Boundary Whackers
Blackcaps at the T20 World Cup, Tall Blacks depth, Warriors vs Roosters preview, Ben Waine's revival, All Whites & Football Ferns, Plunket Shield, and more
Scotty’s Word
Blackcaps are in the T20 World Cup final after a delightful win vs South Africa. This means that New Zealand has won a Test series 3-0 in India, won an ODI series in India and made the T20 World Cup final in India/Sri Lanka without Kane Williamson or Trent Boult. Tim Southee only played a small role in the Test series too. Somehow, the nation with the ‘worst’ T20 competition in the world is one win away from being men’s and women’s T20 World Cup champions.
The cool thing about T20WC is how blokes like Tim Seifert and Finn Allen can do legendary stuff playing for Aotearoa, while also doing T20 jobs around the world. Kiwis only really care about what these players do for New Zealand and T20WC is the most visible platform for the best opening combo in the world to rise to the occasion.
Also lovely how Seifert and Allen are BBL regulars, performing at a high level in Australia when the Aussies can’t figure out the T20 stuff at the moment.
We don’t need Seifert or Allen to try and play the other formats for Aotearoa. That’s why the casual contract is best for all involved and we can still celebrate them to the same extent as legends of the other formats. They are both no frills blokes, both use SS bats and both love to whack boundaries. Their main difference is stature and that makes them a tricky pair to bowl against.
The Seifert/Allen mahi is all about strike-rates...
Allen (171) has the highest T20I strike-rate for Blackcaps with 1,000+ runs and he’s the only bloke over 160sr. Seifert is fourth highest on 145.46. Stopping in at the three different checkpoints of 2025 onwards, October 1st onwards, and in the T20 World Cup: Seifert is over 155sr and Allen is over 200sr in each phase.
Allen (203.52) has the highest strike-rate at the T20WC. He is the only batter over 200sr. Seifert’s strike-rate of 161.17 is 26th but he’s also fifth for total runs and Allen’s third. These guys are elite T20 batters for Aotearoa across the history of the format and have also dished up the best T20I batting of their careers at the same time as they dipped out of the full banger contract group. Stress less about contracts and more about who performs for Aotearoa.
My main Plunket Shield thingy is also about strike-rates...
Four batters have scored 300+ runs with strike-rates over 75. They are all emergers with Blackcaps multi-format potential...
Lachlan Stackpole (20yrs): 356 runs @ 39.5avg/108.53sr
Bevon Jacobs (23yrs): 383 runs @ 42.5avg/79.46sr
Jesse Tashkoff (25yrs): 310 runs @ 38.7avg/78.68sr
Simon Keene (24yrs): 387 runs @ 48.3avg/76.63sr
Stackpole is the only batter with a strike-rate over 90 let alone 100 and he is the only batter with more than 10 sixes. Jacobs has 10 and Stackpole has 21 ... while Keene is the leading run-scorer for Auckland. That’s funky because Keene is batting down the order as an all-rounder where he’s averaging 32 with bat and ball in First-Class cricket.
Tashkoff scored a century as an opener in the last round and can cover a bunch of roles, as well as building out the spin/bat depth that is so important for Blackcaps. He’s not quite at the Dean Foxcroft level but Tashkoff is someone to watch out for in all formats.
Also in the group of 12 who have strike-rates over 73 are Tim Robinson and Tom Jones. Robinson has 393 runs @ 49.1avg/73.73sr so he has been just as good as the others and should be viewed as an all-formatter as well, don’t restrict him to the T20 box.
All of this started in meditations about Jones though because he scored 57 runs last week and the only Otago batter with a similar strike-rate is Glenn Phillips. Which is crazy because Jones is 19-years-old and scored 119 on debut earlier in the season. Jones didn’t have many scores after that century but he has played five games as a youngster and his talent is clear to see.
Blackcaps depth is on show in how they have won with quirky bowling attacks in each format recently….
Third Test vs West Indies
Jacob Duffy, Zak Foulkes, Michael Rae, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell
Third ODI vs India
Kyle Jamieson, Zak Foulkes, Kristian Clarke, Jayden Lennox, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips
T20 World Cup semi-final vs South Africa
Matt Henry, Cole McConchie, Lockie Ferguson, Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Rachin Ravindra
White Ferns have their first ODI vs Zimbabwe today. They should keep winning by similar margins to the Blackcaps vs South Africa so here are a few things to watch out for...
Brooke Halliday is the best ODI batter of the current squad since the start of 2025. Only batter with 250+ runs, an average over 35 and more than one 50+ score. She has three consecutive years of ODI batting with averages over 30.
