Instant Rivalry
Blackcaps vs West Indies, Men's National League final preview, Warriors U21s movement, domestic cricket, A-League footy, and more
Scotty’s Word
Blackcaps are clearly dealing with some bad juju and it’s only making these Tests vs West Indies more intriguing. Somehow things escalated to the Blair Tickner injury which was a bummer and drained the Basin Reserve of energy. These escalations are challenging Blackcaps in unexpected ways and I’m curious about a Aotearoa depth showcase, especially if they can at least draw these next two Tests.
The super duper theme of our sports coverage is that emerging and mature depth is at all time highs across the four major sports, so I’m excited and optimistic about this specific Blackcaps situation in Test cricket. A wonky sample of Test cricket in 2025 is balanced by the number of seamers who have at the very least done their job when called upon...
Blackcaps bowlers in Tests this year
Matt Henry: 20w @ 10.9avg
Zak Foulkes: 12w @ 19avg
Jacob Duffy: 11w @ 21.9avg
Mitchell Santner: 4w @ 19.2avg
Blair Tickner: 4w @ 8avg
Will O’Rourke: 3w @ 18avg
Michael Rae: 3w @ 22.3avg
Nathan Smith: 3w @ 19.6avg
Matt Fisher: 2w @ 19avg
Michael Bracewell: 1w @ 195avg
Glenn Phillips: 1w @ 19avg
Rachin Ravindra: 22.3ov @ 3rpo
Daryl Mitchell: 4ov @ 2.5rpo
20 different players have been used so far this year by the wee nation of Aotearoa. So far they are holding steady without a loss in this period and, aside from Ravindra, every bowler who has had a decent crack has taken a wicket.
Since the start of 2024, Henry and Santner have been the best Test bowlers for Blackcaps (both have 30+ wickets with averages below 20). Getting a draw or a win without your two best bowlers is impressive for any nation and I’m most intrigued by how Duffy and Phillips perform moving forward.
Duffy is wizard when twisting the minimum wickets to match his mahi for all New Zealand bowlers...
Test: 11w @ 21.9avg - 4th lowest for 10+ wickets
ODI: 35w @ 24.2avg - 5th lowest for 30+ wickets
T20I: 53w @ 17avg - 2nd lowest for 50+ wickets
Blackcaps depth isn’t just more dudes bowling 130km/h with minimal funk. The slower bowlers have excellent skills and there are now plenty of kiwi seamers above or around 140km/h. Duffy’s running on his toes these days so that’s seen him settle as a regular at this mark, even Michael Rae is giving it a nudge as he consistently operated around 136-138km/h.
The three younger seamers are our fastest with Will O’Rourke always hovering around 145km/h, Ben Sears is usually above that mark and many view Matt Fisher as the fastest bowler in Aotearoa.
Rae’s bowling innings this season
1w @ 3.9rpo
1w @ 5.6rpo
2w @ 6rpo
3w @ 4.7rpo
1w @ 6rpo
4w @ 2.5rpo
2w @ 2.6rpo
1w @ 2.8rpo
0w @ 2.3rpo
3w @ 3.8rpo
3w @ 2.7rpo
The funkiest bowling thing for Test cricket in Aotearoa though is spin and Glenn Phillips is already one of Aotearoa’s best Test spinners. He has 1st 11 talent and I want Phillips in my Test team regardless of conditions, so he is primed to cover the adversity facing the Blackcaps. Phillips bowled 88.2 overs in two Plunket Shield games prior to joining the Test squad and NZC did well to schedule both at the same time; Rae joined the Test squad after 100.3 first class overs and Hay had 10 innings of longform mahi as a wicket-keeper/batter.
