Dizzy Headlines
NRLWahine buzz, White Ferns struggles, Kiwi-NRL pipelines at Panthers, Wellington cricket excellence, domestic footy/basketball, Joseph Parker's next move & more
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Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Back At Mt Smart vs Knights & Shuffling Juniors (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Matthew Timoko Is Still Getting Better (Rugby League)
Exploring The Wellington Phoenix’s Newfound Defensive Excellence (Football)
All Whites at the ACUD Cup: A Typical Narrow Defeat vs Egypt (Football)
All Whites at the ACUD Cup: Penalties, Penalties, Penalties vs Tunisia (Football)
Flying Kiwis – March 26 (Football)
2023 T20 World Cup White Ferns Debrief (Cricket)
T20I Series Loss To Pakistan Is A New Low In White Ferns Woes (Cricket)
White Ferns ODI Series Win vs Pakistan And Somehow It All Feels The Same (Cricket)
2023/24 Women's Super Smash All Stars (Cricket)
2023/24 HBJ Shield: Five Best Youngsters (Cricket)
Assessing The State Of Women's Cricket In Aotearoa Ahead Of The White Ferns vs England Extravaganza (Cricket)
White Ferns vs England: Sneaky Player Stats & Trends (Cricket)
27fm Weekly Playlist: March 29 (Music)
Scotty’s Word
Lydia Ko is back in action this weekend in Gilbert, Arizona. Ko has played four tournaments this year with three top-five finishes and Ko leads the LPGA with the lowest scoring average (69.44).
Following the sports headlines leaves me dizzy as NZ Warriors announced their return to NRLW for the 2025 season. Cool, sounds good, but what's happening right now?
The National Women's Championship was played last week in Australia with the Ahi Ka Aotearoa team competing for the second year in a row. For the second year in a row a youngster from Aotearoa has won the Player of the Tournament as Manurewa's Sharnyze Pihema was the joint winner of the Tahnee Norris Medal along with Belinda Gwasamun from Papua New Guinea.
Last year Wainuiomata junior Alexis Tauaneai won this award playing for NSW City after she left Wellington to develop in the Bulldogs system. Tauaneai then went on to play for Dragons in NRLW and in her debut season she dominated Dragons mahi with 148m/game, 95.9% tackling, 11 tackle breaks, 11 offloads in seven games.
Tauaneai suffered an injury late in the NRLW season so she couldn't play representative footy. Kiwi Ferns defeated Australia without the best young middle forward in NRLW and Tauaneai can also represent Samoa. Tauaneai is locked with Dragons for the 2024 season and there was a wholesome vibe in Pihema's comments about what's next...
While Pihema has had experience playing in New South Wales in the Tarsha Gale competition, her immediate future was to head back home to New Zealand after the tournament.
“After this, I’ll go back home, settle down, go back home and play some footy,” Pihema said.
Here is my best effort at laying out NRLWahine who are signed on for 2024 NRLW. This group is epic and while some are still juggling NRLW/Super Rugby Aupiki the trend of rugby union players picking up NRLW gigs continues...
Cowboys: Autumn-Rain Stephens-Daly, Harata Butler
Broncos: Mele Hufanga, Gayle Broughton, Annetta Nu'uausala, Tafito Lafaele, Brianna Clark, Jasmine Fogavini, Stacey Waaka
Titans: Georgia Hale, Hailee-Jay Ormond-Maunsell, Niall Williams-Guthrie
Knights: Abigail Roache, Laishon Albert-Jones, Nita Maynard, Shanice Parker
Roosters: Amber Hall, Mya Hill-Moana, Otesa Pule, Tiana Davison
Tigers: Leianne Tufuga, Najvada George
Sharks: Annessa Biddle, Brooke Anderson, Pia Tapsell
Dragons: Alexis Tauaneai, Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa, Raecene McGregor,
Raiders: Apii Nicholls, Ash Quinlan, Felice Quinlan, Mackenzie Wiki, Madison Bartlett
Panthers defeated Roosters last night and they have a sneaky Kiwi-NRL pipeline. James Fisher-Harris and Scott Sorenson are out injured at the moment, which leaves Moses Leota as the only Kiwi-NRL Panther playing. Preston Riki may also be out injured as he isn't named for this week but has played 50+ minutes in three wins to start the season after sealing the starting prop role.
