Mettle Testing

Blackcaps bits and bobs, A-League kiwi notebook, NRLW signings, White Ferns ODI prep, and more

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Reading Menu

• 2024/25 HBJ Shield: Otago Keep Winning & The Young All Stars (Cricket)

• 2024/25 Plunket Shield: Even More Rhys Mariu Runs, Matt Fisher Emerging (Cricket)

• Exploring The Canterbury Concentration Of Aotearoa's Best Young Cricket Talent (Cricket)

• Flying Kiwis – December 11 (Football)

• 2024/25 Kiwi-NRL Summer Guide: Cowboys, Dolphins, Broncos, Titans (Rugby League)

• 2024/25 Kiwi-NRL Summer Guide: Knights, Sea Eagles, Rabbitohs, Roosters (Rugby League)

• 2024/25 Kiwi-NRL Summer Guide: Bulldogs, Eels, Tigers, Panthers (Rugby League)

• Five Funky New Zealand Warriors Storylines Heading Into The 2025 NRL Season (Rugby League)

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Scotty’s Word

Blackcaps bits and bobs ahead of day three…

Will Young's recent games

County: 19, 68*, 2, 17

Tests in India: 33, 48*, 18, 23, 71, 51

T20Is in Sri Lanka: 19, 30,

ODIs in Sri Lanka: 48, 26, 56*

Test vs England: 42, 60

Will Young Test career by year

2020: 24avg/49sr

2021: 34.1avg/41sr

2022: 26.5avg/45sr

2023: 5avg/31sr

2024: 40.08avg/48sr

Will O'Rourke | Kyle Jamieson

Tests: 25.7avg/3.7rpo | 19.7avg/2.6rpo

FC: 26.4avg/3.3rpo | 22.2avg/2.8rpo

LA: 20.6avg/4.7rpo | 32.3avg/5.3rpo

T20: 23.1avg/7.7rpo | 25.5avg/8.4rpo

Mitchell Santner Test career by year

2015: 31avg/2.7rpo

2016: 39.9avg/3rpo

2017: 33.7avg/2.2rpo

2019: 96.8ag/2.7rpo

2020: 29.5avg/2.3rpo

2021: 23ov @ 2.9rpo

2023: 19.3avg/2.9rpo

2024: 19.7avg/2.7rpo

Other Santner things

Home: 26.6avg/2.2rpo

Away: 40.3avg/3.1rpo

Captains...

Tom Latham: 10.2avg/3.1rpo

Brendon McCullum: 31avg/2.7rpo

Tim Southee: 31.2avg/2.6rpo

Kane Williamson: 49.7avg/2.7rpo

A few newsletters ago I rolled out some White Ferns vs Australia stats and I'll add that the kiwis have a 1-8 ODI record against Australia at the Basin Reserve.

The White Ferns squad for this series with all three ODIs to be played in Wellington features Bella James from Otago. James deserves her promotion as she is in her best season of HBJ Shield batting, flipping from seven consecutive seasons averaging below 20 (while being a teenager for many of them) and now averaging 20+ in three of her last four seasons.

James has two centuries in her last three season and she has at least one 50+ score in five of her last six seasons. Her only season averaging below 20 and not scoring a 50 in recent times was last summer (10.1avg), but she still has 100+ runs in her last six seasons.

Runs are important, as well as power and confidence that can be effective for international cricket. James has hit two sixes this season and Kerry Tomlinson's monster knock this weekend (100* @ 135sr with four sixes) makes her the only HBJ Shield batter who has hit more sixes than James with six overall.

Six batters have scored 200+ runs this season and James has the highest strike-rate of 84.9. The other batters who have 200+ runs and strike-rates over 80 are White Ferns Maddy Green and Lauren Down, who also played for Auckland where they can whack runs at Eden Park's outer oval.

