Leaps & Bounds
The Kerr Sisters, All Whites preview, Warriors vs Tigers, Plunket Shield, Wellington Phoenix Women, NZ Breakers coaching vacancy, and more
Scotty’s Word
Melie Kerr is the superstar of New Zealand cricket. She isn’t just the star player for White Ferns and this doesn’t mean that the Blackcaps are lacking oomph in this department… A-Kerr is just that good. Over the past few months there have been three checkpoints starting with the announcement of her captaincy and while that was always the most likely option, it still hit like a major moment for White Ferns.
Then there was a noticeable difference in the White Ferns vibe under A-Kerr the captain. Even though the two previous captains are still in the T20I team, White Ferns looked sharper with A-Kerr as captain and also have a more vibrant, energetic tone to their cricket. A-Kerr is already an exceptional leader because she balances ruthless mahi on the field with empathy and care for her team. All of that has been laid out when watching White Ferns.
The third juncture is watching A-Kerr be even better at cricket than she was before. Two T20I centuries this year catch the eye but her scoring rate, thanks to a wide variety of strokes that always find holes in the field, has seen her elevate as a batter. She is the only player with 10+ runs and a strike-rate over 150 for Aotearoa in T20Is since the start of 2025. She had the second highest White Ferns strike-rate vs South Africa (10+ runs) behind her sister Jess and her there is clear progression in recent years...
Melie Kerr T20I batting strike-rates in last three years with number of sixes hit
2024: 103.7 | 1x6
2025: 121.7 | 0x6
2026: 165.7 | 4x6
She is already the only White Fern with two T20I centuries. She is third for White Ferns T20I runs and second for wickets. Those foundations were built when she wasn’t captain and now that she’s captain, A-Kerr is dominating even more....
Melie Kerr in T20Is as White Ferns captain
Bat: 62.3avg/158sr
Ball: 13.2avg/5.6rpo
J-Kerr is in this mix as well because she is the leading wicket-taker for White Ferns in T20Is since the start of 2025, meaning that the Kerr sisters are first for runs and wickets in this period by a notable margin.
Melie Kerr: 616 runs @ 77avg/152sr - next best is 253 runs
Jess Kerr: 18w @ 17.7avg/6.5rpo - next best is 11 wickets
Not only has A-Kerr got up a level as captain, J-Kerr is doing better with her younger sister as captain. J-Kerr averaged 30+ with the ball in T20Is under Suzie Bates, Sophie Devine and Amy Satterthwaite. Now she’s averaging 17.4. Having not batted under captain Satterthwaite, J-Kerr averaged less than 15 with strike-rates below 115 for Bates/Devine. Now she’s on 28avg/175sr under her sister’s captaincy.
Here are the Kerr sisters in T20Is this year...
Melie: 459 runs @ 76.5avg/166sr | 9w @ 17.4avg/5.8rpo
Jess: 22 runs @ 22avg/169sr | 13w @ 12.4avg/5.4rpo
A-Kerr is Aotearoa’s best cricketer right now. Add in the obvious impact of her leadership and how she connects with kiwis of all ages, but notably young girls and boys, and she is the one cricketer in New Zealand who rises above the rest. I entered this series pondering how White Ferns were the main event of these double-headers and I leave this series pondering how Melie Kerr is the superstar of kiwi cricket.
For paid subscribers
Bonus pod chatting NZ20 and All Whites
White Ferns stats
Blackcaps T20I batting weak spots
Ben Sears vs Kyle Jamieson
NZ Warriors selections across the grades
Patrick Moimoi and Toby Crosby with Panthers in NSW Cup
Antonio Verhoeven vs Mason Barber in Queensland Cup
Almighty round of Plunket Shield coming up with four teams in the mix to win the championship ahead of the final round starting on Friday. Here are three funky pockets...
Max Chu on the rise
Otago are the people’s choice to win Plunket Shield. Much of that is thanks to Thomas O’Connor’s amazing mahi in recent weeks and other impressive things like Luke Georgeson’s leadership. Max Chu has grown into a leader for Otago as well as having his best batting seasons in the last two summers across all formats and he has already bumped into the Mitch Hay tier of Aotearoa wicket-keeping depth, so expect him to enter the wider Blackcaps mixer in the next 12 months.
Max Chu’s last two seasons in each format
Plunket Shield
2024/25: 378 runs @ 47.2avg/49sr
2025/26: 524 runs @ 58.2avg/58sr
Ford Trophy
2024/25: 290 runs @ 36.2avg/109sr
2025/26: 252 runs @ 36avg/68sr
Super Smash
2024/25: 230 runs @ 28.7avg/155sr
2025/26: 237 runs @ 29.6avg/140sr
Lachlan Stackpole having a whack
Stackpole in Plunket Shield: 596 runs @ 54.1avg/99.3sr, 31x6
Scores in his last 10 games: 17, 66, 5, 2, 16, 27, 74, 0, 36, 32, 172*.