Daeon Amituanai is competing for a starting winger role in NSW Cup after combining U21s with NSW Cup last year. Amituanai has moved up to a full-time NSW Cup slot and Panther love the slow brew in reserve grade, so Riki may creep into an NRL debut this year while Amituanai will probably sit in NSW Cup for the whole season.
Panthers snapped up Francis Manuleleua when he finished up at Kings College as one of the best rugby (both codes) youngsters in Aotearoa. Manuleleua only played one game of U19s last year and then grabbed two games of U21s, before moving up to U21s this season where he is getting named on the bench.
Josiah and Jodeci Vaha'akolo-Fifita are also in the Panthers junior system. They seem to be from Otara and Otahuhu juniors with Josiah playing in the forwards and Jodeci as a hooker/half.
NRL: James Fisher-Harris (Hokianga), Moses Leota (Mt Albert), Scott Sorenson (Sydney)
NSW Cup: Preston Riki (Hokianga), Daeon Amituanai (Whiti Te Ra)
U21 Jersey Flegg: Francis Manuleleua (Papatoetoe)
U19 SG Ball: Josiah Vaha'akolo-Fifita (Otahuhu)
U17 Harold Matthews: Jodeci Vaha'akolo-Fifita (Otahuhu)
White Ferns are playing today vs England in the fifth T20 and regardless of what happens, the White Ferns have hit a new low. Two T20I series losses in home conditions this summer will do that to ya. Sophie Devine won't be playing as she is out injured and an intriguing nugget is that White Ferns woes have stretched across two different coaches (Bob Carter - Ben Sawyer) and one captain. Devine took over in July 2020 and the most important White Ferns storyline right now is how stink the vibe has been during Devine's captaincy.
Devine is one of the best female cricketers in the world and in theory she is a great leader. However, every juncture of White Ferns woes (ODI World Cup in NZ, T20 World Cup in South Africa, home advantage evaporating, pesky selection choices, players getting worse when they enter White Ferns) has coincided with the Devine era.
NZ-A wahine lost the second one-dayer vs England A. Third and final one-dayer is tomorrow, here are their stats so far...
Batting
Caitlin Blakely: 112 runs @ 56avg/88sr
Prue Catton: 70 runs @ 120sr
Polly Inglis: 64 runs @ 32avg/85sr
Mikaela Greig: 60 runs @ 30avg/65sr
Georgia Plimmer: 36 runs @ 72sr
Leigh Kasperek: 25 runs @ 25avg/75sr
Saachi Shahri: 25 runs @ 83sr
Kate Anderson: 24 runs @ 12avg/114sr
Eden Carson: 21 runs @ 95sr
Nensi Patel: 18 runs @ 9avg/138sr
Bowling
Hayley Jensen: 5w @ 14avg/4.2rpo
Leigh Kasperek: 3w @ 3.8rpo
Emma Black: 3w @ 34avg/5.7rpo
Eden Carson: 1w @ 4.7rpo
Nensi Patel: 1w @ 89avg/5.9rpo
Molly Penfold: 1w @ 125avg/7.5rpo
Wellington are Plunket Shield champions and as we discussed in our Subscriber Pod yesterday, this is a win for the young wave. Wellington enjoyed fabulous contributions from Peter Younghusband, Logan van Beek, Michael Bracewell and Nick Kelly so big ups to them. Wellington's best players were Gareth Severin and Nathan Smith though, with efficient mahi from Nick Greenwood and Muhammad Abbas as consistent 1st 11 lads.
Regular readers know that Dale Phillips, Zak Foulkes, Mitch Hay, Rhys Mariu, Kristian Clarke, Matt Fisher and Curtis Heaphy were all excellent Plunket Shield youngsters. There is a Canterbury trio in there (Foulkes, Hay, Mariu) which doesn't include Will O'Rourke and ND were finished a few points behind Wellington with their young seamers (Clarke, Fisher) playing key roles.
