Craft + Whacking
Blackcaps vs Pakistan, NZers in NBL, Auckland FC defence, Kiwi-NRL notes, Ryan Thomas, Football Ferns, Warriors stats & more
Scotty’s Word
Blackcaps had another win vs Pakistan in the ODIs, cruising to 6-1 across both formats of this tour. Mitchell Hay had a nice flex of his batting ability with 99* @ 127sr but only after he and Muhammad Abbas battled to set up New Zealand's innings. This was a nice reinforcement of ODI's development opportunities as the two youngsters have shown craft to go with their boundary whacking.
At the end of the 32nd over, Hay had 8 runs off 20 balls and Abbas had 19 runs of 46 balls. When Abbas got out in the 40th over, he had 41 runs off 66 balls and Hay was on 36 runs of 47 balls. Hay went on to smash as many sixes as he hit fours and we have now seen Abbas play two very different innings in his first two ODIs...
Muhammad Abbas first two ODIs
Tahi: 52 runs @ 200sr | 1w in 7ov @ 6.1rpo
Rua: 41 runs @ 62sr
Abbas has scored 20+ runs in 10 consecutive innings.
Hay loves to hit sixes. This wrap of Canterbury's Ford Trophy campaign had a nugget about his six hitting:
Mitch Hay 50+ scores in Ford Trophy (Canterbury won)
56 runs vs Otago: 133.33sr, 0x4, 5x6
51 runs vs Northern Districts: 106.25sr, 6x4, 1x6
86* vs Auckland: 113.15sr, 4x4, 6x6
Across the domestic summer, Hay hit a total of 35 fours and 23 sixes. In four ODI innings Hay has hit 11 fours and eight sixes, while it's far closer in his two T20 zones. In eight T20I innings he has five fours and four sixes, while his 35 T20 innings feature 27 fours and 25 sixes.
Mitch Hay in domestic cricket this summer:
Plunket Shield: 240 runs @ 60avg/49sr, 3 x 50 (18x4, 7x6)
Ford Trophy: 231 runs @ 25avg/92sr, 3 x 50 (13x4, 12x6)
Super Smash: 81 runs @ 11avg/125sr (4x4, 4x6)
Blackcaps vs Pakistan ODI Stats
Batting
Mark Chapman: 132 runs @ 119sr
Mitch Hay: 99 runs @ 99avg/124sr
Daryl Mitchell: 94 runs @ 47avg/92sr
Muhammad Abbas: 93 runs @ 46avg/101sr
Nick Kelly: 46 runs @ 23avg/88sr
Henry Nicholls: 33 runs @ 16avg/58sr
Michael Bracewell: 26 runs @ 13avg/74sr
Rhys Mariu: 18 runs @ 72sr
Nathan Smith: 10 runs @ 5avg/53sr
Bowling
Ben Sears: 5w @ 11.8avg/6.3rpo
Jacob Duffy: 5w @ 18avg/5.4rpo
Nathan Smith: 5w @ 22avg/6.2rpo
Will O'Rourke: 2w @ 28avg/3.1rpo
Muhammad Abbas: 1w @ 43avg/6.1rpo
Michael Bracewell: 1w @ 89avg/5.5rpo
Blackcaps ODI stats since October 1st 2024 of current squad
Batting
Will Young: 430 runs @ 33avg/83sr
Daryl Mitchell: 421 runs @ 38avg/85sr
Mark Chapman: 382 runs @ 76avg/104sr
Michael Bracewell: 188 runs @ 26avg/101sr
Mitch Hay: 158 runs @ 52avg/104sr
Muhammad Abbas: 93 runs @ 46avg/101sr
Henry Nicholls: 93 runs @ 23avg/68sr
Nick Kelly: 46 runs @ 23avg/88sr
Nathan Smith: 36 runs @ 6avg/61sr
Rhys Mariu: 18 runs @ 18avg/72sr
Bowling
Michael Bracewell: 20w @ 28avg/4.6rpo
Will O'Rourke: 17w @ 36avg/5.5rpo
Jacob Duffy: 13w @22avg/5.6rpo
Nathan Smith: 12w @ 35avg/6.7rpo
Ben Sears: 5w @ 32avg/6.4rpo
Muhammad Abbas: 1w @ 43avg/6.1rpo
Nick Kelly and Rhys Mariu have shown glimpses of their ability as part of Aotearoa's batting depth. This is bolstered by having youngsters as the leading run-scorers this summer and another bloke Bevon Jacobs getting an IPL gig. For the paid subscribers I have done some mahi for my '10 Best Young Cricketers After the Summer Of 2024/25' deep dive that will be published in the next week.