Only player with a strike-rate over 88. Only player with 13+ sixes.
Stackpole is 20-years-old and he is now averaging 41.6 in FC batting to go with his T20 strike-rate of 146. He is the leading run-scorer for Auckland in Plunket Shield and he’s doing it in his own style, which usually features a six or two even when he is scoring 30-odd runs. Auckland host Canterbury this round and the last time Stackpole played against Canterbury he had scores of 5 (Super Smash) and 2 (Ford Trophy) so it will be interesting to see how he goes against an excellent group Canterbury seamers.
The lefties
Three of the top-five wicket-takers in Plunket Shield (24+ wickets) are lefties and then there is Thomas O’Connor as the most efficient in a group of three who have 23w. That’s four lefties in the top-six bowling rankings with the lovely balance of two seamers and two spinners. Special salute to Ray Toole who is the leading wicket-taker in Plunket Shield as a lefty seamer.
Here are the lefties in Plunket Shield with their First-Class bowling mahi...
Ray Toole: 31w @ 23.1avg/3.3rpo (27.4avg/2.9rpo)
Rohit Gulati: 27w @ 28avg/2.9rpo (30.4avg/2.8rpo)
Tim Pringle: 25w @ 28.4avg/2.6rpo (34.4avg/3.1rpo)
Thomas O’Connor: 23w @ 11.9avg/3.4rpo (14.7avg/3rpo)
Here are some other lefties in Plunket Shield...
Jayden Lennox: 10w @ 23.5avg/2.3rpo
Ben Lockrose: 10w @ 51.6avg/3.7rpo
Ben Lister: 9w @ 22avg/2.5rpo
Muhammad Abbas: 6w @ 35.1avg/4.5rpo
NZ Warriors host five Wests Tigers teams or teams under the Tigers umbrella this weekend. Here’s how they are all ranked...
NRL
Warriors: 1st | 3-0
Tigers: 5th | 1-1
NSW Cup
Warriors: 10th | 1-2
Magpies: 11th | 0-2
Jersey Flegg Cup
Warriors: 1st | 3-0
Tigers: 4th | 1-0-1
SG Ball Cup
Warriors: 10th | 2-4
Magpies: 13th | 2-5
Harold Matthews Cup
Warriors: 14th | 1-5
Magpies: 16th | 1-6
Each team is in a similar zone for each grade so it will be a fun match up between the two organisations. The one thing I’m pondering the most for the NRL game is how Tigers are first in the NRL for offloads per game and post contact metres per game.
Offloads
Tigers: 17.5 | 1st (only team over 14)
Warriors: 7.7 | 14th
Post contact metres
Tigers: 668.4 | 1st (only team over 640)
Warriors: 626.4 | 4th
Warriors have settled back in their offloading groove well below Tigers but they are among the top teams for post contact metres. Conditions will probably be wet on Friday night and there is lots of hype about the Warriors forward pack, so I’m fascinated by this match up. Warriors will only win if the forwards dominate Tigers and this will be evident in both offloads and post contact metres.
Francis Manuleleua made his NRL debut for Knights in the loss vs Warriors and is named again in their squad to play Bulldogs this weekend. Manuleleua perfectly sums up the rugby league/union crossover that is present in most Kiwi-NRL juniors. Most young men/women in similar positions to Manuleleua have been choosing the rugby league pathway for the past five years.
Manuleleua played both codes as a youngster. He was playing junior league for Papatoetoe alongside Ali Leiataua and also appeared as player of the tournament in the 2017 Bill McLaren rugby union competition in Auckland. In 2019 he was in Future Warriors Under 16 squads and made some NZRL representative camps, before locking in on 1st 15 rugby for Kings College where he finished as captain.
Manuleleua made an NZ Schools rugby union squad and was selected in the World 7s team after impressing with Condor Sevens in 2022. Also in that World 7s tournament team was Sio Kali who was dominating both codes while at St Paul’s College.
Quick check in with some lads who moved from rugby union with Nelson College to rugby league...
Harry Inch has played every game of U21s for Warriors at five-eighth. This week he is named at halfback.
Saumaki Saumaki has been coming off the bench for Rabbitohs in U21s.
Tom Perkins has been on the bench or starting edge forward in most games of U19s for Knights.
Wiremu Makea has played the last few games in the halves for Warriors in U19s.
Musical jam...