The Wellington pipeline is still the most productive across men's and women's cricket though. Smith has developed strongly since moving to Wellington and with Abbas leaving Auckland for Wellington, the theme of lads thriving in Wellington continues (van Beek, Bracewell, Kelly). Severin has elevated through the Wellington pipeline, along with Greenwood which is aligned with the rise of Rachin Ravindra and Ben Sears.
Strangely, Devine's White Ferns captaincy has overlooked Wellington's dominance of women's cricket. Leigh Kasperek has been shuffled down the depth chart, Jess McFadyen is overlooked despite being the best wicket-keeper in Aotearoa, and Xara Jetly's championship mana has been ignored for NZ-A selection. Then again, Jetly is Eden Carson's cricketing twin and the way White Ferns treat Carson doesn't bode well for Jetly; both are contenders for the best fielders in NZ along with good off-spin.
Natasha Codyre, Kate Chandler, Hannah Francis and Antonia Hamilton are all youngsters on the rise with Wellington.
Wellington has the best young cricketers in Aotearoa. This is evident in the top-tier youngsters who elevated beyond domestic cricket and the next wave (Ravindra out, Severin in) has snatched the spotlight. Men and women, elite talent. Plus a couple championships this summer.
Also noteworthy: Ravindra and Devon Conway didn't play a game and Wellington are Plunket Shield champions
Random Plunket Shield stats...
Most Sixes
Brett Hampton: 19 @ 78.5sr
Louis Delport: 17 @ 99.4sr
Tim Seifert: 16 @ 81.9sr
Joe Carter: 12 @ 48.5sr
Mitch Hay: 12 @ 52.2sr
Josh Clarkson: 10 @ 54.9sr
Henry Cooper: 10 @ 52.8sr
Most Ducks
Michael Snedden: 4 @ 8.8avg
Michael Rippon: 4 @ 29.6avg
Dean Foxcroft: 4 @ 24.8avg
Jacob Duffy: 4 @ 6.3avg
Cole McConchie: 4 @ 30.4avg
Callum McLachlan: 3 @ 20avg
Zak Foulkes: 3 @ 18.4avg
Lowest Bowling Strike-Rates For 10+ Wickets
Jordan Sussex: 16w @ 23.68sr
Michael Bracewell: 10w @ 33.4sr
Nathan Smith: 33w @ 35sr
Liam Dudding: 22w @ 35.1sr
Scott Kuggeleijn: 30w @ 35.7sr
Kristian Clarke: 27w @ 40.6sr
Doug Bracewell: 18w @ 40.6sr
Brett Hampton: 22w @ 41.8sr
Matt Fisher: 21w @ 43.1sr
Michael Rae: 25w @ 44.4sr
Wicket Keeping Most Dismissals With Batting Average
Dane Cleaver: 41 dismissals - 34.09avg
Mitch Hay: 33 dismissals - 51.09avg
Callum McLachlan: 28 dismissals - 20avg
Cam Fletcher: 24 dismissals - 22.8avg
Tim Seifert: 19 dismissals - 35.2avg
Most 50+ Scores
Joe Carter: 7
Gareth Severin: 6
Dale Phillips: 6
Greg Hay: 5
Nick Kelly: 5
Sean Solia: 5
George Worker: 5
Brett Hampton: 4
Nick Greenwood: 4
Mitch Hay: 4
Musical jam...
Wildcard’s Notebook
Melbourne United forced a decisive game five in the Aussie NBL finals last night. It was another nailbiter, with United coming up with a few clutch defensive plays which swung things in their favour – as well as Jack McVeigh’s last-gasp prayer shot bouncing out this time unlike in game three.
