Our Jerries
Glenn Phillips/Otago Cricket, Junior Fa & mates, Daisy Cleverley's new club, more Kiwi-NRL takeover things, some Blackcaps stats + more
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Podcast
Reading Menu
27fm Album Jukebox - May 2022 (Music)
Flying Kiwis – May 31 (Football)
Kiwi Steve in the NBA #14: The Way of the Warrior (Basketball)
Turns Out Trent Boult Is The Best Number 11 In Test Cricket (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
Glenn Phillips officially joins Otago cricket. Glenn joins younger bro Dale at Otago and this opens up various wrinkles like a fern’s koru. There is a natural connection to Dale and these brothers are close in age, allowing them to play plenty of cricket together. Otago deserve some luck with their recruits after Warren Barnes and Shawn Hicks both made moves down from Auckland only to retire early in their careers due to injuries while Dean Foxcroft left Central for Otago and he has been stuck overseas since the pandy started; his last game in NZ was March 2020.
All of these lads are from South Africa which is just a weird random thing. Michael Rippon is from South Africa and a Dutch international with his move to Otago trucking along nicely. Hopefully Glenn can bolster what is already a solid Volts outfit and Glenn enters Otago cricket as a leader for their young-ish group.
Phillips also wants to bowl more, sighting the hole left by Anaru Kitchen’s retirement. Phillips bowling his offies has been a key Niche Cache topic for over a year and it’s been fun to follow his increasing workload around the world. This really sprung into motion with Gloucestershire as Phillips would play County Championship games mixed into the T20 Blast schedule. Phillips started bowling in both formats consistently and this hit a peak last summer as Phillips left Mark Chapman’s spin bowling back in the distance.
Plunket Shield
Glenn Phillips: 59.3ov, 8w @ 18avg.
Mark Chapman: -
Ford Trophy
Glenn Phillips: 44ov, 7w @ 33.28avg.
Mark Chapman: 6ov.
Super Smash
Glenn Phillips: 5ov, 3w @ 11.33avg.
Mark Chapman: 8.5ov, 1w @ 84avg.
Along with their northern region folks Northern Districts, Auckland have lots of spinners. Ish Sodhi leaves Northern and they still have Mitchell Santner, Joe and Freddie Walker. Phillips leaves his part-timey spin role with Auckland and Auckland still have Will Somerville, Louis Delport, Adithya Ashok and Chapman.
Phillips has bowled 2ov @ 8rpo in England’s T20 Blast, to go with 87 runs @ 138sr. Phillips has hit 6 fours and 6 sixes. Last year Phillips bowled 4ov with 2w @ 18avg as he smacked 500 runs @ 55.55avg/163sr and finished 2nd for runs. Phillips is low key a T20 monster and while we have spun yarns about Daryl Mitchell/Michael Bracewell vs Glenn Phillips, keep the T20 World Cup in focus. Phillips won’t bowl lots of World Cup overs but being a 1st 11 batter who can bowl a couple overs in T20 cricket is like NBA defenders who can switch multiple positions while adding 3-point shooting.
Otago cricket has had niggly results to go with their bad luck. There is a solid group brewing down south. The presence of coach Dion Ebrahim, Hamish Rutherford and Jacob Duffy with Blackcaps will only be beneficial. Otago wahine cricket has reinvigorated the region as well with Otago Sparks enjoying the most growth in recent seasons.
Eden Carson is always saluted and gained a White Ferns contract recently. Emma Black, Molly Loe, Sophie Oldershaw and Polly Inglis are all among the best youngsters in Aotearoa. Kate Ebrahim is an Aotearoa 1st 11 cricketer who has consistently been overlooked for White Ferns selection. There will be more young wahine from the southern region emerging as wahine cricket is already embedded in their sporting culture, while Craig Cumming can continue to build out his set up.
Otago wahine already deserve a greater presence in NZC wahine development pathways. At some point they will command some kind of Otago takeover.
Let’s keep things down south with some South Island rugby league yarn and that has to start with Otago rugby league. Otago won the NZRL National Championship (tier-2) which featured a win over Wellington in the final. Any Otago success is notable and Wellington has strong rugby league roots as well as three of the best Aotearoa Kiwis right now; Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Jahrome Hughes, Joseph Tapine.