Nick’s Notebook
The Wellington Phoenix Women do not have a good record against Central Coast and that continued last night when they were beaten 2-1. Home or away... they’ve now lost all six meetings with the Mariners. This game was a tough one, having to do the midweek turnaround when they’re not used to it and perhaps there was some tiredness in there – since the only change that Bev Priestman made was to give Makala Woods some rest on the bench (only some... she was subbed on at half-time) with Mackenzie Anthony getting the start up top. Not to be rude but that’s a bit of a drop off. The only two WPX defeats in their past nine fixtures were games in which Anthony started (both against CCM). She also started a win vs Brisbane.
The Nix missed some chances, then conceded a sloppy goal to Eliza Famington and an absolute belter to Izzy Gomez (a former Phoenix player who was good then but has gone on in leaps and bounds ever since – probably the star of CCM’s championship last season) before Macey Fraser – called up to the squad after having initially not made the trip for the weekend’s win vs Sydney – score a magical free kick in stoppage time but it was a little too late. And with that... the Phoenix lose control of the minor premiership race.
It had been that if they won their three remaining games then Melbourne City would need to win by at least eight goals, possibly more depending on winning margins for the Nix, in their final match away to Newcastle. But after the Nix lost here, even a draw would be enough for City. MCY’s last game is the last game of the regular season, they don’t play this week due to AFC Champions League commitments where they’re into the quarter finals and about to play FC Nasaf of Uzbekistan (big opportunity for Rebekah Stott and Deven Jackson – City lost in the final last season). To be fair, City did beat the Nix on both occasions this season so it’s hard to argue they don’t deserve it.
With this loss, the pressure is also on from Canberra and Adelaide - each only one point behind the Nix (whose first ever finals appearance still isn’t officially guaranteed... though with their goal difference it might as well be). The Phoenix host Western Sydney at 4pm on Sunday and then are away to Adelaide the following Friday – they won both of those reverse fixtures. That’s four games in 15 days to close the season... thankfully there’s an international break before the finals.
Some All Whites Notes Ahead of the FIFA Series...
Yesterday’s Flying Kiwis had a few bits about Ryan Thomas from Dutch media, talking about how he’s been nursing a bit of wear and tear lately to try avoid a proper injury. He’s been subbed early in three of his last four games. They (like me) were surprised to see him travel for this series but Thommo’s reasoning is that he wants to show commitment ahead of the World Cup, he can always sit out if anything flares up… and also his sister is getting married on Saturday in Te Puke so he very conveniently gets to be there too. The plan is apparently that he’ll start on Friday and then be available off the bench on Sunday. All subject to change depending on how he holds up.
Don’t be shocked if you see Joe Bell playing in his batman mask... he’s worn it for his last two Viking FK matches after breaking his nose going up for a header in training recently. He’s fine, having played ninety minutes in each of those matches, it’s just for protective purposes.
Ben Waine’s got his FA Cup quarter-final against Chelsea next Saturday English time. That’s probably enough time for him to play on Monday and then fly out that night or the next morning. He’s already going to miss two league games for Port Vale (not that it really matters – they’re cruising towards relegation anyway) but he won’t want to risk that one so if he doesn’t play on Monday that’ll be why. Chances are we see Waine get one start and Kosta Barbarouses get the other (in Chris Wood’s absence) so that’s easily arranged. No Waine on Monday would also clear some room for Andre De Jong to have a crack.
Players who need big performances in this window to stay in World Cup contention (ranked in order of how likely I think they are to make the World Cup squad): Bill Tuiloma, Callan Elliot, Lachlan Bayliss, Andre De Jong, Logan Rogerson, James McGarry, Michael Woud
Since the start of 2024, Max Crocombe has started 17 games and Alex Paulsen has started five. Crocs got pushed down the queue at Millwall after they signed a new goalkeeper in the January window, very harsh on him after he’d had a brilliant run of form, hence he’s not as active as AP who is starting every week in Poland. Relatively similar levels. But Crocombe has had a much stronger season than Paulsen overall and my guess is that he remains slightly ahead... however they’ll likely get one game each.
Predicting a best eleven from this squad...
Crocombe; Payne, Surman, Bindon, De Vries; Bell, Stamenic; McCowatt, Thomas, Just; Waine.
(If Thomas isn’t fit to start then Just plays the attacking midfield role and Ben Old comes in on the left wing)
Curious to see if we get any Ben Old at left-back minutes in these games. It’s his new specialist role in France and he’s taken to it like a fish in water... but the presence of both FDV and McGarry suggests probably not. He’s needed more as a left winger in this squad. But it’s an option, especially if we’re looking for something a bit more attacking in that area with no Libby Cacace available.
A best eleven of players who are not in this squad for whatever reason...