Shea Ili had a quieter game than usual with 6 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists as well as a very rare -15 plus/minus which was the worst on his team. Usually that’s the other way around. But he was a part of the late drama all the same, poking a ball away from Milton Doyle with 47 seconds left and his team down by three points. Matt Dellavedova pounced on the loose ball and flipped it back to Luke Travers who hit Shea Ili breaking down court for the lay-up. It wasn’t the only huge play late in that game but it was one of several absolutely essential ones. 30 minutes for Shea Ili. None for Flynn Cameron, Tom Vodanovich, or Walter Brown.
The latter three will all pop up in the NZ NBL once they’re done with the finals, a competition which tipped off this week. The first few rounds are going to look different, as is often the case, because some imports haven’t arrived yet and Aussie NBL players might also still be working their way up. That all means lots of minutes for the locals and the depth players though, which is also cool. This is the ramping up period.
So far we’ve had defending champs Canterbury Rams win 79-69 against Nelson Giants with Taylor Britt delivering 20 points and 8 assists. Solid 15p/8r from Max Darling as well while Dan Fotu topped for the Giants with 18 points. Good to see those fringe Breakers dudes getting a chance to actually play some basketball. In the other game, the Mid-North Whai debuted in the comp with a 91-70 win over Hawke’s Bay Hawks. Jarrod Kenny had to come out of retirement for the undermanned Hawks. Kruz Perrott-Hunt stood out for the Whai with 23 points, including 5/9 from deep. Also enjoyed Jayden Boucher playing 29 minutes with 0 points and 0 shots in a 21-point victory... that’s a line his dad Dillon would be proud of. Team success > Everything else. I was writing a bit here picking one player to watch from each team… but it blew out too long so look for that early next week in article form instead. I’ve put it out there, so now I’ll have to finish it.
Fair bit of local footy happening over Eastern Weekend. Will give that a brief recap on Monday, though know that there were a couple of games last night – including the start of the Men’s Southern League where Ferrymead Bays beat Universities 1-0, while Christchurch United won 3-0 against Nomads. All three of CUFC’s goals were scored inside of 21 minutes, with Joel Stevens getting two and Joel Peterson the other. Good day for the Joels.
Plus Auckland United’s women played their first game back after winning the OFC Champions League... beating Ellerslie 4-0 thanks to goals from Alexia Cook (4’), Rene Wasi (31’), Talisha Green (47’), and Charlotte Roche (73’). Always helps to score early in halves, doesn’t it?
But the funkiest aspect of that was a double change after 57 minutes with two ex-Wellington Phoenix players introduced: Saskia Vosper and Chloe Knott. Knott had played for AU during her 2023 offseason (along with Marisa van der Meer) so it’s no surprise that she’s turned up there since leaving the Nix to move back to Auckland. Vosper played for Waterside Karori last term but was an Auckland stalwart coming up the grades. Neither went to the Champions League, possibly due to work commitments (it was a very young squad that United sent over to the Solomons), but it looks like they’ll be doing their bit for the 2023 NRFL Premier Division and National League champs as they seek to become repeat trophy offenders.
While we’re on the topic, Aimee Danieli’s been called into the Football Ferns as cover for Brianna Edwards, who has been away from the Wellington Phoenix lately for personal reasons and will also miss the Ferns games against Thailand coming up. Danieli has yet to debut for the Nix, which would appear to make this promotion pretty wild... except that it’s the third-string goalie spot for a two-game series at home and it’s probably just cheaper to grab one of the top domestic options, and a regular for age grade teams (including likely the U20 World Cup later this year), for a developmental opportunity rather than flying back Erin Nayler all the way from Germany so that she can sit on the bench. There are other goalies who’d have been in the mix. Murphy Sheaff and Blair Currie over in America. Georgia Candy at Melbourne Victory. But Danieli stands to gain the most from this experience, so fair enough.
But it did remind me of the first time I watched Aimee Danieli properly, and was instantly impressed: the 2022 Kate Sheppard Cup final, which her Auckland United team won 1-0 against Northern Rovers (there are now more of that Rovers team playing for AU than those AU players). A fascinating squad to look back at. Danieli along with Ruby Nathan and Milly Clegg are amongst our absolute best teenage prospects at the moment. Katie Duncan as an international centurion, as well as Marty Puketapu who’d also been capped. Plus an unused sub on the bench: Prue Catton, an Auckland Cricket representative who scored 70 for New Zealand-A against England-A yesterday.