I’ve thrown up Thomas McKenzie and Sione Nau a few times now. Both played in that Otago team last year and are now showing good ‘team list’ signs in Australia. McKenzie has moved from bench to starting prop over the course at Norths Devils in Queensland’s U21s competition. Nau is a starting half for Victoria Thunderbolts in NSW’s U21s comp.
Norths are linked to Broncos and Xavier Willison is named on their Q Cup bench this weekend. Mckenzie isn’t signed to Broncos though. I don’t think Nau is signed to Storm either but both are in the mix to been developed or scouted. McKenzie is from Edendale (Southland), Nau is from Auckland and moved down south. Both are living with family/friends in Australia and working full-time.
Christchurch has Jordan Riki and Fa’amanu Brown as Hornby juniors, plus Aranui juniors Jamayne Isaako. Griffin Neame holds it down for Greymouth.
Caius and Felix Fa’atili are Hornby juniors, currently starting together for Wynnum U21s in Queensland. Felix was playing U18s and when that finished he jumped up to join older bro Caius. K-Ci Hoeroa Whare is a Riccarton junior who appears to be in the Storm system and is currently skipper of Coombabah High School in Queensland’s schoolboys competition. Coombabah is in the Gold Coast area and Whare also played Burleigh Bears 18s earlier this year, plus a game in U21s.
Redcliffe Dolphins continue to represent the Kiwi-NRL takeover with Jeremy Marshall-King their latest signing. Praise Aotearoa that Marshall-King can gap Bulldogs where he has settled as a solid dummy half in a crappy club. Benji’s younger bro will join Wayne Bennett and Redcliffe now have Marshall-King, Jesse & Kenny Bromwich, Jamayne Isaako, Isaiya Katoa, Connelly Lemuelu and Valynce Te Whare under their umbrella.
I’ve got 17 players signed to Redcliffe and listed seven lads above. Te Whare is named to start at centre for Redcliffe in Q Cup which will be his first reserve grade game since moving from Waikato rugby. There is also sibling funk here as Jeremy and Benji are brothers, along with the Bromwich bros. Big up the Fa’atili bros mentioned above, plus Paul and Lee Turner who continue to play together for Tweed in Q Cup.
Lydia Ko’s first round at the US Women’s Open was niggly, finishing +1 (T49). Ko hit 33 putts which is above her season average of 28.25 - good enough for 1st on the LPGA Tour. That’s a random blip as Ko’s short game is her strongest asset, so I’m curious how this plays out in the coming days. Ko has finished T25 or better in all eight tournaments played this year.
Black Sticks blokes continue to struggle against Australia with 1-8 and 0-4 losses this week. Hockey isn’t a massive sport in Australia but they are the benchmark for blokes hockey, which is amplified when they can roll over the ditch with a team of grizzly international experience and beat up a young, inexperienced Aotearoa group.
These results are compounding tough times for Aotearoa hockey. They blokes played 11 games last year (Olympics included) with one win, one draw and nine losses. That includes seven losses vs Australia and that streak is now bumped out to nine losses to Australia since the start of 2021.
Black Sticks wahine can’t get a win over Australia but they can grab draws. Four draws and three losses vs Australia last year, followed by two of each in their recent series. The wahine played 12 games last year with two wins, four draws and six losses.
All together Aotearoa has played 29 games with a 3-7-19 record since the start of 2021.
Wildcard’s Notebook
Kiwi Boxing on the Sabbath
Huge day of kiwi boxing on Sunday. That’s when this Kambosos vs Haney fight takes place in Melbourne with Junior Fa, David Nyika, and Hemi Ahio all on the undercard… but make sure you don’t get fooled by the timings.
The event may be in Melbourne with an Aussie (Kambosos) as the main draw but it’s a unification bout for the major lightweight belts between two champions, one of whom is American (Haney), both of whom are undefeated, and it’s being co-promoted by Top Rank and Lou DiBella. Both American agencies/agents.
Hence why we’ve got this otherwise baffling scenario where rather than a major unification bout being held on, you know, a Saturday night or something... it’s instead on early Sunday afternoon which means a Saturday night viewing experience for American PPV fans. They’ve still managed to sell out Marvel Stadium but it’s hardly the ideal timing. Particularly for those jerries, like our jerries, who are on the undercard. There are a full dozen fights in the event and it even appears they might whip some up as “post-lims” – aka, lesser fights after the main event, the opposite of prelims. Weird, man.
