Patience, Perseverance, Pounce
Patience, Perseverance, Pounce
Blackcaps T20 rolling, Wellington Phoenix week one reaction, All Whites vs NZF, Aotearoa Kiwis halves, Breakers statties & WNL Team of the Week
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The Memphis Grizzlies Extended Steven Adams' Contact, Now To Go Win Some Championships (Basketball)
2022 Rugby League World Cup: Aotearoa Kiwis Squad (Rugby League)
Joseph Parker Got Knocked All The Way Out By Joe Joyce... Where Does He Go From Here? (Boxing)
2022 Domestic Cricket Contracts: Central Districts (Cricket)
2022 Domestic Cricket Contracts: Wellington Firebirds (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
Blackcaps are rolling through this T20I tri-series with Pakistan and Bangladesh, losing to Pakistan and then defeating Bangladesh. There are back to back games for Aotearoa on Tuesday and Wednesday as they continue their T20 World Cup prep. This is not an easy pocket of Blackcaps cricket to assess with the World Cup in mind as different combinations are being deployed as well as a steady flow of injuries/absences.
Finn Allen has opened in both games, for example, although I expect Martin Guptill to be the leading contender to partner Devon Conway. Allen will chuck up a big score in this tri-series at some point (29 runs @ 111.53sr so far) and he will need consistent slugging to bump Guptill out. The Guptill vibe is similar to Kane Williamson as they haven't been dominant in T20I cricket this year, although along with Daryl Mitchell these three led Blackcaps for runs at the last T20 World Cup.
Williamson, Guptill and Mitchell weren't just the only batters who scored 200+ runs in last year's tournament, they were the only kiwis who scored 130+ runs. That offers some context to Blackcaps mahi in this tri-series as Guptill and Mitchell haven't played. Mark Chapman has taken Mitchell's spot and he cracked 32 runs @ 200sr in the first game, but again there is an established pecking order.
When compared to the best T20 batters around the world, Williamson has the least sexy stats. Williamson has no scores over 50 in his last 10 games (Test vs England, West Indies tour, Australia ODIs etc) and that is below par for Aotearoa's greatest batter. Willamson has just one score below 10 in this period though and while he's clearly battling form niggle, nine innings of scores between 20-50 is solid.
Five of those games are T20Is and Williamson has scores of 47, 4, 24, 31 and 30. That's better than solid in T20Is, but of course Williamson appears to be going about his T20 mahi too slowly. Williamson has a strike-rate of 103.38 in this tri-series and his five games this year amount to his lowest T20I strike-rate since his 2011 debut (112.39sr). I'm not sure Williamson cares though and I'm going to embrace whatever Williamson is up to.
Williamson has been batting alongside Allen, Conway, Chapman, Glenn Phillips and Jimmy Neesham in this series. That could feature Guptill and Mitchell as well. All these blokes smack boundaries. Allen is the most blatant slugger, Phillips is a funky slugger, Neesham is all about efficiency and Conway hovers around 40avg/130sr. Williamson just needs to play his role and winning T20I games often requires absorbing pressure, battling against good bowling to set a competitive target or measuring a run-chase.
Williamson was first for Blackcaps runs at the T20 World Cup and he had a strike-rate of 115.50. In these events, all that matters is winning cricket games and that's how Williamson should be measured, especially when he's fitting into a powerful batting unit.
Seems like we're kinda good at this thing...
Most T20I wickets this year for Blackcaps…
Ish Sodhi: 18w @ 19.55avg/8.12rpo/14.4sr
Mitchell Santner: 12w @ 20.83avg/6.57rpo/19sr
Michael Bracewell: 11w @ 9.36avg/5.19rpo/10.8sr
Blair Tickner: 9w @ 14.33avg/8.32rpo/10.3sr
Lockie Ferguson: 7w @ 18.71avg/6.14rpo/18.2sr
Most T20I runs this year for Blackcaps…
Glenn Phillips: 360 runs @ 51.42avg/146.34sr
Daryl Mitchell: 265 runs @ 33.12avg/153.17sr
Devon Conway: 212 runs @ 53avg/127.71sr
Finn Allen: 207 runs @ 23avg/146.80sr
Martin Guptill: 198 runs @ 22avg/122.22sr
Kiwi-WBBL has been boosted with Hayley Jensen joining Hobart as a replacement for England's Issy Wong. Jess and Amelia Kerr will play for Brisbane, Sophie Devine and Maddy Green will play for Perth, and Suzie Bates is signed to Syndey Sixers. Here are their WBBL career stats (except for J-Kerr who is yet to play WBBL)...
Sophie Devine: 3076 runs @ 39.94avg/128.81sr | 76w @ 22.28avg
Suzie Bates: 1738 runs @ 28.49avg/104.32sr | 35w @ 28.08avg
Maddy Green: 438 runs @ 17.52avg/104.28sr
Amelia Kerr: 204 runs @ 14.57avg/110.27sr | 31w @ 20.16avg
Hayley Jensen: 195 runs @ 9.75avg/78.31sr | 31w @ 20.84avg
Next up in the domestic cricket contracts breakdown is Northern Districts and I'm pondering how Northern absorb the losses of Ish Sodhi (Canterbury) and Brett Randell (Central). Randell enjoyed a breakout campaign last summer with 31w @ 14.83avg in Plunket Shield but he didn't get much game time in the other formats and Central should give him that opportunity.
