Added Oomph
Blackcaps T20 prep, Chris Wood/Tyler Bindon wobbles, Kiwis and Kiwi Ferns ideas, All Whites updates, NZers in NBL, and more
Scotty’s Word
Blackcaps have stayed excellent in ODI cricket and bounced back from a World Test Championship dip, so now I’m curious about how they progress in T20s. They are already tracking in the right direction with a 9-2 record in T20s this year which is part of a 12-3 run since the T20 World Cup last year and it’s the 2024 T20WC that is the foundation of my curiosity.
Aotearoa had losses vs Afghanistan and West Indies to start their T20WC campaign, which bundled them out of the tournament at the group stage. Blackcaps had made the semi-finals in three consecutive T20WC including making the final in 2022, so not making the semi-finals in 2024 was a notable drop in their top-four status across all formats.
All the legends were involved in the 2024 tournament. Kane Williamson and Trent Boult played all four games while Tim Southee played three. Other T20 troopers like Devon Conway and Lockie Ferguson were also heavily involved, plus Jimmy Neesham was in the mix. That should have been one of the strongest T20 groups Aotearoa has ever delivered but they stunk it up and Blackcaps then tweaked selections towards younger players.
With a fresh group, Blackcaps have had an exceptional phase of T20 cricket. They toured Sri Lanka late last year before hosting them and Pakistan in the kiwi summer, then they rolled through the T20 tri-series in Zimbabwe with five wins and that is part of seven consecutive wins in this format.
Now Australia return to Aotearoa for three T20Is and this is a funky checkpoint for Blackcaps on their T20 journey towards the next T20WC.
There are only six players in the current squad who played in the 2024 series...
Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Mark Chapman, Tim Seifert, Ben Sears, Ish Sodhi
In the squad of 14 there are eight who did not play against Australia last year...
Michael Bracewell, Daryl Mitchell, Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy, Bevon Jacobs, Zak Foulkes, Tim Robinson, Kyle Jamieson
Five Funky Things About The State Of New Zealand Test Cricket
2025 ODI Women’s World Cup: New Zealand Squad Breakdown
Breaking Down New Zealand’s T20I Squad To Play Australia
2025 New Zealand A Tour Of South Africa Debrief
Duffy, Foulkes and Robinson have been the biggest risers through the T20I pipeline for Blackcaps. Jacobs has only dabbled in T20Is but he is on track to add oomph to the middle order, if he can score enough runs to keep earning selection.
Blackcaps have a clear record of integrating new players to maintain their perch as a top-four cricket nation in the world. When going per capita/kg for kg mode - Aotearoa is the best cricket nation in the world.
After winning the first World Test Championship, Blackcaps finished sixth while being in transition and then returned to top-four status in the most recent cycle.
Blackcaps have stayed awesome in one-day cricket. They made back to back finals in 2015 and 2019, then dipped below that but kept their semi-final streak in 2023. That is balanced by making the Champions Trophy final earlier this year. New Zealand has made the final in three of the last four major ODI tournaments.
Having offered similar consistency in T20WC during this period, the 2024 tournament was rather horrible. We aren’t quite in T20WC mode just yet but Blackcaps host two cricket cartel nations in October and while I don’t like to assume that cricket cartel nations are automatically amazing, we will learn plenty about the T20 Blackcaps in series against Australia and England next month.
Michael Bracewell is captain for the series against Australia and I’ve got a spotlight on his T20 mahi for paid subscribers, plus a wee update on Will Young. Patreon is a great platform to fund out kiwi sports coverage as well and full newsletters, plus our weekly Bonus Pod are available to the Patreon whanau.
I’ve also rolled through some White Ferns ODI stats in India and all the notes are beyond the wall for the generous folks funding our mahi. Two of my favourite nuggets...
Amelia Kerr has only played one ODI in India.
Maddy Green averages 15 in India - her only country below 19avg
Green: 8inns, 120 runs @ 15avg/72sr
Most of that stems from her early mahi and she was better in the 2024 tour...
Before 2020: 5inns, 6.4avg/42sr
Since start of 2020: 3inns, 29.3avg/97sr
This is part of Green growing into her best work as a White Ferns batter. She averaged 30+ in one of her first eight years of ODI batting and is now in her fourth consecutive year averaging 30+. She is also in her third consecutive year with an ODI strike-rate over 70 (two of which are 80+) and this is the first phase of her career with back to back years over 70sr.