Here’s the 2023/24 version that included Nathan Smith, Muhammad Abbas, Mitch Hay and Zak Foulkes.
The 2024/25 draft includes batters in Jacobs, Matt Boyle and Curtis Heaphy as the three stand out youngsters. But the seam bowling depth is just as good and we are in zone of Blackcaps cricket you shouldn't worry about who isn't playing because there is plenty of talent that wants to represent Aotearoa.
Sears, Duffy and Smith all have 5 wickets in the two ODIs vs Pakistan. O'Rourke hasn't been as dominant as the others in ODI/T20I bowling this season but whether he's smashing hands, blasting elbows or hitting blokes in the head (respectfully), O'Rourke is a nightmare to face. Zak Foulkes is behind Duffy as the best T20I seamers this season and he's not even in the ODI mix right now. Plus there is that bloke Kyle Jamieson loitering around...
Seamers in T20Is since October 1st 2024
Jacob Duffy: 21w@ 9avg/6rpo
Zak Foulkes: 12w @ 19avg/8.2rpo
Ben Sears: 3w @ 33avg/9rpo
Will O'Rourke: 1w @ 58avg/7.2rpo
Kyle Jamieson this summer
ODI: 3w @ 53avg/5.5rpo
T20I: 3w @ 20avg/7.6rpo
Super Smash: 14w @ 18avg/5.9rpo
Ford Trophy: 1w @ 73avg/4.5rpo
I went deep into Northern Districts' Plunket Shield success here.
County Championship cricket starts tomorrow night. Here are the kiwis who have deals - many of them won't play the first round...
Derbyshire: Blair Tickner
Durham: Neil Wagner
Hampshire: Brett Hampton
Middlesex: Kane Williamson
Leicestershire: Logan van Beek
Somerset: Matt Henry
Surrey: Nathan Smith
Warwickshire: Tom Latham
Worcestershire: Jacob Duffy
Yorkshire: Ben Sears
NZ Warriors have a bye in NRL and NSW Cup this weekend. Beyond the paywall I have plenty of NZ Warriors stuff with a few junior notes as well as some stats highlighting how James Fisher-Harris, Erin Clark and Wayde Egan are tracking compared to last season. You can access the full newsletter and Bonus Podcast on Patreon as well.
There is another Kiwi-NRL debut locked in with Glenora junior Sean Mullany named on the bench for Gold Coast Titans. Mullany was a decorated junior in Aotearoa before being recruited by Cowboys and shifting back to Auckland for a stint with NZW. Mullany returned to the Cowboys system where he played three seasons for Mackay and had a few fringe NRL opportunities, then he moved to Titans for the summer.
Mullany is a hooker who covers the small forward role. Coach Des Hasler has consistently had a small forward in his Titans teams with Clark doing that last season along with Chris Randall. Sam Verrills is out so Randall moves to hooker and Mullany takes up the small forward bench role.
While being close to NRL selection, Mullany came off the bench in his two Queensland Cup appearances for Tweed. He wasn't the starting hooker or lock but played 55mins and 53mins, which seems to have mainly been as a hooker (lots of touches).
Some other Kiwi-NRL deep cuts...
Another Glenora junior in Devante Mihinui appears to have moved to Rabbitohs from Bulldogs. Mihinui was with Sea Eagles for a few seasons and shifted to Bulldogs over the summer, now he is named at starting prop for Rabbitohs in Under 21 Jersey Flegg Cup. The other prop for the Rabbitohs U21s is Marist junior Nazareth Taua and Otahuhu junior Salesi Ataata is on the extended NRL bench while named at starting prop in NSW Cup.
Moses Leo (Takapuna) played his first game in the Storm system with North Sydney Bears:
80mins, 7 runs - 48m @ 6.8m/run, 1 try assist, 1 tackle break, 7 tackles @ 77.7%
Leo is on the extended bench for Storm in the NRL this week and starting centre in NSW Cup for Bears.