Sodhi is one of the best T20I spinners in the world so his Super Smash value to Northern is obvious. Sodhi also took 9w @ 17.44avg in Plunket Shield last season and has featured among the best spinners in Plunket Shield for the past decade. Now he joins Canterbury where he will be hoping for a Cantab development boost.
In funky Northern fashion, they are well equipped and, while folks love their Blackcaps contingent, Northern's prowess is in having the depth to roll with Blackcaps unavailability. Matt Fisher could benefit the most from Randell's absence and he toured with Aotearoa A recently, plus promising seamers Zak Gibson and Kristian Clarke.
Joe and Freddy Walker have sat behind Sodhi and Mitchell Santner for most of their careers. Now they will step up across all formats. Joe was especially impressive last season and also earned an Aotearoa A call up, while Freddy will compete with up and coming spinner Tim Pringle. Northern always throw up interesting cricketers to track and this summer should be no different.
(Big ups the Joe Walker slow grind. Patience, perseverance, pounce)
All my Aotearoa Kiwis thoughts swing back around to Joseph Manu, Dylan Brown, Jahrome Hughes and Brandon Smith. Manu will play fullback with Brown and Hughes in the halves for a full strength Kiwis outfit, with all three being exceptional runners. Brown averaged 125m/game this season, Hughes averaged 96m/game, and Manu averaged 140m/game which came mostly at centre. Manu had 14 tackle busts, 7 offloads and 288m in his only start at fullback for Roosters this season.
Against Tonga, Manu jacked up 401 running metres as starting fullback. Brown had 94m and Hughes had 132m. The only other team with that level of running mahi in their fullback/halves is Australia. Teams like Samoa or Tonga may have running halves but they aren't as good at kicking. Brown and Hughes are good kickers, Manu even had four kicks against Tonga.
This is amplified by having Brandon Smith at hooker. Smith had six dummy half runs for 76m against Tonga and Manu chimed in with seven DHR for 105m, churning out a combined 13 DHR for 181m @ 13.92m/DHR. That means Smith and Manu averaged 14m when scooting from dummy half - 10m/run is my marker for excellence.
NRL halves need to pose a run threat or else the defence simply slides off them. Dummy half running is the most direct running threat. Aotearoa Kiwis have this sorted and while many teams won't be able to compete with the Kiwis forward pack, the basic running threat of the Kiwis spine will be destructive.
New Wiki…
Wildcard’s Notebook
FIVE THOUGHTS FROM THE WELLY NIX’S SEASON OPENER:
1) Late Equalisers Suck
Playing with 10 men for 65 minutes and also down a couple starters (Clayton Lewis playing off the bench, Sam Sutton missing entirely) means that a 1-1 draw against the beaten semi-finalists of last season is absolutely a point gained. But it could have been a true snatch and grab three-pointer thanks to that Ben Waine goal had they only been able to hang on a couple minutes longer.
The moment when Oli Sail took a football to the groin, flush on, right in the jax crackers, it seemed like they were destined to survive (unlike the Sail gene pool after that crusher, sadly)... but nope. Ben Halloran in the 93rd minute. Adelaide are the kings of the late goal. Bugger.
2) The (Kiwi) Subs Changed The Game
Ufuk Talay started six new signings including all four of the attackers... and while each of them showed some lovely flashes there wasn’t the usual harmonious, pulling in the same direction, Welly Nix feel to a lot of what they did even before the red card to Yan Sasse.
The first half was pretty poor, to be honest. But ten minutes into the second on came Ben Waine and Ben Old. Ten mins later it was Clayton Lewis and Callan Elliot. Two double subs and all four of those dudes had a positive impact, none more than Lewis and Waine for their roles in the goal.
Suddenly the cohesion was back. Waine played like he had a point to prove, throwing himself around. Ben Old wins free kicks like the best of them. Lewis’ passing is superb. Elliot hustled hard at fullback too. The combinations will come from the new imports, no dramas there. But Talay’s intention with his transfers was to build a deep enough squad that he could turn to his bench mid-game when things weren’t working and that’s exactly how it went against Adelaide. Good signs.
3) The Red Card
It wasn’t as bad as some are suggesting. It also isn’t fair to say he should’ve gotten away with it because the foul was accidental, as others are saying. Yan Sasse went in a little high with his leading foot but it was the slip ‘n’ slide into the standing leg of Javi Lopez that cost him. It was dangerous. I could have lived with a yellow for sure but I also can’t argue too much with a red. That’s how it goes... an inauspicious start to Sasse’s Welly Nix career. We’ll see him back in a few weeks once he’s served his suspension.