Green has some form with these scores in her last 10 games: 22, 62, 26, 109*, 21, 97, 1, 12*, 15*
New Zealand Warriors Women Laid Exciting Foundations In Their 2025 Return To NRLW
Along with my expected NZ Kiwis and Kiwi Ferns squads, I’ve got all the Aotearoa angles in NRL/NRLW finals beyond the wall for paid subscribers. Here are my most notable things...
Leka Halasima is almost certain to play for Tonga and I’m fascinated to see what happens with Ivana Lauitiiti - who I believe has the same talent as Halasima. NZ Kiwi Ferns may need to select Lauitiiti now to get her into the system instead of allowing Lauitiiti to play for Samoa and move forward on that path.
Patricia Maliepo is in a similar position as she can play for Tonga. Maliepo could be a starting half for Kiwi Ferns but there are enough contenders to clutter this equation and Maliepo could be one of Tonga’s best players right now, while also locked in to represent Tonga for the next few years at least.
There are six players from Otara in NRL/NRLW finals squads this round...
Ronaldo Mulitalo: Ellerslie junior
Josiah Karapni: Otahuhu junior
Otesa Pule: Caboolture junior
Annessa Biddle: Otara junior
Annetta Nu’uausala: Otara junior
Fane Finau: Otara junior
Christchurch juniors named NRL, NRLW and below this round...
Jordan Riki: Hornby (NRL)
Jaydika Tafua: Papanui (NRLW)
Tanner Stowers-Smith: Halswell (NSWC)
Makaia Tafua: Linwood (NSWC)
K-Ci Newton-Whare: Riccarton (JFC)
Tanah Boyd is 15-0 in NSW Cup this year with 19 try assists
Luke Hanson is still U21s and has played 34 NSW Cup games with 71% win rate. His two seasons in NSW Cup...
2024: 18 games, 5 tries, 11 try assists, 66m/game, 130.1 kick metres/game, 90.4% tackling
2025: 16 games, 7 tries, 18 try assists, 82m/game, 33.5 kick metres/game, 97.1% tackling
Musical jam…
Nick’s Notebook
Nottingham Forest made their long-awaited return to continental football this morning after three decades away and Chris Wood... was nowhere to be seen. Actually, you could see him if you looked towards the bench coz that’s where he spent the entire game. Igor Jesus was picked up front instead and Arnaud Kalimuendo replaced him for the last half hour - same combo as what we saw in the League Cup loss to Swansea.
And just like that previous midweek game, Igor Jesus scored twice... and Nottm Forest blew a lead. In this case they drew 2-2 with Real Betis, failing to put the game to bed when they were on top and then conceding an 85th minute equaliser scored by Antony (with his right foot, incredibly).
Four games without a win for Ange Postecoglou as Forest manager, though you can see the picture that he’s trying to paint there. Already NFFC look more fluid in attack with much more purpose in possession. More overloads and short passing. Less of a threat on the counter attack and definitely leakier at the back than they were under Nuno Espirito Santo, there’s give and take here, but the point is that Big Ange’s ideas are seeping through. And the worry is that Chris Wood might not have a huge part to play in them.
Igor Jesus was excellent in this match looking vibrant and mobile and hungry for goals. Postecoglou hasn’t addressed this selection directly yet but you can bet he’ll say something about healthy competition for places when he does. That’s good... however, from Chris Wood’s perspective, it becomes pretty frustrating because I’m not really sure he has anything more to offer. He’s coming off the best season of his career, scoring 20 Premier League goals, and you can’t just suddenly ask him to rise to the challenge of a guy who has played 45 minutes of EPL footy in total. He’s shown what he’s capable of and if that’s not enough then obviously he’s not the guy for this coach.
There are two ways to view this situation…
Path 1: Chris Wood doesn’t suit the style that Postecoglou wants to play as much as Igor Jesus does and the form of Igor through these two midweek games has proven as much, therefore Wood is going to have to settle for being the back-up from here on out.
Path 2: Postecoglou knows better than most that continental football is a very different beast to league football and he’s also aware that 33yo Chris Wood, who plays regularly for his country, who is going to have to adapt to the more mobile demands of Ange’s idea of a striker, is going to tear his hamstring off the bone if he has to play twice every week. Therefore he’s treating the situation the way that coaches often do with goalkeepers where Wood is the experienced hand for the Prem games and Igor takes care of the other stuff.
We’ll have a better idea of it when the team is named to face Sunderland on the weekend. At least this is happening now when Wood’s got last season’s reputation to fall back upon, meaning that in the worst case scenario he’ll still easily be able to command a loan move elsewhere in January. Probably at whichever club hires Nuno Espirito Santo.