Some very enticing news has emerged around Joseph Parker in the past week. After his win against Zhilei Zhang, the word was that a rematch would be incoming due to a one-way clause in the contract that gave Zhang that opportunity to demand one even though Parker would not have had the option. However, as much as Zhang would no doubt love to avenge that loss... there are always other considerations. And, as we know, the world of heavyweight boxing has swiftly been bought out by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia so they kinda call the shots. If they didn’t want Parker vs Zhang 2 then they’d work around it. Seems like that’s exactly what’s happening.
The yarn is that it’ll be Zhilei Zhang vs Deontay Wilder instead. Yes, the two vanquished foes of Joseph Parker’s recent mahi. The battle of the losers. They both lost to Parker in similar fashion, unable to hurt him enough with their power then worked down over twelve rounds by his superior fitness and boxing technique. A rematch between Parker and Zhang wouldn’t be very marketable given how it wasn’t actually that entertaining of a fight but those two loose unit sluggers going head to head certainly would be. Thus they can do big pay-per-view numbers, thus they can probably offer Zhang a big paycheque, thus they can get him not to bother with the Parker rematch.
There’s a light heavyweight title fight in Saudi Arabia on June 1 between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. Zhang vs Wilder will probably be on that card, along with Filip Hrgovic vs Daniel Dubois which is also a meeting of two top-15 heavyweights. As for Joe’s next move... he’s going to be back in Saudi Arabia to support Tyson Fury in a few weeks when he fights Oleksandr Usyk and beyond that who knows? If it’s not Zhilei Zhang then he’s free to cash in on the highest reputation point of his career after those two wins and book a bout that’s befitting what he’s been up to. We already know what he’d prefer: avenging his own defeats against Joe Joyce, Dillian Whyte, and Anthony Joshua.
Last week it was the White Ferns batting stats in victories and defeats. This week it’s time to look at the bowlers. Last two years of international cricket. Split between the two formats. As expected, the batting was dominated by the usual suspects of Amelia Kerr, Sophie Devine, Suzie Bates, and Maddy Green. What lessons can we take from the bowling numbers? Let us gaze into the looking glass...
White Ferns Bowlers in T20 Wins (Last Two Years)
Eden Carson – 20 WKT | 10.40 AVG | 4.95 RPO | 3/18 BBI
Hayley Jensen – 15 WKT | 7.53 AVG | 4.70 RPO | 3/5 BBI
Amelia Kerr – 15 WKT | 21.46 AVG | 5.47 RPO | 3/11 BBI
Lea Tahuhu – 15 WKT | 13.13 AVG | 5.18 RPO | 4/6 BBI
Fran Jonas – 11 WKT | 20.00 AVG | 4.69 RPO | 3/16 BBI
Suzie Bates – 8 WKT | 5.50 AVG | 4.00 RPO | 3/10 BBI
Sophie Devine – 8 WKT | 20.37 AVG | 6.52 RPO | 3/37 BBI
Hannah Rowe – 8 WKT | 18.75 AVG | 7.50 RPO | 2/15 BBI
Jess Kerr – 4 WKT | 31.25 AVG | 6.25 RPO | 2/41 BBI
White Ferns Bowlers in T20 Defeats (Last Two Years)
Lea Tahuhu – 12 WKT | 19.91 AVG | 8.24 RPO | 3/20 BBI
Amelia Kerr – 11 WKT | 23.27 AVG | 6.73 RPO | 3/16 BBI
Sophie Devine – 8 WKT | 21.37 AVG | 7.60 RPO | 2/15 BBI
Fran Jonas – 8 WKT | 32.37 AVG | 6.64 RPO | 2/13 BBI
Molly Penfold – 4 WKT | 18.00 AVG | 9.60 RPO | 2/17 BBI
Rosemary Mair – 3 WKT | 27.66 AVG | 6.91 RPO | 2/25 BBI
Eden Carson – 3 WKT | 45.66 AVG | 7.61 RPO | 2/23 BBI
Those are everyone with at least three wickets in each format, though it’s pretty telling that there are names that don’t appear on both. Jess Kerr’s numbers in wins are pretty average but in losses she dips to 2 wickets @ 76.50 average. Hannah Rowe has taken one wicket from 13 overs (125.00 average) in the nine losses she’s played in during this timespan with an abysmal economy rate of 9.61 runs per over. Hayley Jensen has 2 wickets @ 61.00 average and an RPO of 7.32. It’s also telling that the two bowlers with the best records in wins are currently playing for NZA rather than the White Ferns... although their massive disparities in defeats might have something to do with that. A lot of Carson’s games were on away tours.