Marist junior Cassius Tia is now playing centre for Bulldogs in NSW Cup. Tia is one of the best emerging halves from Aotearoa but he's doing a job at centre. Speaking of Bulldogs NSW Cup, here's Zyon Maiu'u's minutes since leaving NZ Warriors...
Tahi: starting - 37mins
Rua: bench - 27mins
Toru: bench - 30mins
Wha: bench - 23mins
Maiu'u won 56% of his NSW Cup games with NZW and now he's 1-3 (25%) with Bulldogs. Meanwhile NZW are 4-0 in NSW Cup.
Jahrome Falemoe-Afamasaga scored to tries for NZW U21s last week. He was otherwise known as Jarome Falemoe from Southern Cross Campus and had a few seasons with Knights, but he seems to have changed his name upon returning to Aotearoa.
Falemoe-Afamasaga was recruited by Knights alongside Elijah Salesa-Leaumoana and they were at Southern Cross Campus with Leka Halasima. He was doing well in the Knights system and Falemoe-Afamasaga then he had a swift impact at centre for NZW. All the NZW angles are covered in the whare down below and even if Falemoe departed Knights, they are still flush with Kiwi-NRL juniors...
Kiwi-NRL juniors named for Knights this round
NSW Cup: Tyrone Thompson (Maraenui), Francis Manuleleua (Papatoetoe), Elijah Salesa-Leaumoana (Mangere East)
Jersey Flegg Cup: Sosaia Latu (Mangere East), Haami Loza (De La Salle College), Tamakaimoana Whareaorere (Te Puke), Bailey Carmichael (Rotorua Boys High School), Te Kaio Cranwell (Linwood), Cullen Gray (Hikurangi), Jayden Harris (Hikurangi)
SG Ball Cup: Xavier Lynch (Halswell), Ezekiel Faga-Iete (Hornby), Ryder Crosswell (Dannevirke)
Musical jam...
Wildcard’s Notebook
Auckland FC hosts Western Sydney Wanderers at Mount Smart on Saturday evening. Same team that the Wellington Phoenix drew 2-2 with at Sky Stadium last week. With five games remaining, AFC are seven points clear at the top of the ladder. AFC has 45 points. Western United has 38 points and can max out at 53 points. That means that the magic number for Auckland FC is nine.
Nine more points and they’ll claim the Premiers’ Plate – a first bit of silverware for the fresh club. Keep in mind that the point target will drop with every point that Western United themselves fail to gather – although Melbourne City (37), Melbourne Victory (36 with an extra game played), and Western Sydney (35) are also not entirely out of it yet. Realistically, those teams are all scrapping for second place… but let’s not make assumptions quite yet.
With a win on the weekend, Auckland City would officially eliminate WSW from the title race and put Melbourne Victory on the brink. There’s no sequence of results that would guarantee them first place this round but it could happen as soon as the weekend afterwards (when AFC are away to Sydney FC) if results break right for them... although Melbourne City (home to CCM) and Western United (home to Perth) both have very winnable games this week so we’ll see how it goes.
Auckand FC have only conceded one goal in the 630 minutes that Nando Pijnaker and Dan Hall have been on the pitch together. That accounts for seven full games and they’ve won all seven.
Hiroki Sakai missed one of those seven games with injury while Francis De Vries was subbed off in another so there are 509 minutes in which the full Sakai-Hall-Pijnaker-FDV quartet has been together. Again, just the one goal conceded during that span of footy.
In case you’re wondering, that one goal was scored by Kosta Barbarouses in Derby 2.
Alex Paulsen is the only AFC dude to have played every minute of the season (just like he played every minute of last season with the Welly Nix) and the team has a +21 goal difference from those 21 games which makes for an exactly perfect +1.00 goal differential per ninety for Alex Paulsen’s minutes.
AFC players with better GD/90 in their minutes (min. 500):
Max Mata (+2.25 in 599 mins)
Tommy Smith (+1.41 in 1150 mins)
Dan Hall (+1.37 in 720 mins)
Logan Rogerson (+1.06 in 1439 mins)
Felipe Gallegos (+1.04 in 1552 mins)
Neyder Moreno (+1.04 in 869 mins)
In Tommy Smith’s 8 substitute appearances, he’s tallied 70 minutes (plus a whole lot of stoppage time) during which AFC have scored five times and conceded once. Much of that is him settling into a back three alongside Hall and Pijnaker. That, ladies and gents, is why they call him The Closer.