What’ll really grind Woodsy’s gears is that Nuno wasn’t sacked for football reasons, he was sacked because of a personal fallout with the owner after they hired a new transfer tsar to undercut him. Chris Wood had a hugely successful working relationship with that coach. Now they’ve hired a guy who is the polar opposite tactically and he might find himself becoming collateral damage.
It’s also a frisky time for the other kiwi on the Nottingham Forest books because Tyler Bindon had to settle for U21s footy this week with Sheffield United. Him and fellow new signing central defender Nils Zatterstrom. The good news is that the Blades won 3-1 against Huddersfield U21s and Bindon scored the third goal with a header from a corner.
He’s too good for that level, clearly, but he hasn’t been able to prove that he belongs in the Championship yet, having struggled through his first four starts as the team lost every game. That led to a coaching change with Ruben Selles fired and Chris Wilder hired to replace the man who replaced him at the club six months earlier. Selles signed Bindon on loan because he’d worked with him at Reading. Gave him his pro debut, in fact. With Selles around, Bindon had that extra faith. Now that’s gone and he’s starting from scratch for a desperate club.
The thing to keep in mind here is that even after not playing the last two matches, there are only two players younger than Bindon with more minutes in the Championship this season: Bailey-Tye Cadamarteri at Sheffield Wednesday and Will Lankshear at Oxford Town. Both of them are forwards.
TB is incredibly young for a central defender and this is one of the most ruthless divisions in the world. And, if we’re being honest, he did sorta look like a youth player promoted before he was ready in those first four starts – though the fact that he had three different CB partners obviously didn’t help. He was put in a situation that exposed his inexperience (and we saw those doubts follow him into an uncharacteristically average performance from him in the second All Whites match vs Australia recently).
Thus both of Nottingham Forest’s New Zealanders have found themselves in difficult spots due to coaching changes that drastically altered their situations within two months of the new season beginning. Meanwhile Marko Stamenic, who spent preseason with Nottm Forest only to be sold to Swansea City at the end of it, is having a golden time in Wales where he’s already a first eleven player and fan favourite. He got out of there and is thriving for it. Is this an indictment of Nottingham Forest? Nah, just coincidence after three unique scenarios. But if Wood and Bindon both continue to find themselves stuck on the outside then maybe that perspective will change.
Fun Fact about Marko Stamenic: He’s never played in the English Premier League but with Swansea City being drawn against Manchester City in the EFL Cup, he’s about to face Man City for the fourth time in his career (and with a third different club).
Another Championship comrade is Libby Cacace at Wrexham but he’s expected to miss another week or two after injuring his other hamstring while coming back from a separate hamstring issue. He’s been limited to just 2/6 starts in the Champo for Wrexham which has given their fans a completely skewed idea of how injury prone this bloke actually is (or rather: isn’t). Parky understands. This was his coach talking the other day...
Phil Parkinson: “Libby's going to be out a few weeks unfortunately. It is a real blow for us. I played it down last week because he did so well at Millwall. I brought him off to protect him and he's got a tendon problem in his other hamstring. He's not a player who's had injuries before in his career, his record's good, but sometimes when you're coming back from one injury, you overcompensate a little bit and he's picked up another one. He's a player our home fans haven't seen yet, his two appearances have been away, but we have just got to get him back as soon as we can. Libby's a player our supporters are going to enjoy watching when we get him out there.”
He’s not a player who has had injuries before in his career. That’s what the gaffer said... and the gaffer was correct. Literally correct.
Libby Cacace debuted for the Wellington Phoenix aged 17y 128d on 2 February 2018 (he was the club’s youngest player at the time, a record since broken by both Gabe Sloane-Rodrigues and Luke Brooke-Smith). The game in question was a 4-0 loss away to Sydney FC. In the remaining couple months of that season, there was only one squad that he wasn’t part of and that was a 1-0 loss to Central Coast away (23/02/18). Not sure why he didn’t play but given he’d only made two senior appearances at that point, it was probably just selections. He started the next match.
From then onwards he was a regular first eleven player for the Wellington Phoenix. He did miss two games early in the 2018-19 season… was that an injury? Nope it was because he had to sit his school exams. He missed two games early in the 2019-20 season... was that an injury? Nope he was suspended after a red card in a 2-1 loss to Sydney. That was it for his Phoenix stint. He started every other game of those two campaigns.