Highest strike-rates in HBJ Shield

Kerry Tomlinson: 170 runs @ 132.8sr

Jess McFadyen: 34 runs @ 130.7sr

Amelia Kerr: 172 runs @ 94.5sr

Polly Inglis: 83 runs @ 94.3sr

Hayley Jensen: 60 runs @ 93.7sr

Suzie Bates: 158 runs @ 88.2sr

Sam Barriball: 38 runs @ 86.3sr

Bella James: 293 runs @ 84.9sr

Lauren Down: 229 runs @ 84.8sr

Jess Watkin: 137 runs @ 84sr

Maddy Green: 325 runs @ 83.9sr

There is a wee trend of batters being called up to White Ferns, falling out of the team without much opportunity, and then struggling in domestic cricket.

Kate Anderson earned a White Ferns promotion after averaging 59.55 in Super Smash and 42.8 in HBJ Shield across the 2022/23 summer. Anderson had five seasons averaging 30+ in HBJ Shield leading up to White Ferns selection and dropped to 27avg last summer, now on 23 runs @ 5.7avg this season.

Mikaela Greig earned a White Ferns promotion after averaging 50.5 in HBJ Shield last season, her third season over 20avg in a row with two of them being 40+ averages. Greig hasn't scored a 50+ score in Super Smash and averages 14.4 in T20 batting, so she was obviously only in the T20 mixer for White Ferns. Greig is currently on 27 runs @ 6.7avg in HBJ Shield.

Anderson and Greig deserved their White Ferns opportunities, but seem to have struggled since then. Now they have been overtaken by James, although James is an opening batter and the other two can impress in Super Smash.

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White Ferns 2024 ODI Stats

Batting

Brooke Halliday: 284 runs @ 35avg/71sr, 3 x 50

Sophie Devine: 274 runs @ 45.6avg/96sr, 1 x 100, 1 x 50

Amelia Kerr: 204 runs @ 34avg/61sr, 1 x 50

Suzie Bates: 192 runs @ 21avg/70sr, 2 x 50

Maddy Green: 179 runs @ 22avg/68sr

Georgia Plimmer: 172 runs @ 19avg/70sr

Izzy Gaze: 126 runs @ 15.7avg/66sr

Hannah Rowe: 52 runs @ 13avg/76sr

Jess Kerr: 49 runs @ 9.8avg/107sr

Lauren Down: 44 runs @ 8.8avg/45sr

Bowling

Jess Kerr: 12w @ 24.5avg/5rpo

Amelia Kerr: 10w @ 27avg/4.9rpo

Hannah Rowe: 8w @ 27avg/5rpo

Lea Tahuhu: 6w @ 29.6avg/5.2rpo

Suzie Bates: 4w @ 21avg/4.9rpo

Eden Carson: 4w @ 43avg/4.5rpo

Sophie Devine: 4w @ 43avg/5.3rpo

Brooke Halliday: 3w @ 21vg/6rpo

Fran Jonas: 3w @ 76avg/4.7rpo

Molly Penfold: 1w @ 120avg/5.7rpo

Eels have signed Martha Mataele for NRLW, after she debuted for Black Ferns in 2023. Here are all the NRLWahine signed for the 2025 season who came from rugby union in Aotearoa...

Broncos: Lavinia Gould, Gayle Broughton, Mele Hufanga, Tafito Lafaele, Stacey Waaka

Knights: Tiana Davison, Tenika Willison, Grace Kukutai

Bulldogs: Alexis Tauaneai, Sarahcen Oliver

Eels: Martha Mataele

Tigers: Leianne Tufuga

Raiders: Cheyelle Robins-Reti, Amelia Pasikala

Warriors: Shakira Baker, Tyra Wetere

Musical jam…

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Wildcard’s Notebook

Ten Thoughts From The Weekend’s A-League Footy...

1. The Wellington Phoenix Women have taken seven points from their last three games (also known as the three games which Lara Wall started). They made themselves look like a terrible defensive team in the first half of game one but you know what they say about first impressions because they’ve actually been extremely sturdy outside of that, only conceding four goals in 495 minutes since allowing four goals in 45 minutes against Western Utd. Melbourne Victory had 71% of possession in the first half but only managed four shots. The goal they eventually scored was from a penalty. Carolina Vilão made seven saves. The late Manaia Elliott goal was awesome but it was made valuable by the defensive shift that preceded it.