Big qualification here is that the quality of opponents does vary a lot. Rosemary Mair has only recently been recalled so those numbers are mostly against England in this current series. Meanwhile Suzie Bates has only bowled four overs in defeats, yet has a fantastic (if also limited) record in victories lately. Clearly she’s gotta bowl more – even if that means even more reliance upon the key veterans. Amelia Kerr and Sophie Devine have both got great consistency between the two outcomes, just with an extra run conceded per over in defeats. Also, Lea Tahuhu is the only White Ferns bowler to take four wickets in an innings in the past two years of T20I cricket. That’s not ideal.
White Ferns Bowlers in ODI Wins (Last Two Years)
Lea Tahuhu – 11 WKT | 17.45 AVG | 4.46 RPO | 4/31 BBI
Sophie Devine – 9 WKT | 15.22 AVG | 3.91 RPO | 3/25 BBI
Fran Jonas – 9 WKT | 22.77 AVG | 3.55 RPO | 2/22 BBI
Amelia Kerr – 7 WKT | 34.71 AVG | 3.89 RPO | 3/44 BBI
Jess Kerr – 7 WKT | 12.57 AVG | 3.66 RPO | 4/23 BBI
Eden Carson – 5 WKT | 14.40 AVG | 3.78 RPO | 3/31 BBI
Hannah Rowe – 5 WKT | 36.40 AVG | 4.78 RPO | 1/18 BBI
Hayley Jensen – 3 WKT | 35.33 AVG | 4.81 RPO | 2/27 BI
White Ferns Bowlers in ODI Defeats (Last Two Years)
Jess Kerr – 3 WKT | 22.20 AVG | 4.26 RPO | 3/39 BBI
Sophie Devine – 5 WKT | 37.75 AVG | 5.66 RPO | 1/20 BBI
Hannah Rowe – 3 WKT | 22.33 AVG | 5.58 RPO | 2/26 BBI
Lea Tahuhu – 3 WKT | 42.33 AVG | 5.44 RPO | 2/40 BBI
Not a heap of ODI cricket here to fall back upon, so the samples are small and especially so for the defeats. Eden Carson also has 1 wicket @ 160 average, while Brooke Halliday has 1 wicket @ 36.00 average. Fran Jonas has 0/93 from 15 overs and Amelia Kerr has 0/180 from 39 overs across recent defeats – against West Indies, Sri Lanka, and South Africa.
But the stats are brighter in seven victories – also against the same teams but with one match against Bangladesh (the other two were rained out) and a couple against Pakistan (with a tie in the third, which falls between the cracks here). Lea Tahuhu has been superb in those wins, with Sophie Devine not far behind.
Jess Kerr’s ODI numbers are far better than what she’s been doing in T20s, which is a relief, though Amelia Kerr’s not been taking big wickets in either format recently, but especially not in One-Dayers. She averages 58.60 with the ball across her past 17 ODIs. Of course, at the same time she’s also emerged as one of the best ODI batters in the world so at least it’s balanced out (batting average of 54.69 in those same 17 matches).
Righto, enjoy the long weekend and here’s a tune I’ve had on repeat all week...