Papatuanuku and Ranginui
Papatuanuku and Ranginui
Lydia Ko thriving, NZ Breakers defending, Kiwis in the WBBL and ALW, domestic cricket happenings, Eugene Bareman wisdom, and Women's National League Team of the Week
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Reading Menu
2022/23 Kiwi-NRL Train and Trial Breakdown (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Junior Siua Wong's Crazy Year Of Footy (Rugby League)
Football Ferns vs South Korea: Back Home, Still Building (Football)
Notes From The Wellington Phoenix’s 4-1 Defeat (At Home!) vs Melbourne City (Football)
Kiwi Steve in the NBA #1: Screeners (Basketball)
2022/23 HBJ Shield: 10 Intriguing Wahine (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
Having tracked Lydia Ko's LPGA Tour mahi over the past few years, her current success serves as major inspiration for folks who are grinding through adversity. The Lydia Ko Mixtape started just as Ko was sliding into her adversity and while everyone was questioning Ko, she kept smiling.
Ko maintained her positive attitude and kept searching for improvements. Coaches and caddies were shuffled along, maybe because Ko is a diva but most likely because Ko wasn't playing her best golf and her pursuit of excellence led to change. I found inspiration in Ko's mana and after a few years of brewing this mana, Ko is now on top of the golf world once again.
This year has revolved around Ko's consistency as she racked up top-10 finishes against the best players in the world. Ko's win at the CME Group Tour Championship in Florida was her 14th top-10 finish from 22 events and this amounts to 64 percent top-10 finishes which is the best on tour; 19-year-old Thai Atthaya Thitikul was second on 62 percent and they are the only players over 50 percent.
Sidenote: Ko was battling a 19-year-old from Thailand as the most consistent player. 27-year-old Hyo Joo Kim was second behind Ko in Scoring Average. Ko fought off challenges from 27-year-old Irish player Leona Maguire and 35-year-old Swede Anna Nordqvist. LPGA Tour is full of diverse talent and Ko's the best.
Since the start of August, Ko played eight tournaments with five top-five finishes. In this stretch Ko dipped out of the top-10 just twice. Ko maintained a Scoring Average of 69 or below over seven consecutive tournaments and she is the only player on the LPGA Tour who finishes the year averaging below 69.
Ko also finishes this year first for Putts per GiR, Sand Saves and Rounds Under Par. Ko finishes second for Putting Average and third for Birdies. Ko is the best player in the world while ranked 93rd for Average Driving Distance and 145th for Driving Accuracy.
Perth Scorchers didn't make Women's Big Bash League finals. Sydney Sixers (Suzie Bates), Brisbane Heat (Kerr sisters) and Hobart Hurricanes (Hayley Jensen) did make finals, with Heat vs Hurricanes to be played tomorrow evening.
Scorchers lost their last three games and the last two came against the two Melbourne teams who finished below Scorchers on the ladder. The excellence of Sophie Devine made it feel like Devine could explode at any point with runs and while she had scores of 27 @ 112.5sr and 24* @ 109sr, Devine couldn't roll out her best batting when Scorchers needed it most.
Scorchers were champions last summer and Devine's WBBL mana makes this easier to work with. This was Devine's worst WBBL campaign by a hefty margin. After four consecutive summers averaging 30+ in WBBL, Devine dipped down to 16.54 and this is the first WBBL since her debut in 2015/16 where Devine averaged below 20. Devine averaged 32.87 with the ball, her first WBBL averaging over 30 since 2017.
Maddy Green finished second for Scorchers runs and her development is an impressive aspect of Scorchers cricket. Green scored 240 runs @ 24avg/105.26sr and this is her best WBBL of her three excursions, also notably better than her T20I record of 13.97avg/94sr.
HBJ Shield cricket was heavily impacted by Papatuanuku and Ranginui over the weekend. Wellington, Northern and Central grabbed a win, while all teams had a game rubbed out due to rain. Kate Ebrahim hit a century for Otago in their loss to Northern and Bernadine Bezuidenhout led Northern's batting with 62* and 101; Northern were 308/4 when their second game against Otago was ruled out.
