Learning The Craft
Ageing Blackcaps context, Michael Maguire's Kiwi-NRL signings & Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker
Podcast
The Niche Cast: All Cash No Stash
Reading Menu
Aotearoa Kiwis Coach Michael Maguire Strikes Again As Wests Tigers Coach (NRL)
In Their Time Of Need, Newcastle United Have Turned To Chris Wood To Save Them (Football)
Shifting Sands In The NWSL: Abby Erceg & Ali Riley Both Find Themselves In Rebuild City (Football)
Exploring The Possible White Ferns World Cup Squad (Cricket)
Aotearoa vs Bangladesh: The Magic Of The People's Champ (Five Key Things) (Cricket)
When Lockie Ferguson's Fit and Healthy, He's Really Good (Cricket)
Jess and Amelia Kerr Are Aotearoa Cricket's Best Double-Whammy (Cricket)
Maddy Green's Found A Low Key Crucial Pocket Of Form (Cricket)
The Murky Mangroves of Ajaz Patel Bowling in Aotearoa (Cricket)
What Will Gael Sandoval & Scott Wootton Bring To The Wellington Phoenix? (Football)
Scotty’s Word
Ageing Blackcaps & Learning From The Ashes…
Pondering the ageing Blackcaps has been a trendy topic as the start of a new World Test Championship cycle was parlayed into Ross Taylor’s retirement … after BJ Watling's retirement. There was even a mainstream media yarn about ‘Dad’s Army Blackcaps’ and there are two clear things that come to mind as I track Blackcaps matters closely…
First is how prepared new Test players are - because they are older. Scott Boland stepped into the Aussie Test team at 32-years-old after years of toil, improvement and personal growth through his journey learning about his culture. Michael Nesser made his Test debut in the Ashes aged 31, Usman Khawaja celebrated his return to the Test team aged 35. All of this applies to Ajaz Patel, Will Young, Daryl Mitchell and Devon Conway as they have had plenty of time to learn their craft and while they don’t have the Indigenous Aussie heritage to explore, we all know how different people are in moving out of their early 20s and closer to 30.
I want Blackcaps Test players to be more like this and less like Rachin Ravindra. Ravindra is the exception and such exceptions are always welcome, although winning Tests requires experience and supreme self-awareness. The most talented crop of kiwi cricketers right now are the lads who made FC debuts between 2010-2014 and they are the best equipped to contribute to Test cricket. The younger wave is super talented, but the recipe for success is a slow-brew.
Especially when a squad to *maybe* tour Australia could feature the likes of Ross Taylor, Martin Guptill, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Colin de Grandhomme, Jimmy Neesham, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Mitchell Santner, Lockie Ferguson, Adam Milne, Doug Bracewell. That’s 13 non-Test players, all international calibre who aren’t ‘young’.
Then we have the management of these players. Neil Wagner’s 35-years-old and has played FC cricket since 2006, peep behind the veil though to find what really matters…
Since 11 March 2021, Wagner has played 10 games of cricket.
Wagner’s last six games of cricket feature three Tests in England, one warm up game vs Bangladesh and two Tests vs Bangladesh. The only cricket Wagner plays is Plunket Shield and Test cricket, which may stretch into the odd Ford Trophy game but Wagner is perfectly set up for regular Test cricket. Aotearoa barely hit 10 Tests a year and all Wagner needs to do is be ready for these Tests, without the extra workload.
Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Kane Williamson on the other hand are multi-format wizards. These three already get rotated out of various T20I and ODI series which has had not impact of T20 and ODI World Cup success, nor their Test fortunes. Boult and Williamson are Aotearoa’s best IPL players, while Southee always has opportunities and these three will likely hold on to IPL cricket as they keep getting rotated out of white ball stuff.
Assuming this ODI tour of Australia goes ahead, the vibe will be amplified here as the ODI and Test squads will be separate. There is no real need for Southee, Boult and Williamson to play every T20I/ODI series outside of World Cup windows. I believe these lads will wind everything else down to focus on Test cricket, like Wagner already has and Watling did prior to his retirement. Then the Test team just rolls on.