A few Aussie NBL developments since Monday’s newsletter:
Carlin Davison has reportedly had his contract upgraded to full roster status with the Breakers after being a development player for the past two seasons. Davison didn’t play at all in NBL24 but he did get 71 minutes in NBL25 and seemed to be a guy that Coach Kop was building up towards the end of the season. Since then he’s also been ripping in for Taranaki Airs where he’s served up the following performances:
36 PTS (12/22 FG, 4/8 3PT) | 4 REB | 4 AST | 5 STL vs Wellington (W)
24 PTS (9/20 FG, 5/8 3PT) | 10 REB | 3 AST | 2 STL | 2 BLK vs Manawatu (L)
25 PTS (10/14 FG, 1/3 3PT) | 9 REB | 6 AST | 3 STL vs Auckland (W)
15 PTS (5/13 FG, 2/4 3PT) | 11 REB | 10 AST | 1 STL vs Hawke’s Bay (W)
18 PTS (6/15 FG, 0/3 3PT) | 12 REB | 3 AST | 1 STL vs Canterbury (L)
I suspect the 46% three point shooting won’t last. The fact that he’s hitting under 60% of his free throws backs up that hunch... but there’s no doubt that he’s made huge strides over the past 12 months as both a shooter and also, more sneakily, as a passer. He’s earned that upgrade so it’s bloody lovely to see him get it. That’s one more kiwi on the Breakers roster at the expense of a mediocre Aussie free agent. Couple more to go where that came from, surely.
Also, you’ll no doubt be interested to know that Olgun Uluc reckons he’s heard from sources that Tacko Fall won’t be back despite having a player option for this season. Tacko’s currently battling away for the Nanjing Monkey Kings in China with the playoffs just about to begin. He can get another gig pretty easy and there are doubtless plenty that’ll pay more than the Breakers. It’s not that Coach Kop wouldn’t be able to make it work with Tacko Fall (with a more appropriate roster around him), but it would sure be a lot easier without him. Good news if they can manage that.
It sounds like Shea Ili is highly likely to return to Melbourne United. Hopefully Rob Loe does the same but we’ll see how it goes... Flynn Cameron has already ducked out and you’d have to think he’s aiming for a starting spot. Other NZ free agents from last season are: Izayah Le’Afa, Tai Webster, Tom Vodanovich, Hyrum Harris, Reuben Te Rangi, and Tai Wynyard. Free Agency officially begins tomorrow so there should be some good news to update on Monday.
NZers Currently Contracted for NBL26
Sam Waardenburg – Cairns Taipans
Sam Mennenga – NZ Breakers
Tyrell Harrison – Brisbane Bullets
Tohi Smith-Milner – Brisbane Bullets
Max Darling – NZ Breakers
Carlin Davison – NZ Breakers
Kaia Isaac – NZ Breakers (DP)
Dontae Russo-Nance – Perth Wildcats
Alex McNaught – NZ Breakers (DP)
Walter Brown – Tasmania JackJumpers
Two questions spring to mind now that Ryan Thomas is back playing consistently (knock on wood). The first is whether (or rather when) he’ll re-sign with PEC Zwolle given that he’s working with an expiring contract. Here’s what he had to say about that...
“We are talking to the club and are not going to ask crazy things, so that will be fine. I feel good, I am fit and want to help the club as much as possible. I came back to Zwolle to become a key player here and I hope I am now. I think so too, because on Saturday everyone was fit.”
Good to know, good to know. The other question is whether he’ll make himself available for the All Whites again, especially with the 2026 World Cup in mind. As it happens, RT recently addressed that too...
“I have already spoken to [Darren Bazeley], he often apps me to ask how it is, but I also told him that I do not need the national team at the moment, because my body cannot yet handle it. But if the next two months go as well as now, we can see what's possible next season. I hope so because I miss it.”
That’s a cautious statement but it’s also the strongest intimation he’s given for several years that a comeback is within sight. It also validates everything that Bazeley has consistently said about Thomas’ situation: that they’re in regular contact and that RT wants to play for NZ again, he misses it, but he won’t make that decision until his body is in a place where he can deal with the extra workload. Based on what he’s been saying, and the trajectory he’s been on lately, Ryan Thomas is as close to that place right now as he has been at any stage since his last international cap in 2019.
Musical Jam...