2. Weirdly, I never found any signing confirmation of this but Georgia Candy was on the bench for Melbourne Victory in that game. The former Nix scholarship goalie was an injury replacement for the Victory last season, not making a debut but sitting on the bench for 12 games. She’s also been on the bench in six games this season (going by Geo Candy) as the backup behind Courtney Newbon.

3. Enjoy a Deven Jackson goal and a Kelli Brown assist from the rest of the weekend’s offerings. Brown has two goals and an assist for Perth Glory to lead the NZ contributors across the league. Jackson (2 goals), Annalie Longo (2 goals), and Emma Main (1 goal, 1 assist) are the other NZers with multiple goal contributions so far.

4. Auckland FC continue to score late goals. They’ve scored 12 goals in total and nine of them have come in second halves, eight of them have come in the 70^th minute onwards, six have come from the 80^th minute onwards, and four have come in the 89^th minute onwards. One pretty big reason why that may be the case is that AFC have scored seven goals in the 146 minutes that Neyder Moreno has been on the pitch and five goals in the 484 minutes that they’ve played without Moreno. Moreno has only played as a substitute so far.

5. There was a starting debut for Finn McKenlay this week, taking over in defensive midfield with both Louis Verstraete and Cam Howieson out injured. McKenlay is a seriously good prospect, a tall and combative midfielder with a strong range of passing and good game sense. But he kinda had a shocker on debut and was hooked at half-time on a yellow card having conceded three fouls, sprayed several passes, and possibly carried some blame for his marking for Melbourne City’s first goal. Great prospect but that was a nasty scenario for a debut and he got a bit swamped by it. He’ll be better for it though. Character building.

6. Speaking of injuries, Dan Hall’s broken a bone in his foot and will miss up to three months as he recovers. For the MCY game, Hiroki Sakai moved into centre-back and Callan Elliot played on the right. That’s probably the way to go moving forward... though this does expose a lack of depth in the CB position with Tommy Smith the only other genuine option there and his lack of pace would be an issue if he had to start. Plus Smithy’s got that good and important role as The Closer. Other than him, Adama Coulibaly can play some CB plus there’s youth player Carlos Ranui so it might be worth peeking at an injury replacement. Big bummer to have that Hall/Pijnaker combo broken up.

7. Perth Glory lost 4-0 to Newcastle Jets this week, meaning they’re still without a win after eight games and sit last on the ladder. Oli Sail has played four games, conceding 13 goals whilst making 13 saves. Cameron Cook has played four games conceding 11 goals whilst making 11 saves. It’s hair-splitting to separate them but dropping Sail clearly hasn’t made them any better. By the way, Lachie Bayliss scored in that game for the Jets, a beauty of a finish for his first goal in the ALM.

8. The Wellington Phoenix blokes lost 2-1 at home against Macarthur FC in a game where for brief flashes they showed the potential to really tear Macarthur apart... only to concede a dumb penalty and then lose to a goal against the run of play in the 75^th minute. Isaac Hughes, after his own goal last week, had some sketchy moments with both goals. He’s been superb stepping up to replace Finn Surman this season but yeah nah here’s the first proper test of the bloke’s mettle. The Nix are relying on a lot of young players and these slippery moments are going to happen from time to time. Comes with the territory.

9. The other reason the Nix lost a game that they otherwise seemed to dominate was because of the substitutions that they made: Sheridan for Sutton, Al Taay for Nagasawa, Colakovski for Rojas, and Walker for Retre. Not to sound harsh here but every one of those subs made the team weaker. All are sharp players but in each case there was a drop-off that let some air out of the balloon despite the team chasing goals. Surprised to be saying this but, like... Luke Supyk was on the bench for the first time this season so I s’pose we’re just never going to see David Ball again? Lowkey reckon he’d have been quite useful in that game. Oskar van Hattum didn’t make the matchday squad either.

10. Kosta Barbarouses has scored in four consecutive games, one shy of matching the club record of five which he set last season. He has scored 18 goals in his last 28 appearances for the Welly Nix. Don’t forget the stat from last week about how he’s the first/only player to have scored against 15 unique ALM clubs. But the problem for the Nix is that he’s scored five goals this term and the entire rest of the squad have only scored four combined. Far too much reliance on one guy.