The good news here is that all three kiwi fellas have been put on the main card. Junior Fa is fighting Lucas Browne, a former heavyweight title challenger and a well-known Aussie boxing pro so that one was always gonna get good value. And Fa is also promoted by Lou DiBella so he’s been able to bring the bros along with him.
That main card should begin somewhere around midday to 1pm on Sunday NZT. David Nyika will fight in what’s listed as a 4-6 round swing bout against Karim Maatalla. A swing bout means it doesn’t have a set place in the order and will be fitted in to work with the broadcast. Never the easiest thing to prepare for, basically if someone looks like they’re about to get knocked out early he’d better be ready to go. Tricky... but also Nyika more than any of the NZ trio is expected to roll his man in quick time for another pro win so no dramas.
Hemi Ahio has had a change in opponents at late notice. He was due to face American heavyweight Joe Jones (13-4 with 10 KO wins) but Jones appears to have pulled out in favour of a fight in his homeland a week later instead. In his place has stepped up Christian Ndzie Tsoye, a Cameroonian-Australian with a 5-4 pro record.
Coincidental thing about that bloke is that he’s actually matched up with David Nyika before as an amateur... sort of. They were drawn to meet each other in the quarters of the 2018 Commonwealth Games but Ndzie Tsoye never turned up for the weigh-in so Nyika got the walkover victory (going on to take gold in the event). CNT was one of eight Cameroonian athletes that went missing from the athlete’s village and he seems to have remained in Australia ever since, setting himself up as a pro.
Christian Ndzie Tsoye’s record doesn’t look flash but in fairness he has fought a couple semi decent dudes. Such as a draw against Aussie journeyman Hunter Sam, whom Junior Fa once bagged a six-round unanimous win against. That draw was good value for Sam as it snapped an 11-fight losing streak for him. Not sure how you can keep at a sport like this with 11 losses in a row but okay.
More relevantly, CNT lost a unanimous decision to Justis Huni a year ago in his most recent effort. Justis Huni shapes as probably the top Australian heavyweight prospect right now and was extremely close to fighting Junior Fa only for negotiations and a Huni injury to continually break that up. Huni is fighting compatriot Joseph Goodall in two weeks to make his return to the ring a year after beating old mate Paul Gallen.
That Ahio-CNT fight is an 8-rounder and is also a swing bout. Meanwhile Aussie Jason Moloney (23-2 18 KOs) versus Filipino Aston Palicte (28-4-1, 23 KOs) in a 10rnd bantamweight meeting is considered the co-feature so that will take place prior to the main event. Junior Fa vs Lucas Browne is the opener of the main card so you can expect them to fight roughly around 1pm in Aotearoa time. We’re talking 10 rounds for that bad boy and Browne’s WBA Oceania heavyweight title is also on the line.
For what it’s worth, the TAB have Junior Fa as $1.06 favourite, Hemi Ahio as $1.03 favourite, and they’re not even taking bets on the David Nyika bout. Fa vs Browne could be closer than that suggests (it’s the TAB so it’ll be slightly skewed to the NZ audience) but still fully expecting three wins from three.
Blackcaps Captaincy Influence
I get why the English pundits love the idea of Brendon McCullum as coach and I can see plenty of reasons why he could be a roaring success in the role. Plenty why he won’t as well but those aren’t necessarily gonna be his fault. This is English cricket we’re talking about after all - a nation that’ll bowl you out for 132 on day one and then end the day unsure if they’ll even get a lead.
But one thing I keep seeing is McCullum getting credit for things that he didn’t actually do. Like, the McCullum/Hesson combo (again, no respect for Mike Hesson from those angles either, come on) certainly laid the foundation for a cultural reset that has led to the success of the Blackcaps ever since. Can’t argue with that. Baz was a driving factor in the Cappies finding that self-belief to compete with anyone. Trusting their natural games, finding a winning identity. Sweet as.
However the Blackcaps did get better after McCullum retired. He may have provided the platform but Williamson built the house. It was under Williamson’s leadership that New Zealand made World Cup/Championship finals in all three formats, including winning the Test Championship.