Caitlin Gurrey also scored 87 runs for Northern and these three were the only players with a 50+ score from the opening round. Brooke Halliday took 4 wickets against Otago and Gabby Sullivan took 4w for Canterbury in their loss to Wellington, while Caitlin King (Wellington) and Jess Watkin (Central) took 3w.
Auckland and Canterbury were fragile with the bat. Auckland scored 86/9 in 20 overs against Central in which Saachi Shahri and Lauren Down were the only players who scored over 20 runs. Central reached 89/4 with three overs remaining, thanks to Natalie Dodd's 32* and Hannah Rowe's 30*.
Wellington put up 178/9 in their 44 overs with seven players scoring over 10 runs, four went on to pass 30 runs. Frances Mackay didn't bat for Canterbury and they were all out for 51, as King took her 3w in a single over. Leigh Kasperek, Xara Jetley and Deanna Doughty all took wickets in a strong spin unit for Wellington.
Here is a Plunket Shield First Stanza All Stars draft (best players mixed with vibe and Blackcaps mana)...
Tom Latham: 5inns, 361 runs @ 90.25avg, 2 x 100
Will Young: 7inns, 250 runs @ 35.71avg, 1 x 100, 2 x 50
Bharat Popli: 8inns, 395 runs @ 56.42avg, 1 x 100, 3 x 50
Tom Bruce: 7inns, 390 runs @ 55.71avg, 1 x 100, 3 x 50
Cole McConchie: 5inns, 452 runs @ 90.4avg, 2 x 100, 1 x 50
Tom Blundell: 8inns, 388 runs @ 48.5avg, 2 x 100, 2 x 50
Michael Rippon: 7inns, 234 runs @ 39avg, 3 x 50 | 96.5ov, 15w @ 28.13avg/4.35rpo
Doug Bracewell: 6inns, 175 runs @ 29.16avg, 1 x 50 | 121.5ov, 20w @ 17.55avg/2.88rpo
Matt Henry: 134.1ov, 23w @ 11.69avg/2rpo
Ajaz Patel: 100.1ov, 9w @ 33.77avg/3rpo
Jacob Duffy: 149.1ov, 22w @ 21.36avg/3.15rpo
Fascinating yarns from Eugene Bareman…
Wildcard’s Notebook
The Breakers won two more thrilling victories over the weekend, moving to 8-3 to start the season. Further words will follow these minor revelations but how about some numbers for starters. The incredible thing about what Mody Maor has achieved so far as head coach is that this doesn’t even look like the same team as the last few seasons, even though he was an assistant coach with those regimes.
They’ve completely rediscovered their defensive grit. They’re crushing teams on the defensive end, swarming them and restricting them to by far the fewest points per game this season. That alone is superb. But compare it to recent years and the turnaround has been borderline unbelievable.
Opponents vs NZ Breakers...
PPG | FG% | 3P%
2022-23: 76.4 | 40.6% | 30.9% (Mody Maor)
2021-22: 88.5 | 48.1% | 35.9% (Dan Shamir)
2020-21: 83.9 | 45.5% | 33.9% (Dan Shamir)
2019-20: 88.1 | 47.0% | 34.3% (Dan Shamir)
2018-19: 94.3 | 46.0% | 39.1% (Kevin Braswell)
2017-18: 85.4 | 44.9% | 36.0% (Paul Henare)
That final year, 2017-18, was the last time that the Breakers made the finals. It was also the last year prior to the ownership sale (which came into effect late in that season but didn’t really show have an affect until teh next term). Dunno if they’ll be able to maintain this level of defence but they probably won’t have to given how far out in front they are compared to anyone else. They’ve given up four fewer points per game than any other team. In general the NBL seems to be much lower scoring this year, the timing of which suits NZB beautifully.
Tell ya what, that Dererk Pardon is an absolute killer defender. The secret of this team’s success isn’t much of a secret: they’ve recruited three brilliant imports.
