mins (fourth on the team)
Tom Abercrombie – 646 mins (sixth)
Tom Vodanovich – 419 mins (eighth)
Rob Loe – 378 mins (tenth)
Alex McNaught – 57 mins (11th)
Dan Fotu – 38 mins (12th)
Sam Timmins – 35 mins (13th)
Jayden Bezzant – 7 mins (15th)
Isaac Davidson - <1 (16th)
The development dudes you expect to be at the bottom, no dramas there. Might expect a little more in terms of volume but so it goes. Again, it’s just something to keep an eye on. A big reason why the Breakers surged back into relevance last season was a reconnection with their identity as an Aotearoa basketball team. Yet immediately after that season ended it felt like they were fumbling the bag already... until they re-signed Finn Delany. But the vibes have not been great so far, gotta be honest.
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Women’s National League Team of the Week #4
GK – Brooke Bennett (Eastern Suburbs) – Was all set to put Maddie Iro from Canterbury here... and then I watched the Eastern Subs game in which Bennett made several diving stops then saved a penalty while before her team sprinted away late for a 3-0 win vs Waterside Karori. Elite level goalkeeping influence. So good.
RB – Arisa Takeda (Western Springs) – The Japanese fullback returned to the league and scored a brilliant long-range strike whilst doing battle with ALW talent Mickey Robertson in the game against the Nix. One of the all-time ‘REMEMBER ME!?’ games. Shout out to teammate Lily Jervis too who deserved to be here but there just wasn’t enough room.
CB - Zoe Barrott (Wellington United) – They still lost... but only by a single goal despite being under the pump (and against the wind) for the entire first half against Southern. Second half was more back and forth but the Diamonds had to withstand so much to get there and the main reason they did was Zoe Barrott and Caelin Patterson’s fine centre-backery.
CB – Marissa Porteous (Southern United) – Pretty sure that goal she scored was meant as a cross... but who cares it looked good and it won them the game. On top of some more killer defensive acts as well. Can’t forget the bread and butter.
LB – Zoe McMeeken (Wellington Phoenix Reserves) – Did you see the goal she scored? Even without that goal it was still emphatic from ZM, who is looking stronger than ever heading into her third year with the Welly Nix. She’s doing some funky inverted fullback things in these reserves games too.
CM – Yume Harashima (Auckland United) – Playing at the base of midfield and pulling strings all afternoon against Central. That Central team may not have won a game yet but they rough you up with their workrate and physicality, they always do, but Harashima was utterly immune to that... as well as sending over some very tasty corner kick deliveries.
CM – Rose Morton (Southern United) – Yeah, she had one of those games. The ones where Rose Morton covers every inch of turf winning tackle after tackle and keeping her side on the front foot throughout, especially in a dominant first half. At one stage her midfield partner Kendrah Smith was off the pitch for five-plus minutes and you couldn’t even tell.
CM – Charlotte Mortlock (Canterbury United Pride) – The Pride finally got that first win by beating Ellerslie 3-0 thanks to a battling team effort. Hard to pick anyone out from that group but after much deliberation Mortlock gets the nod. Sharp in midfield, a little more attacking than she has been, with plenty of influence which is what we want to see from our best young players – Mortlock was part of the U17 World Cup squad last year.
FW – Zoe Benson (Eastern Suburbs) – It was a quiet game until it wasn’t. With the match in the balance, Eastern Suburbs being held scoreless and under pressure with fifteen mins to go at home against Waterside Karori... Benson flipped it into overdrive and scored a couple goals before assisting another all in the latter stages. Completely taking over to drag her team to victory.
FW – Amy Hislop (Southern United) – Seems unfair to overlook Shannon Henson after scoring a double, especially in place of a player who didn’t score at all, but being a striker isn’t all about goals. What Hislop did in her game by holding the ball up and bringing others into play, over and over again, was massive for Southern as they notched another win. Hislop’s been the form striker in the league to date.
FW – Maddison Hughes (Central) – Made the team last week and was even better this week, albeit in a losing effort and without a goal. But basically anything Central got going against Auckland United stemmed from the work of Maddi Hughes. Stretched for creativity without Mikaela Bouwmeester playing, Hughes carried all the burden upon her own shoulders. Deserved a goal. Maybe next time.