Ah the Ashes. Lest we forget that England have not defeated Aotearoa in Test cricket since 2015 and in eight Tests since 2015, Aotearoa hold a 4-1-3 record over England. Aotearoa’s last tour to England saw a Blackcaps debutant hit 200 at Lord’s and for all the yarn about England emulating Aotearoa’s funky cricket style in their white ball realm, that Lord’s Test saw the Blackcaps create the chance of a result and England shut the door to settle for a draw.
Then Aotearoa swapped out six players and beat England, in England. Will Young hit back to back County hundreds prior to that series and along with (peep the experience theme here) Conway, Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Ish Sodhi and Kyle Jamieson; all these lads had a jolly time in County cricket last winter. That’s the same County cricket that can’t produce Test cricketers for England, but is doing a nice job of producing players for Aotearoa and Australia (Marnus Labushagne loves County cricket).
Aotearoa tours England this winter and the intriguing comparison rolls on. I was barking on about Aotearoa being a superior cricket nation to England back in July and this has only been enhanced after the T20 World Cup, then the Ashes. Aotearoa will soon have three Tests in England to continue this idea.
Super Smash update…
Canterbury vs Auckland (blokes + wahine) coming up tomorrow, Auckland vs Wellington (blokes + wahine) on Thursday. All games are funky with teams competing for finals cricket.
One wahine thought: chill out on individual Wellington dominance. Xara Jetly took 4w @ 0.33rpo vs Northern and Sophie Devine returned to action with 20 runs @ 143. Northern and Central aren’t in the same class as the other teams, which was where Otago Sparks were last summer with their young squad getting dominated (torched by Devine a few times). The gulf between these teams won’t be outlined by the Spark cheerleaders, but in assessing teams and players, I rely heavily on the top-tier match ups.
Women’s cricket and sport in general is in a weird space where it wants to blast forward, yet there is a large gap in quality on the domestic circuit. Watch the fielding and you’ll catch an easy vibe, while the batting and bowling skills are super different. Take Jetly for example as she’s steadily showcased her talents and now it’s all about how she contributes in must win games against the best teams.
One blokes thought: Otago Volts are last, 1-7. Remember Max Chu winning that game in Dunedin with a fabulous knock and six to clinch the result? Chu has 57 runs in 6inns @ 11.40avg and Otago do not have a batter averaging 30+ while Anaru Kitchen is the only bowler averaging below 20 (min 1 over) with the ball.
Averages aren’t everything in T20, but they provide context; 15 batters average 30+ and 21 bowlers average below 20.
One Rugby League Thought…
Really enjoy the blatant Aotearoa Kiwis mahi of Michael Maguire with Wests Tigers. I wrote about this over the weekend and this seed was planted last summer, if not before, so to see it escalate really is beautiful. Here is Maguire’s recruitment mahi laid out in simple fashion and don’t forget the swift pick up of Ken Maumalo mid-season last year…
Starford To’a: Mt Wellington Warriors - recruited by Knights.
Asu Kepaoa: Sacred Heart College - recruited by Roosters.
Tukimihia Simpkins: Rotorua Boys High School - recruited by Cowboys.
Kelma Tuilagi: Glenora Bears - recruited by Storm via move to Victoria.
Junior Pauga: Glenora Bears - left NZ Warriors for Wynnum Manly Seagulls.
Joseph Taipari: Halswell Hornets - recruited by Eels.
Christian Ma’anaima: Glenfield Greyhounds - recruited by Knights.
All these dudes are 25-years or younger, signed to Tigers after being recruited by other NRL clubs. Easy mahi for Maguire.
Wildcard’s Notebook
Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker (Prelude)
All these transfer yarns are amazing but it is worth keeping in context that the most important thing is what happens next. Transfers are the foot in the door. Whether you get through that sucker depends on so much else. Some of it in the player’s control, some of it not. So in that light gotta throw up a couple funky crossovers from the weekend.
That right there was Anna Leat making her WSL debut for West Ham... against Ria Percival and Spurs. Incredible picture btw. Leat had already played three times in the Conti Cup and had kept a clean sheet in every one of those games but come the league stuff she’d had to sit on the bench behind Australia’s Mackenzie Arnold. However the Matildas are in camp right now so Arnold was unavailable and that meant Anna Leat got the big promotion.