Here’s something that happened while I was writing this…
Fifteen players took the field for the Wellington Phoenix ALW team on the weekend and fourteen of them were New Zealanders (or aligned with Aotearoa internationally, at least). But just as kiwi rugby league goes way beyond who plays for the Warriors – especially after the 2022 Warriors only contributed one player to the Kiwis World Cup squad - kiwis in the A-League Women’s go well beyond the Wellington Phoenix.
That began on the opposite side of the pitch from the Welly Nix where their opponents Melbourne City had Katie Bowen operating in their backline. Mentioned a few words about her in the SheNix article from Monday so have a read of that for some deeper ideas. Bowen had a wonderful game playing on the left of a back three (although that shape was a bit hybrid thing, depending on their rotations). Wasn’t able to step forward into midfield much but her passing was immaculate and she hardly lost a defensive duel. Excellent work from KB.
Her best mate Hannah Wilkinson didn’t make the trip. The injury that kept her out of the Football Ferns series against South Korea now also seems like it’ll keep her out of the initial couple games of the ALW season. Not good news for her quest to win the Golden Boot. It’s substantial enough that the club brought in Maria Rojas as a short term replacement until the end of December. Fingers crossed Wilkie isn’t out that whole time.
Rojas was only signed on the Thursday before the match on Sunday… and she then played a massive role in each of City’s first three goals. As much as we love Wilkie she’s a different style of player to Rojas which could have kept that game from getting away from them so swiftly. Or maybe it would’ve meant that they still lost 4-1 but that Wilkinson got a few goals. Still would’ve preferred that outcome, tbf.
There was no game for Malia Steinmetz and Western Sydney Wanderers who started with the bye. WSW have a new coach and that’ll hopefully mean many more opportunities for Steinmetz this season having found her minutes frustratingly sparse last time. Tom Sermanni is now involved as the Head of Women's Football at the club which should also help her case (although she didn’t actually play much under Sermanni for the Ferns). We’ll get a better idea when they play their first game against Newcastle on Saturday. Steimetz is absolutely good enough to be a dominant defensive midfielder in this league if given that licence.
Anna Green is another challenging for a World Cup squad place, having signed with Sydney FC. Greenie got the start at left back for the Sky Blues away against Adelaide... which means that they’ve basically replaced Ally Green with Anna Green. Rate that. Anna Green wasn’t really there to overlap but she did get forward enough to swing in a couple wicked first-time crosses. Unfortunately for Sydney, they were a bit sketchy at the back and more than a bit rusty up front and ended up losing 1-0 in an upset thanks to an 88th minute winner from scholarship player Amelia Murray.
There was also an upset defeat for Claudia Bunge and her Melbourne Victory team. Reunited at the back with American defender Kayla Morrison – which will be the strongest CB pairing in the competition this season, mark my words – the Victory forgot to do that thing where they score goals, leading to a 1-0 defeat against expansion team Western United. USA international Jess McDonald scored the only goal in the 54th minute... if you’re wondering about why WU won their first game and it took the Phoenix until their eleventh game to get a dub, well, being able to sign an import of the quality of Jessica McDonald is a good reason. MVC’s main problem was not converting chance but they should still be a title contender again this term on the back of a very sturdy defence.
The best game to watch was undoubtedly Canberra United vs Perth Glory. No Rebecca Burrows in the line-up for Canberra but they did start Grace Jale on club debut and she was straight-up one of the best players on the park, wasting little time in getting her account underway for the season with a header into the back of the goalie and in. Take ‘em how they come.
But Perth Glory had a set piece weapon of their own in Liz Anton who very quickly tied things up again...
Emphatic. Strange how all three of her ALW goals have come against Canberra.
That game ended 2-2. Canberra worked a nice chance soon after conceding the first that was notable for a sizzling backheel down the line by Jale, who wasn’t directly involved as Vesna Milivojevic restored the lead just before the half but it was her run back in the other direction that created room for the shot.
Into the second half and Jale almost scored a legendary solo goal with a weaving run that ended with a good save. Beating defenders at speed, capable of angling in any direction. If this is a new element of her game unlocked by the move to Canberra then bring it on. Jale was superb. What a performance... even if they did concede on 63’ to end up drawing.