Cacace’s move to Sint-Truiden in Belgium came at the end of the transfer window so there were three games at the start of the 2020-21 season that he wasn’t there in time to participate in. They don’t count - he wasn’t an STVV player for those. However he did miss one for yellow card accumulation later in the term. The following season he skipped the first two matches but that was because he was busy playing other matches for his country at the Olympic Games. And while there were plenty of instances where he was an unused sub after moving to Empoli (particularly in his first year and a half)... he never missed a game through injury for them either. Two yellow card suspensions and that was that. In summary...
Reasons Why Libby Cacace Has Missed League Games As A Professional Footballer
Suspension: 5 games
The Olympics: 2 games
School Exams: 2 games
Not Selected: 1 game
These two hammy strains at Wrexham (whom he joined towards the end of the transfer window, thus missing out on most of preseason – which seems relevant) have cost him four league games so far with a couple more likely to follow. He’s a few days from turning 25 years old hence he’s been playing professionally for more than seven years and these are his first injuries.
Some All Whites Situations Ahead Of The October Window Squad Being Announced
Tommy Smith went off injured for Braintree Town two weeks ago and hasn’t played since
Liberato Cacace is expected to miss a couple more weeks for Wrexham, making him unlikely to be available for the games against Poland and Norway
The aforementioned Chris Wood and Tyler Bindon stuff
Ben Waine hasn’t been selected in the matchday squad for the last three Port Vale games in a row
Elijah Just missed Motherwell’s last game with an unspecified minor knock, he should be okay though
Max Crocombe has only played two cup games for Millwall this season whereas Alex Paulsen is now the clear number one at Lechia Gdansk and has kept two clean sheets in four games for what was previously the worst defence in the Ekstraklasa
Matt Dibley-Dias is currently rehabbing back at Fulham after knee surgery and is expected to be out for several more months
Luke Brooke-Smith, Lukas Kelly-Heald, Henry Gray, and others will hopefully still be at the U20 World Cup therefore won’t be available
Nando Pijnaker, Liam Gillion, and Corban Piper are currently out injured for the A-League sides, while Bill Tuiloma is fit again in MLS but hasn’t gotten off the bench since returning from his hammy issue a few weeks ago
On the plus side, Matt Garbett is the new King of Peterborough so he should be able to do whatever he wants even though he would miss at least one club game if he rejoins the All Whites squad
All Whites vs Australia 2025 Soccer Ashes: The Aftermath
Previewing Aotearoa at the 2025 FIFA Men’s U20 World Cup
2025 Men’s National League - Season Preview
NBL Round 1 Minutes By Kiwis
Carlin Davison (Breakers) – 47 minutes (20 & 27)
Finn Delany (Melbourne) – 45 minutes (26 & 19)
Reuben Te Rangi (Breakers) – 44 minutes (21 & 23)
Shea Ili (Melbourne) – 42 minutes (23 & 19)
Rob Loe (Breakers) – 35 minutes (15 & 20)
Izayah Le’Afa (Breakers) – 34 minutes (16 & 18)
Tyrell Harrison (Brisbane) – 32 minutes
Sam Mennenga (Breakers) – 25 minutes (25 & INJ)
Tohi Smith-Milner (Brisbane) – 14 minutes
Max Darling (Breakers) – 12 minutes (DNP & 12)
Dontae Russo-Nance (Perth) – 12 minutes
Taylor Britt (Breakers) – 5 minutes (INJ & 5)
Taine Murray (Brisbane) – 2 minutes
DNP - Alex McNaught (Breakers - DP), Tukaha Cooper (Breakers - DP), Liam Judd (Breakers - DP), Jack Andrew (Breakers - DP)
Injured – Sam Mennenga (Cairns)
No Game – Flynn Cameron (Adelaide), Luca Yates (Illawarra - DP), Jackson Ball (Illawarra – DP)
Carlin Davison leading the pack, aye? Nobody saw that coming... although some of those Breakers numbers are inflated by the nature of their thrashing vs Melbourne in the second game, same deal with Delany and Ili being rested for big chunks of the second half with a 30-point lead in place.
Mennenga would have played at least another 25 mins in a game where the Breakers were getting torched in the paint were it not for his concussion absence. Britt will build up into a bigger role when he’s healthier. And Tyrell Harrison is the bloke who played the most in any single game.
At the moment, I’d put Delany, Ili, Mennenga, and Harrison as the elite level kiwis in the NBL and I’m holding the door open for Flynn Cameron depending on what his role with Adelaide looks like.
Musical Jam...