Following on from the Izzy Gaze notes from Monday, she is the only batter with 50+ runs and a strike-rate over 100 since the start of 2025. Gaze has 172 runs @ 34.4avg/103.6sr so it turns out she’s been awesome in both formats for White Ferns recently.
Jess Kerr is the leading wicket-taker since the start of 2025 with 12w @ 27avg/4.3rpo.
Bree Illing is the next best bowler in this period on 8w @ 32.6avg/5.2rpo.
Molly Penfold’s last ODI was on December 23, 2025.
White Ferns with 1,000+ ODI runs and 40+ averages
Debbie Hockley: 41.89
Melie Kerr: 41.14
White Ferns with 1,000+ T20I runs and 30+ averages
Melie Kerr: 30.86
For paid subscribers
Blackcaps stats
Plunket Shield batting strike-rate long list
Few more White Ferns stats
Stats for Chanel Harris-Tavita, Jacob Laban and Ali Leiataua
More Kiwi-NRL hot pockets
NZ Warriors start their NRL season vs Roosters on Friday night. They are 1-3 vs Roosters during the two Andys era and that started with three losses, before a win at Mt Smart early last season. Three things to watch out for...
Completion rates. Not only have NZW been above 80% completions and in the top-two for two seasons, Roosters were second lowest last season on 75%. Don’t buzz about Roosters though, as winning NZW footy revolves around completions and embracing the set for set grind.
I think that’s also evident in Jacob Laban starting at edge forward. Laban will eat the minutes and lay a platform for Leka Halasima if the rotations aren’t shaken by injuries etc. Either that or Halasima takes Kurt Capewell’s spot or rolls through the middle - both are just as funky as replacing Laban. The fact that Laban is ready for this role as a younger player reflects his talent and how he’s progressed through the system.
Chanel Harris-Tavita had his first season with 20+ games, 50+ win rate, 5+ tries, 10+ try assists and 200+ kick metres last year. All of which smells like career best footy and like it was just as important as whatever Luke Metcalf was doing. Harris-Tavita hasn’t played any preseason games and NZW need the same, maybe even with a few improvements from him.
My favourite Kiwi-NRL thing from all the team lists across NRL, reserve grade, U21s etc...
NZW have three young Aussie halves in their NSW Cup team. Luke Hanson and Jett Cleary are starting with Jack Thompson on the bench. Meanwhile there are lots of young Kiwi-NRL halves named across the grades…
Te Hurinui Twidle (Turangawaewae) is halfback for Eels in NSW Cup.
Tyrone Hurt-Pickering (Marist) left NZW and is starting at five-eighth for Roosters, Haami Loza (Mangere East) is halfback for Panthers, Bronson Reuben (Kaiapoi) is halfback for Bulldogs and Jamayne Feast (Papanui) is halfback for Rabbitohs.
In recent weeks I have highlighted Tokoaitua Owen (Ngongotaha) and Nehemiah Vavau (Otara) playing in the halves together for for Souths Logan U19s, along with Jordan Hotere (Hibiscus Coast) who is in the halves for Wynnum.
NZW have Harry Inch (Nelson College) and Maui Winitana-Patelesio (Te Aroha) as their halves in U21s. All halves they have used in U19s are Kiwi-NRL juniors as well so it’s more a quirk than anything major and also highlights how Aotearoa is producing lots of halves for all NRL systems.
Musical jam...
Nick’s Notebook
Finn Allen’s 100no vs South Africa, ball by ball:
4 1 1 6 1 1 . 6 1 6 4 4 4 4 . 1 1 4 1 6 . 2 1lb 1 6 4 6 1 4 4 6 6 4
0 runs - 4
1 run - 10
2 runs – 1
4 runs - 10
6 runs - 8
That’s a 33-ball century with only four dot balls and 18 boundaries. The first dot ball was a drive smacked hard but straight to mid-off. The second dot ball was a bouncer that he ducked under (having hit five consecutive boundaries off the Corbin Bosch over) and could easily have been given as a wide. The third was a backfoot punch off the spinner which picked out cover. The fourth was a leg bye so the team still got a run even if he didn’t. Everything else that he faced became runs.
It was an unbelievable knock that deserves to be remembered as one of the great Blackcaps innings across any format, doing what he just did in a tournament semi-final. But it probably won’t be because it feels like they have T20 World Cups every six months (there have been five in the past six years) so they don’t really stand out against each other like they should.