Phillips vs other Blackcaps Test spinners
Ajaz Patel: 85w @ 29.9avg
Glenn Phillips: 32w @ 30.6avg
John Reid: 85w @ 33.3avg
Mitchell Santner: 78w @ 33.3avg
John Bracewell: 102w @ 35.8avg
Dipak Patel: 75w @ 42avg
Ish Sodhi: 58w @ 43.1avg
Mark Craig: 50w @ 46.5avg
Jeetan Patel: 65w @ 47.3avg
Paul Wiseman: 61w @ 47.5avg
Michael Bracewell: 25w @ 47.9avg
Will Somerville: 15w @ 48.2avg
Rachin Ravindra: 10w @ 51.5avg
Phillips’s bowling innings this season
2w @ 3.6rpo
3w @ 2.5rpo
2w @ 4rpo
2w @ 3.5rpo
1w @ 2.7rpo
Phillips has 7w @ 24.4avg/3.9rpo in Tests at Basin Reserve. That makes Phillips one of the best New Zealand spinners at Basin Reserve but not as good as Nathan Lyon (17w @ 13.5avg) and in the same boundary as Shane Warne (14w @ 25avg) and Harbhajan Singh (9w @ 23.2avg).
2025/26 HBJ Shield: Round Two Basics
2025/26 Plunket Shield: Round Three Basics
Beyond the paywall I have a list of the best emerging players in Plunket Shield and I twisted by Kiwi-NRL movers list into a NZ Warriors departures list. White Ferns matters fell back into the stinky basket during the ODI World Cup and that’s moved into North vs South squads that don’t fully represent the best women’s cricketers in Aotearoa. With that in mind I cooked up an ‘Anti North/South’ squad for paid susbcribers and the Patreon whanau.
Notable North vs South selections...
Xara Jetly - North
The best HBJ Shield bowler right now and enjoying a promotion up Wellington’s batting order, while also being one of the best fielders in Aotearoa. Could challenge Eden Carson if Jetly can continue her impressive mahi.
HBJ Shield: 101 runs @ 50.5avg/53sr | 11w @ 15.4avg/4.5rpo
Missy Banks - South
Another good all-rounder on the rise. Steady seam and punchy batting for Canterbury. Banks took a wicket (2/1) in both North vs South one-dayers earlier this year and she only scored 9 runs in two innings but she scored them quickly with a strike-rate of 112.
HBJ Shield: 54 runs @ 18avg/55sr | 7w @ 19.1avg/4rpo
The NZ Warriors departures list includes all grades and now that they have teams from U17 to NRL, there are more players for other NRL teams to recruit. I trust the Mt Smart structure so I’m not worried about this, especially because there is a funky pattern of players joining NZW at the U21 level.
A Summer Of Transition For New Zealand Warriors In NSW Cup Ahead Of The 2026 Season
This level is enticing because these players are either leaving school or have spent a year out of school, some have already been working regular jobs and gaining maturity/life experience. NZW are back to back U17 Harold Matthews Cup champions and that’s a tremendous salute to their pipeline, but much of my positivity stems from the quantity and quality of U21s in the NRL/NSW Cup squads.
Many have moved through the pipeline to get to that point. Others like the much hyped Harry Inch will join NZW at the U21 level and after leaving Nelson College he spent a year at university and played rugby union vs men. It’s highly likely that Inch plays NSW Cup next season at some point.
Tokoroa’s Caelys Putoko was a NZ Schools rugby union rep as well and after that he had a year with Titans, as well as playing for Forrestland in the local men’s rugby league competition. He entered NZW at the U21 level and is already a Cook Islands international, having played one game of NSW Cup last year.
Brandon Norris left Australia and joined NZW at the U21 level. He’s from the Darwin area and spent time in Brisbane before making the move, now entering his third year in the NZW system. Norris may still have another year of U21 eligibility but he will probably dabble in NSW Cup next season as one of the best NZW juniors many don’t know about.
I’ve recently learned about Jacoby Hooper as well. He is from Dunedin, went to Kings High School and this year he was playing men’s rugby for Zingari Richmond in the midfield. Now Hooper is in the NZW U21 squad and I’m eager to see what role he will play.
Musical jam...
Nick’s Notebook
The Men’s National League grand final is on Saturday at 6pm, it’ll be hosted Newtown Park in Wellington and it’ll be contested between Wellington Olympic and Auckland City. Just like the Women’s final, that means we’ve got the two most recent champions involved, though unlike the WNL it’s not entirely clear which team ought to be the favourite. Both have had their wobbles along the way. Wellington Olympic were grinding out wins for a lot of the way but late defeats against Auckland FC (90+1’ winner from Ralph Rutherford) and Christchurch United (88’ winner from Jackson Cole) put them on the brink before they steadied themselves with wins against Auckland United in the pouring rain and Miramar Rangers despite going down to ten men.