For a bonus nugget, here are the timings of the goals that Auckland FC have scored so far...

8’, 31’, 34’, 53’, 70’, 74’, 80’, 83’, 89’, 90+5’, 90+6’, 90+7’

Funnily enough, the two early goals were both own goals.

No Breakers stuff today because I’ve got an article in the works so here’s a different NBL angle...

Rob Loe’s First 11 Games for Melbourne United in NBL25

16 MIN | 6.6 PTS (44% FG, 20% 3P) | 4.8 REB | 1.5 AST

Rob Loe’s Last 8 Games for Melbourne United in NBL25

24 MIN | 17.8 PTS (68% FG, 56% 3P) | 4.4 REB | 2.1 AST

Big time stuff from Rob Loe, upping his minutes and exploding as a scorer... largely because after starting the term shooting 5/25 from his threes, he’s since shot 19/36 in his last eight games (and this is after going 0/4 in a loss to SEM Phoenix on Sunday).

And now we move onto the cricket...

Zak Crawley’s Dismissals vs NZ In This Series:

• 0 (12) lbw Henry – 9/1

• 1 (8) c&b Henry – 1/1

• 17 (23) b Henry – 21/2

• 8 (7) c Conway b Henry – 9/1

• 21 (14) c & b Henry – 32/1

• 5 (16) lbw Henry - 18/2

Matt Henry’s gotten Zak Crawley out two other times in the past as well, meaning he’s picked him off eight times overall in Test matches. There is no other batter that Henry has dismissed more than three times in the format. Henry’s four-for in the first innings of the third Test finally took his average down under 30 where we can reasonably assume, based on his sizzling form over the past three years, that it’ll stay. With eight more available wickets remaining in the third Test vs England, here’s an update to Friday’s wicket-taking yarn following his four-for on Sunday...

Most Test Wickets In A Calendar Year For NZ

1. Richard Hadlee (1985) – 64 wickets @ 17.43 avg

2. Daniel Vettori (2008) – 54 wickets @ 26.12 avg

3. Matt Henry (2024) – 47 wickets @ 17.95 avg

4. Chris Cairns (1999) – 47 wickets @ 20.51 avg

5. Trent Boult (2013) – 46 wickets @ 25.08 avg

6. Neil Wagner (2019) – 43 wickets @ 17.81 avg

7. Neil Wagner (2016) – 41 wickets @ 21.04 avg

8. Richard Hadlee (1987) – 39 wickets @ 20.74 avg

9. Richard Hadlee (1980) – 38 wickets @ 19.07 avg

10. Iain O’Brien (2008) – 38 wickets @ 21.57 avg

Meanwhile, as I was counting down week after week waiting for Rachin Ravindra to achieve the third instance of a New Zealander scoring 1000+ runs in a calendar year, the bugger Kane Williamson burst past him to get there instead. Ravindra’s dismissal for 44 this arvo left him short by 16 runs. Looked locked-on to get there during the India series but then he didn’t surpass fifty in any of his last nine innings of the year. As that was happening, Kane Williamson grabbed a cheeky 156 to become NZ’s top yearly run scorer for the seventh time in the past decade.

Leading Run Scorer For NZ Each Calendar Year

• 2024 – Kane Williamson

• 2023 – Kane Williamson

• 2022 – Daryl Mitchell

• 2021 – Kane Williamson

• 2020 – Kane Williamson

• 2019 – Ross Taylor

• 2018 – Tom Latham/Henry Nicholls

• 2017 – Kane Williamson

• 2016 – Kane Williamson

• 2015 – Kane Williamson

Most Runs In A Calendar Year for NZ

1. Kane Williamson (2015) – 1172 runs at 90.15 avg

2. Brendon McCullum (2014) – 1164 runs at 72.75 avg

3. Kane Williamson (2024) – 1013 runs at 59.58 avg

4. Rachin Ravindra (2024) – 984 runs at 42.78 avg

5. Kane Williamson (2014) – 929 runs at 72.17 avg

Musical Jam...