Random ICC Tournament Fact: Since Pakistan won the 1992 ODI World Cup, co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia, every ODI World Cup has been won by either the hosts or by Australia. In other words, the Aussies are the only ones to have won an ODI World Cup on foreign soil in the past 30 years. However, the T20 World Cup isn’t like that at all.
T20 World Cup Champions
2007 – India (in South Africa)
2009 – Pakistan (in England)
2010 – England (in West Indies)
2012 – West Indies (in Sri Lanka)
2014 – Sri Lanka (in Bangladesh)
2016 – West Indies (in India)
2021 – Australia (in UAE/Oman)
2022 – England (in Australia)
2024 – India (in West Indies/USA)
2026 – TBD
ICC Tournaments Since 2015
That’s with New Zealand having made another final in this tournament, and England/India/South Africa all at least getting to the semis. Counting those, these are the top four/semis appearances by nation from those 13 tournaments, with their win-loss record in those semi-finals in brackets (keeping in mind that there are no semis in the WTC)...
India – 12 (4-4)
New Zealand – 10 (5-3)
England – 9 (3-3)
Australia – 8 (3-2)
South Africa – 7 (1-4)
Pakistan – 3 (2-1)
West Indies – 1 (1-0)
Bangladesh & Afghanistan – 1 (0-1)
ICC Tournament Final Appearances Since 2015
India – 6* (2-4)
New Zealand – 6 (1-1-3)
Australia – 5 (4-1)
England – 3* (2-1)
South Africa & Pakistan – 2 (1-1)
West Indies - 1 (1-0)
The Tall Blacks won two games away against the Philippines and Guam last weekend despite availabilities meaning that they had a squad mostly picked of NBL players whose teams missed the playoffs (Breakers and Brisbane mostly). Plus Keanu Rasmussen who, as a development player for Adelaide, is unlikely to get any meaningful minutes in the postseason. Yanni Wetzell and Jordan Ngatai were the only guys picked from outside Australia/NZ. The second game then saw several of those players having to leave as they pursue offseason contracts so they brought in five more dudes – including Kruz Perrott-Hunt and Sam Timmins who don’t seem to have played since the NZ season ended (although the internet’s not always so up to date on those things).
That’s the nature of international basketball. Even major tournaments are affected by players being unavailable so obviously some sneaky qualifiers were going to test the depth pretty heavily. And the Tall Blacks had no issues, grabbing the two wins that they needed to secure passage into the next round (with a couple games to spare – those are back at home against the same opponents in June). That’s because depth is not an issue for the Tall Blacks. They’ve got a big chunk of players to pick from between Aussie NBL, NZ NBL, various overseas pro leagues, and of course the USA colleges too.
These two games came after a pair of (very close) defeats against Australia in November/December. Across those four games of World Cup Qualifying, these are all the players who’ve gotten on the court (ranked by most minutes to fewest)...
Taylor Britt, Sam Mennenga, Taine Murray, Mojave King, Jordan Ngatai, Izayah Le’Afa, Tyrell Harrison, Reuben Te Rangi, Flynn Cameron, Finn Delany, Yanni Wetzell, Carlin Davison, Max Darling, Tohi Smith-Milner, Alex McNaught, Jack Andrew, Keanu Rasmussen, Sam Timmins, Kruz Perrott-Hunt, Jackson Ball
That’s an even 20 players across the past four fixtures. The Asia Cup in August featured this squad...
Mojave King, Jordan Ngatai, Tohi Smith-Milner, Taylor Britt, Flynn Cameron, Max Darling, Carlin Davison, Ben Gold, Taine Murray, Jack Andrew, Jordan Hunt, Dontae Russo-Nance
Luca Yates and Hayden Jones were also involved in preparations for that tournament but didn’t make the final squad. They, along with Gold, Hunt & DRN, don’t overlap with our initial 20-man list so count them and we’re up to 25 players who’ve represented the Tall Blacks in the past seven months. Back in May 2025, there was a three-game Trans-Tasman Throwdown between Aotearoa and Australia. Players involved there who can be added to this list:
Shea Ili, Walter Brown, Kaia Isaac, Julius Halaifonua, Oscar Goodman, Tama Isaac
That brings us up to 31 players who’ve donned the black singlet in the past 10 months. And if we stretch it back to the start of 2024 then we also get to include:
Corey Webster, Tai Wynyard, Sam Waardenburg, Tom Vodanovich, Carter Hopoi, Hyrum Harris, Ethan Rusbatch, Dan Fotu, Tobias Cameron, and Dion Prewster
A full kiwi bastketball depth list wouldn’t be complete without Tai Webster, Isaac Fotu, or that Steven Adams bloke. That gives us a smooth 44-man longlist. A few of them may no longer be in the mixer moving forwards but we’re running at least 35-40 players deep here. With the knowledge that whatever combination of players are selected for any given game, we’re going to see a Tall Blacks team that maintains its strong identity.