Kees Sims; Dalton Wilkins, Michael Boxall, Nando Pijnaker, Libby Cacace; Cam Howieson, Owen Parker-Price; Matt Garbett, Sarpreet Singh, Corban Piper; Chris Wood
The last three All Whites crowds in Aotearoa: 20,947 vs Fiji in Wellington (March 2025), 25,132 vs New Caledonia in Auckland (March 2025), 18,213 vs Australia in Auckland (September 2025)
All Whites home results under Darren Bazeley: 0-0 vs China & 2-1 vs China (March 2023), 4-0 vs Malaysia & 8-1 vs Vanuatu (October 2024), 7-0 vs Fiji & 3-0 vs Samoa (March 2025), 1-3 vs Australia (September 2025)
Paid Subscribers can also have a geeze at some research around All Whites forwards who’ve scored 10+ goals in a season within top overseas leagues, as well as the return of a Football Ferns favourite
The NZ Breakers don’t have a coach right now but they do have the makings of a great starting five with Sam Mennenga just announced on a two-year contract extension. They’re bringing him back after his Next Generation Award winning season (he also won Dunk of the Year and was in the running for the Most Improved Award that fellow NZer Flynn Cameron won instead), at a time when it felt likelier that they’d lose him with Mennenga arguably the most coveted local free agent in the competition. He played NBA Summer League with the LA Lakers following a dominant offseason spell in the Puerto Rican league. He’s currently playing in China for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers and could absolutely have commanded a lucrative deal there or in Europe. That the Breakers have pulled this off shows ambition, it shows they’re willing to spend money where it counts, and it shows they’re building something that players want to be part of.
If you ask me, Mennenga was the team’s best and most consistent player last season. If you ask a lot of others, they’d still say Parker Jackson-Cartwright... who I think gets off lightly for the way the team crumbled in so many fourth quarters last season but is of course capable of reaching heights that few others in the NBL can match. Whichever way you want to rank them, they’re one and two... and they’re both under contract for next season. Reuben Te Rangi and Izayah Le’Afa are the other two on board. A coach can work with that.
The coaching situation did take a knock when the obvious candidate to replace Petteri Koponen, the bloke that many folks (me included) thought would be an automatic, Judd Flavell, chose to sign with Shinshu Brave Warriors in the Japanese B-League instead. That’s a second tier team but they’ve just been promoted to the top flight. Fantastic opportunity and it continues a trend of Breakers coaches taking up spots in Japan (with the implication being that the money is substantially better over there, which is fair enough). By the way, Basketball NZ have confirmed that Judd Flavell’s Tall Blacks role is unaffected by this new move.
Mody Maor famously left with a year still remaining on his deal to take up the head coaching spot at Nagasaki Velca – who are currently first with a 35-9 record in Maor’s second season. Paul Henare coached second tier club Kagawa Five Arrows after he left the Breakers, later working as an assistant in the premier division with Shimane Susanoo Magic and guess what? Last year he linked up with Nagasaki Velca as one of Coach Mody’s assistants. The late great Kevin Braswell spent several years in Japan after leaving the Breakers and was coaching Utsunomiya Brex when he passed away. His kiwi assistant, Zico Coronel, took over in the wake of that tragedy and led them to a championship in KB’s honour. Coronel spent a short stint as a Breakers assistant and is now the permanent head coach of Utsunomiya Brex. The only one who didn’t get the Japanese coaching boost (although Petteri Koponen’s still TBD) was Dan Shamir who went back to Europe and seems to currently be the general manager at Hapoel Jerusalem in the country that forcibly occupies the land of Palestine.
Something of relevance here is that the Breakers recently hired a new CEO in Troy Georgiu, who spent many years in the Perth Wildcats system working his way up to the equivalent role there during which time the Wildcats were among the league’s most dominant teams. Georgiu’s job is the business side of things with Dillon Boucher still the basketball bossman but there are connections there. Five-time championship coach and two-time NBL Coach of the Year Trevor Gleeson is the shining candidate there. Currently coaching in Japan, so possibly out of financial reach, and has also been an NBA assistant with Toronto and Milwaukee since leaving the Wildcats. He’s at least gotta be on the shortlist.
Some of the NBL in-house reporting is that Mody Maor is another bloke they’re keen on bringing back to the league. If they want another kiwi candidate then Aaron Young, an assistant with Perth for the last three years and a successful head coach at NZ NBL level, is now the main man from within the league. That’s with the assumption that Zico Coronel and Ross McMains (who won an NBA championship as an assistant with the Boston Celtics) are out of the Breakers’ range. Frankly, if Mody’s on the board then Paul Henare perhaps should be too. Pero Cameron is another, having most recently spent a season in China with Ningo Rockets. Or if they really want to go for a bolter, can’t see it happening but you never know, then the other main assistant from last season, Matt Lacey, is right there too.
Musical Jam...