Auckland City started from behind after having their bye in week one. They then lost 3-0 to Birko to give the impression that maybe they’d run out of steam at the end of an exhaustingly busy year. Yet they’ve only lost once since and their most recent three games have all been victories by multiple-goal margins. Both sides have winning streaks, both have produced their best stuff late in the season. Other challengers fell away in the latter weeks but these two clubs know what it takes.
Wellington Olympic won’t have the suspended Justin Gulley after his red card, that’s a big loss. As is Hamish Watson who suffered a serious knee injury earlier in the campaign. Seems like Adam Supyk has signed with an OFC Pro League side too and probably won’t be available. But they do have Gianni Bouzoukis in hot form having scored five goals in his last five games. He was scoreless prior to that... though that’s nothing compared to Myer Bevan, another perennial Golden Boot candidate, who went eight games without a goal but has now scored in the last two. Both number nines have found their confidence.
It’ll be funky to see how the defences shape up too. ACFC have alternated between back threes and fours throughout, while Olympic always play that 3-4-2-1 kinda shape but there are personnel decisions within that. Who replaces Gulley? Do they pick Jack-Henry Sinclair and/or Isa Prins as wing-backs or do they want more defensive focus? And there’s also a coaching element at play too. Paul Posa (AC) was only hired on a one-year caretaker basis while Albert Riera took a break but now Albert Riera has joined Christchurch United instead so perhaps Posa will stay on. Paul Ifill (WO) won’t. He’s taking next year off meaning that his assistant Ekow Quainoo will presumably get promoted.
It was 1-0 to Auckland City when these teams played earlier in the season, with Angus Kilkolly scoring the winner in the 82nd minute (another late goal conceded by the Greeks – although they did beat Western Springs thanks to a stoppage time winner so it goes both ways). That was a pretty tight game which Olympic were very unlucky to lose. They don’t have a great record against Auckland City although familiarity means there’ll at least be no surprises.
Between the Northern League (22), Chatham Cup (2), OFC Champions League (5), Intercontinental Cup (1), Club World Cup (3), and the National League (11)... this will be the 44th competitive fixture of the year for Auckland City (and that’s not including warm-up friendlies ahead of those FIFA events). Absolutely insane schedule for an amateur club, during which they’ve given minutes to 38 different players. But the only one of those competitions that they won was the Oceania Champions League. One last chance to add an extra trophy to the cabinet... whereas Wellington Olympic have won the Central League, Chatham Cup, and are chasing a treble with the National League.
Expected Line-Ups
Wellington Olympic:
Scott Basalaj | Alex Solomon, Ben Mata, Will Vincent | Jack-Henry Sinclair, Tiahn Manuel, Tor Davenport-Petersen, Noah Boyce | Gavin Hoy, Isa Prins | Gianni Bouzoukis
Auckland City:
Nathan Garrow | Riley Dalziell, Christian Gray, Nikko Boxall, Reggie Murati | Mario Ilich, Michael Den Heijer, David Yoo | Haris Zeb, Ryan De Vries, Myer Bevan
Top Goalscorers
Gianni Bouzoukis (WO) – 5 goals
Jack-Henry Sinclair (WO) – 5 goals
Gerard Garriga (AC) – 4 goals
Isa Prins (WO) – 4 goals
Tor Davenport-Petersen (WO) – 3 goals
David Yoo (AC) – 3 goals
Recent Meetings
Wellington Olympic 0-1 Auckland City (2025 National League)
Wellington Olympic 0-1 Auckland City (2024 National League)
Wellington Olympic 1-1 Auckland City [5-4 pens] (2024 Chatham Cup Final)
Wellington Olympic 3-3 Auckland City (2024 OFC Champions League Qualifying)
Auckland City 1-0 Wellington Olympic (2024 OFC Champions League Qualifying)
Auckland City 0-2 Wellington Olympic (2023 National League Grand Final)
Per a bit of the bonus pod chat below, available to all our wonderful and talented paid subscribers, it’s going to be really interesting to see how both Auckland FC and the Wellington Phoenix rebound after the emotional highs/lows of the derby last week. It’s become such a massive fixture so quickly, an instant rivalry to where those coaches have gotta be alert to make sure they don’t overshadow their regular schedule of matches, each of which is worth the same three points as the derby. There’s no doubt that the vibe in Nix HQ was never the same after they lost 6-1 in the third derby last season – they only took five points from nine matches the rest of the way. Both teams have very winnable games coming up this weekend. Neither, not even AFC, actually has a good record of winning immediately after a derby. In fact it hasn’t happened at all since the first instance.