McCullum as Test Captain:
31 matches | 11 wins | 9 draws | 11 losses | 1.00 W/L | 35.48 W%
Williamson as Test Captain:
38 matches | 22 wins | 8 draws | 8 losses | 2.75 W/L | 57.89 W%
That’s actually quite a stark difference, to be honest. Twice as many wins in only seven additional games. Tom Latham, if you’re wondering, has captained eight games with four wins and four losses.
In that spirit, I whipped up some averages under the different captains. This is from before the start of the first Test against England of course...
The most blatant thing there is the significant improvement under Williamson of all three front-line seamers. Boult, Southee, Wagner each shaving multiple runs off those averages. Tom Latham had a similar effect with his batting, as did Henry Nicholls (though with HN that’s a bit to do with his natural trajectory as well). Probably the funniest thing there is Kane Williamson’s bowling average going to pot when he’s captain. Also shout out to Matt Henry and Ajaz Patel, whose irregular efforts under Tom Latham’s captaincy are massively boosted by single man of the match performances.
Anyway, that’s just something I’ve been pondering. May go into more detail later on depending on how the Test series vs England goes, nor sure yet.
Daisy Cleverley -> HB Køge
It’s been a long while since Daisy Cleverley was scandalously overlooked at the NWSL college draft. Five years at uni between UC Berkeley and Georgetown and multiple World Cup squad selections, plus age grade stuff for New Zealand, and that apparently still wasn’t enough to convince one of them teams to sign her up last December. So it goes.
Jacqui Hand was also overlooked in that draft but has since moved to Åland United playing in the Finnish top flight where she’s immediately begun scoring and assisting goals to the point where last week she was offered an extension to her initial short-term contract. So things have worked out pretty well for her and it seems things have worked out pretty well for Daisy Cleverley too because signing with HB Køge is a big deal.
Marko Stamenic has been playing on loan for the men’s team at HBK lately. Lent there from FC København where despite some impressive preseason exploits he wasn’t quite ready to crack the first team on a regular basis for the team that would go on to win the Danish Superliga, earning a qualifying spot for next season’s Champions League in the process. Hence he found himself in the second division where he started basically every game he was available for and impressed just as was hoped/expected.
That’s the men’s team though. The women’s team at HB Køge is different gravy. They recently clinched their second consecutive Danish league championship and will likewise be a part of the qualifying phases for next season’s Champions League (just as I wrote on Monday that there’d be no kiwi wahine presence in that comp at all barring any transfers – call that divine intervention or something). Same as Køge did this past season when they made it all the way to the group stage. Lost all six games there… but to be fair they were in a group with Barcelona, Arsenal, and Hoffenheim.
So, basically, Daisy Cleverley has just signed with the best team in Denmark. A team which finally broke the duopoly between Brøndby and Fortuna Hjørring who between them had finished in some arrangement of first and second in each of the previous nineteen seasons.
Daisy Cleverley: “I look forward to entering a professional setup where all players and coaches are dedicated to winning. Having the opportunity to play in the Champions League is a once in a lifetime opportunity, which I can not wait to be allowed to try my hand at. Køge is located close to Copenhagen, one of the coolest and most progressive cities in the world, which also played a part in my decision to join the club. I look forward to experiencing Køge and the neighbouring towns and to refreshing my Danish, so I can say thank you! But most importantly, I look forward to meeting the team and to developing myself as a football player.”
HBK Head Coach Søren Randa-Boldt: “We found Daisy through our scouting network in the US and at Capelli Sport, and we have no doubt that she will strengthen us. She has good international experience and we think she will fit well into our environment and setup so we are really happy that we have succeeded in signing her. Daisy is a mobile and talented midfielder, where, among other things, she is good at getting around and covering large areas.”
Helpfully, Cleverley was a college teammate of current HBK player Kelly Fitzgerald back in her UC Berkeley days so there’ll already be an existing midfield combination there from day one. No doubt that connection was a factor in the move from both ends. Fellow American midfielder Lauren Sajewich also appears to be leaving the club after a couple years as a regular starter so that even opens up a convenient spot for DC to challenge for. Had to be patient after the NWSL snub… but safe to say things have worked out pretty sweet for her in time.