Also credit to Anton who was pretty good herself. Not sure what to expect from Perth yet but Anton was their best defender here and scored a goal to boot. Fine way to begin her season.
Women’s National League – Team of the Week #10
GK – Una Foyle (Canterbury United Pride) – It takes contributions from all parts to topple a team that had won ten games in a row... especially your goalkeeper. Well, the Pride got all of those things in a thrilling upset against Eastern Suburbs. Foyle made a handful of supreme saves and gets extra points for doing so in some atrocious weather.
RB – Sarah Morton (Southern United) – Filled in at centre-back for Southern in the absence of Hannah Mackay-Wright, their best defender, and somehow managed to be the team’s most influential player in both attack and defence. Sneaking her in at right back here in honour of her Footy Fern days. Morton defended like a champ and moved the ball swiftly and had a few close shots... all of which add up to a quality game. But even without that she’d have made this team entirely on the back of an unbelievable pass for Southern’s equalising goal. Check it out at the bottom of the email.
CB – Rebecca Lake (Canterbury United Pride) – Along with a great goalkeeping performance, the Pride also had their captain serve up a defensive masterclass. Like, it just doesn’t get any better than what Lake did against Subs... which included restricting Tayla O’Brien to her quietest game all season. This was 11/10 material. Lake was inspirationally good.
CB – Zoe Barrott (Capital) – Three straight losses and up against a Southern team on a five-game unbeaten run yet for a long time Capital looked like they were gonna hold on and win that thing. Didn’t quite manage to on account of that Morton stunner assist but still got a 1-1 draw away from home against an in-form team and that would not have been possible without some Zoe Barrott prowess at the back, winning headers and interceptions and shepherding those around her.
LB – Cara Chung (Capital) – If Southern were hoping that Margi Dias could pick up where Jasmine Prince left off... they may still be right because Dias is a really exciting player. But it didn’t happen against Capital thanks largely to some powerful fullback mahi from Cara Chung – who also happens to be the only Capital defender to have started every game in 2022 (Olliver-Bell and Bacon are her other teammates to have don that, both forwards).
CM – Breeze Durham (Northern Rovers) – A first TOW honour for a very impressive defensive midfielder. Often overshadowed by her team’s attacking exploits. Against Central she was up against the lowest scoring team in the comp but that doesn’t mean that Durham wasn’t superb, sweeping around the midfield and ensuring that Central created almost nothing all game. Flawless CDM play.
CM – Danielle Canham (Northern Rovers) – Then slightly further forward in the same team we had Dani Canham whose ability to pop up in important areas was golden as she served up three assists in the first half. Takes the 17yo up to eight assists overall this season. Really good technical player with a clever sense of spacial awareness.
CM – Chloe Bellamy (Canterbury United Pride) – Scored the winning goal against Suburbs, scrapping that thing over the line from in close. Also did a fantastic job playing a little deeper and chipping in with the midfield, helping to outnumber Suburbs in the centre of the pitch which (along with their attacking width) was a key factor in the victory.
FW – Ruby Nathan (Auckland United) – The season’s most exciting emerging young forward was at it again, almost sparking United into an upset win over Western Springs with two excellent assists (especially the outside of the boot pass for the second). Her team blew a 2-0 lead in the final twenty to lose 3-2 but Nathan did go clear top again by reaching 10 assists for the campaign (in only seven games and with four goals too).
FW – Pepi Olliver-Bell (Capital) – Scored a lovely header glanced in off the post. Did great work throughout dropping in from striker to collect the ball, then turning on it and dishing it around. That’ll do it. Up to five goals for the season now for the 18 year old... who’s also a pretty handy film director too.
FW – Sofia Garcia (Western Springs) – Last week she scored a 90th minute winner. This week she scored an 87th minute winner. Plus she also scored the first goal in each of those 3-2 wins. Sofia Garcia wasn’t quite at her blistering best against Auckland United but she’s finding a way to score these crucial goals and that’s by far the most important thing. Coming into some sharp form ahead of a probably grand final in a few weeks.