Results Immediately After NZ Derbies
1) Wellington Phoenix 0-2 Auckland FC
AFC – Won 1-0 vs Macarthur (N)
WEL – Won 3-0 vs Central Coast (A)
2) Auckland FC 2-1 Wellington Phoenix
AFC – Drew 2-2 vs Melbourne City (A)
WEL – Lost 2-1 vs Macarthur (H)
3) Auckland FC 6-1 Wellington Phoenix
AFC – Drew 4-4 vs Adelaide (H)
WEL – Lost 1-0 to Melbourne City (H)
4) Wellington Phoenix 1-2 Auckland FC
AFC – Drew 1-1 vs Brisbane (H)
WEL – Lost 1-0 to Macarthur (H)
5) Auckland FC 3-1 Wellington Phoenix
AFC – Away to Central Coast at 9.35pm on Friday
WEL – Home vs Newcastle Jets at 3pm on Sunday
Football Ferns vs Australia: The Reaction
2025 Men’s National League – Week 11
MNL Team of the Week #11
GK – Nathan Garrow (Auckland City) – Second half he had nothing to do but first half he made three or four tremendously crucial saves as Auckland City survived some frisky moments against Coastal. They probably don’t make the final without him. What a year this fella has had.
RB – Xuan Loke (Wellington Phoenix) – Probably ought to be featuring a little more for the A-League side than he has been lately but Loke made good use of his only opportunity to play National League this year. Set up one goal and was involved in the moves for the first three as the WeeNix finished up with a massive win.
CB – Ben Mata (Wellington Olympic) – Must win game against your local rivals and Ben Mata absolutely pocketed Golden Boot winner Martin Bueno. Marked him so closely he could probably hear him breathing. Shut him down completely.
CB – Christian Gray (Auckland City) – Once again, Christian Gray scored an important goal for ACFC, he’s got this crazy habit of doing that. He’s also been a linchpin for City throughout an extremely hectic year and deserves just as much credit for his defensive solidity. Nikko Boxall is the star of that backline but Gray’s the bloke who ties it all together.
LB – Nathan Rostron (Birkenhead United) – Just love this dude’s game, as an over skilled centre-back who sometimes plays attacking midfield. The 21yo was roughing up those Western Springs lads. He was also dribbling past them.
CM – Tor Davenport-Petersen (Wellington Olympic) – This guy got my vote for MVP, with his performance against Miramar (in which he scored the winning goal to send ten-man Olympic into the final) giving the scales that last little tip in his favour.
CM – Finn McKenlay (Auckland FC) – Genuinely one of the top prospects from Aotearoa right now, he’s been incredible throughout the National League. Scored another banger on the weekend.
CM – Leon Van Den Hoven (Birkenhead United) – In his last game for Birko before moving to Australia, LVDH said ka kite in perfect fashion with a match-winning double. Such an underrated player in their midfield over the last couple years.
FW – Lachlan Candy (Wellington Phoenix) – Could have been a little more clinical in front of goal but Candy was all over it in that 7-2 win against Wests. Creating chances left, right, and centre alongside dudes like Luke Mitchell and Hayden Thomas too.
FW – Aston Burns (Auckland FC) – Another one from that AFC system where if you don’t know him yet, you will soon. Lightning quick but with good size and strength too. Scores and assists. Super talent... and he’s only been with AFC for a few months so expect the profile to rise for the 19yo.
FW – Morgan Wellsbury (Birkenhead United) – Deserved a goal or three against Springs, didn’t get any, but man it’s such a thrill to see a 19yo kiwi striker running at defenders and making things happen, especially one who is well over six feet tall and also excellent in the air. Like a few others in the team this week, this lad is going places.
Musical Jam...