Thus she becomes the 14th New Zealander to play in the WSL... and she did so up against the kiwi with the most WSL appearances (by a massive margin). Adding another pinch of magical happenstance, Ria Percival of course began her WSL stint with West Ham plus West Ham’s current manager is the main man Olli Harder, a fellow compatriot. Lovely yarns.
You can read more about the game itself in the proper Flying Kiwis write-up at some stage tomorrow. Then tell all the NZ footy fans you know to read it too – gotta pump up the metrics, you understand. It ended 1-1 thanks to a stoppage time West Ham equaliser despite playing most of the second half with ten women.
Then over in the A-League Women all the talk is about the Wellington Phoenix scoring a couple of goals but ultimately letting a 2-0 lead slip for a 3-2 defeat to Brisbane Roar. Stink buzz although remember that the main thing with this WāhiNix team is to see progress from week to week and we’re definitely seeing that. Converting a couple chances is definite progress. Playing with a lead is definite progress. Along with all the other little things.
Lost in the shadow of all that talk may well have been Marisa van der Meer making her ALW debut as a half-time substitute for Melbourne City in their 1-0 win over Adelaide...
The 14th NZer to debut in the A-League W this very season. The 36th overall. Leat and MVDM were both members of the 2018 U17s World Cup bronze medallists, each marking a major milestone in their careers in the same weekend. Mackenzie Barry, Grace Wisnewski & Kelli Brown were also in that squad and are playing regularly for the Welly Nix (although Barry & Brown were both out injured vs Brisbane). Plus Gabi Rennie, Amelia Abbott & Maggie Jenkins have all been capped at senior level. Good group, that. Maybe we’ll get another pro signing before the January window is over?
Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker
This weekend saw a number of European clubs return from their winter breaks. Sarpreet Singh bagged another assist, his eighth of the season. We had that Ria Percival vs Anna Leat game (and on Thursday morning NZT Percival could be playing Meikayla Moore as Spurs meet Liverpool in the Conti Cup quarters). And Liberato Cacace played the full contest at left-wingback as STVV were comfortably beaten away to Club Brugge.
STVV have done some January transfer business. They sold striker Yuma Suzuki back to Kashima Antlers where he’ll come up against Michael Woud next season. They also bought in Japanese legend Shinji Kagawa on a free transfer. Cacace’s fellow fullback Daiki Hashioka made his loan transfer a permanent thing too.
There’s every chance that they still have a few irons in a few fires over the next two weeks but gotta think that if Cacace was going to leave then he’d have done so before the fixtures started up again. Torino are the club that have been explicitly linked with him and they’ve already played (and won) twice since their two week New Year’s break. You never know. However Cacace has started the last four games in a row for STVV so he’s seemingly back in their first eleven, no need to agitate, plus they’re still on the fringes of a relegation battle and probably wanna take care of that first before allowing any more starters to leave.
Elsewhere... not a heap of other news since Friday’s offerings. Still waiting on any updates on Joe Bell since he declined a new contract with Viking. Winston Reid’s not yet re-emerged. Nor has CJ Bott. Players like Rosie White and Daisy Cleverley aren’t necessarily bound by the January window so long as they stay in America (though they might not, dunno). So this’ll be a quick one.
Do wanna highlight this: Oscar Hough and Alex Clayton both heading to American universities. Hough, a tall and elegant midfielder, is joining the University of Central Florida while Clayton, a great two-way right fullback, is bound for West Virginia University – who made the quarter-finals of the NCAA nationals last season. Both key players for Western Suburbs in the South Central Series.
The American college thing is a common kiwi pathway for both men and women. For the ladies, the strength of the sport in USA means that it’s a genuine pathway to professional ranks all over the world. A good number of the Football Ferns went down that avenue. For the fellas... a little less so but guys like Joe Bell and the Boxall Bros are proof that you can still get wherever you want to go from American colleges. Also you get a free education and a great life experience in the process.
Interesting that both the Wellington Phoenix and Ole Academy provide a heap of players down this pathway. Even more interesting will be to look back in a few years and see how many of those guys progress further. As mentioned on Friday, Sebastian Schacht (not affiliated with either of those two academies) was the only NZer in the most recent MLS Draft pool. Feels like there’s more Aotearoa talent at colleges now than ever before yet the MLS/NWSL/USL stocks have taken a hefty hit lately.
And a spoonful more from the comrade here...