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All Whites March window speculation
Football Ferns WCQ statistics
Cam Howieson’s subtle success
Ben Waine had a moment yesterday not quite on par with Finn Allen’s innings but still pretty special when he scored an extra time winner in the FA Cup. His goal, after 112 minutes, gave Port Vale a 1-0 win against Bristol City to book passage into the fifth round - the first time that PVFC have made it that far for thirty years. Bristol City are tenth in the Championship (second tier). Port Vale are last in League One (third tier). Coincidentally, Waine also scored the winner in a 1-0 result against Bristol City two rounds earlier so you know that the city of Bristol hates to see his shadow on the doorstep (both were home games but the point still stands).
The next round is on the weekend, since this was a postponed game due to Vale Park having been drowned for a few weeks there amidst the winter weather. They’ll face Sunderland in that fixture. At home too... meaning a Premier League club now has to play on that shambles of a pitch. It’ll also be a fantastic date for the Waine Whanau because he’s actually a childhood Newcastle United fan (Sunderland’s biggest rivals) on account of his mother’s side of the family all hailing from that region. Magical stuff. Plus it hammers home a pretty superb revival that he’s been on over the past few months.
Remember back around October-November, this dude wasn’t even getting on the bench let alone on the pitch. In their first round FA Cup tie he was an unused substitute against non-league side Maldon & Tiptree. He began the resurgence with some opportunities across the various cup competitions under manager Darren Moore but it’s under new boss Jon Brady (an Australian, coincidentally, albeit one who’s been based in England for many year) that he’s taken that form into the league as well as the cups. His stats from pre-December and December onwards make for very contrasting reading...
Ben Waine pre-December:
L1: 5/18 appearances | 0 goals in 184 minutes
Overall: 7/25 appearances | 0 goals in 364 minutes
Ben Waine December onwards:
L1: 14/16 appearances | 3 goals in 548 minutes (182 m/g)
Overall: 20/22 appearances | 7 goals in 1017 minutes (145 m/g)
There have been a lot of stories within the All Whites scene of players finding career best form in this World Cup adjacent season. Elijah Just, Callum McCowatt, Max Crocombe, Tyler Bindon, Marko Stamenic, Joe Bell, Jesse Randall, Finn Surman, Michael Boxall, Matt Garbett. Chris Wood did it last season. That’s amazing context for the what’s to follow and proof that (no matter what the worldwide media perspective may be) this is not a squad that relies entirely on one player. Chris Wood is the main man but this team can get results without him if need be and anyone who watches the All Whites at the World Cup is going to come away having learned that.
But massive credit to Ben Waine who is now getting towards the Career Best Form tag himself, within months of finding himself in career low places where he wasn’t even able to get minutes against a non-league team in an early round cup game. At that stage it seemed his time in England needed to come to an end. Maybe try the Scandi leagues, maybe return to the A-League as others have done in search of pre-WC minutes. Somehow, he’s turned it around, winning the trust of consecutive coaches and the respect of the fans. He’s playing lots and scoring lots and there’s no longer any doubt whatsoever that he’ll be on the plane for the World Cup.
On that note, before I wrap this segment up with a new Aldous Harding track, I mapped this out a few emails ago and nothing’s changed since then except for firming up a couple of hunches. Here’s how I’m picturing the World Cup squad of 26:
GK - Max Crocombe, Alex Paulsen, Kees Sims
DEF - Michael Boxall, Finn Surman, Tyler Bindon, Tim Payne, Liberato Cacace, Francis de Vries, Bill Tuiloma, Nando Pijnaker, Callan Elliot
MID - Joe Bell, Marko Stamenic, Ryan Thomas, Matt Garbett, Alex Rufer, Owen Parker-Price
FWD - Sarpreet Singh, Elijah Just, Callum McCowatt, Ben Old, Chris Wood, Jesse Randall, Ben Waine, Kosta Barbarouses
The five highlighted players are the spots that I think are still up for grabs. The most likely change would be dropping a defender to get in another midfielder or forward. Someone like Andre de Jong, Lachlan Bayliss, Logan Rogerson, or maybe even Luke Brooke-Smith for something different. But barring any injuries I think 21/26 selections are pretty much sorted already.
Musical Jam...