4) Ugarkovic
First half was okay from Steven Ugarkovic, who was on debut having been cup-tied for the Aussie Cup games. His second half was absolutely bloody brilliant. Garky was winning possession and he was moving that ball with purpose and accuracy. Ideal midfield things.
Getting an Australian player of his calibre is a rarity for this club – he’s not a youngster seeking a chance, he’s not a reserve player not getting signed elsewhere. But he wanted to work with Ufuk Talay so here he is. Based on this game, that Clayton Lewis/Steven Ugarkovic midfield duo has the potential to be something special.
5) Death To Corner Flags
This All Whites vs NZ Football thing doesn’t seem to be going away. We talked about it a bit on last week’s Patreon-exclusive podcast (sign up if you wanna support the mahi... and also hear that chat). One the one hand if the All Whites wanted to be playing November games they could have made sure of it by qualifying for the World Cup, problem solved. Big cash bonus for NZF and guaranteed games. They didn’t do that. So while they probably should be playing anyway, there is also a ‘consequence of your own actions’ thing at play.
But on the other hand I want the All Whites to want to play more often. I want them to stand up for themselves. To push back against the national governing body if they feel they’re being underappreciated. I can see both sides of that argument considering that money is always a factor for NZ sports and the November window is a weird one where getting non-World Cup players released could be a hassle. Plus they’re only missing one international window and 14 games in the last 12 months is not nothing. Yet the more they play, the better they’ll be, and the impending six month hiatus is hardly ideal.
Again, I can see both sides. But what’s interesting here is less what is going on and more how it’s going on. So let’s break that down…
Danny Hay is off-contract next month and has been distant about addressing his future. He’s also clearly got some friction with NZF and has suggested that he might walk away due to their undervaluing of his team.
Danny Hay also shouldn’t necessarily be an automatic re-hire given the team’s failure in front of goal recently, not scoring in any of their past five games including that devastating Costa Rica defeat that cost Aotearoa a spot at Qatar 2022 and also the two defeats to Australia. NZF’s plan is to undertake a routine independent review of the World Cup cycle before making a decision on anyone’s jobs.
Chris Wood has emphatically supported Danny Hay remaining as coach.
Danny Hay, let’s be honest, is also not averse to playing the political game – note how he replaced Des Buckingham as the Tokyo Olympic coach. Hay’s firmness has also been crucial in the All Whites getting taken seriously again after the pandemic so I’m not saying that this is necessarily a bad thing at all... just saying it’s a trait we’ve seen before.
Recently there was that report about four senior All Whites (Wood, Winston Reid, Joe Bell, Bill Tuiloma) writing a letter to NZF back in July putting forward their case for games in the November window. Sorta seems like NZF’s response to that, even aside from an outcome they probably weren’t budging on, was not as generous as it could have been. It’s one thing to listen and say no. It’s another thing to leave key players feeling like they’ve been ignored or brushed aside.
NZF responded to that news with a statement reaffirming their commitment to the All Whites using the usual PR jargon chatter. Including a stated desire to play games as soon as possible in 2023 (though no fixtures are yet confirmed).
Now there’s another report stating that Chris Wood has considered international retirement over this ongoing NZF stoush.
Okay, a couple things: Chris Wood is on Danny Hay’s side. Danny Hay seems to have some beef with NZF that Wood also shares. We know what those are, at least on the macro level. Wood and Hay have both now played the ‘considering walking away’ card even though Wood seems to love nothing more than playing for his country and Hay probably isn’t going to get a better job than this in a hurry – remember Oceania’s probably getting an automatic qualifying spot at the 2026 World Cup. Also both these two exclusive reports (and they were top scoops, fair play) came via Michael Burgess of the NZ Herald, who - just sayin’ - was one of the journos who travelled to Qatar for the intercontinental game.
What I’m suggesting is that this all feels a lot like a coordinated media strategy from Hay/Wood. And I don’t blame them either - if you don’t stand up for yourself then who will, you know? However I also don’t take much notice of those quitting threats because of that context.
It’s all a curious situation which hopefully will have some positive resolution moving forward with more All Whites (and Football Ferns) games even when World Cup qualifying doesn’t demand it. If there’s an auto-OFC spot at the next one then high calibre friendlies will be more important than ever and squeezing the entire cycle into a nine-month span is not gonna do the trick. We’ll see who flinches first.
Busting up the footy chat for a sec, the Breakers have been decent through their first couple games. Don’t see them as a playoff team by any stretch, and they seem to be more reliant on imports than they’d ideally like to be, but so far so good with a win and an overtime loss.
I definitely prefer the vibes of Mody Maor to Dan Shamir. Maor was sold as this wild-man assistant when he first turned up but he’s settled into the responsibility of the head coaching gig with a sense of poise that belies that initial reputation (the Breakers media team over-hyping something again? Surely not...).
I currently have neither the time nor the mental bandwidth to break anything down right now so I’ll just leave it at one thought: Izayah Mauriohooho-Le’Afa.
In many ways he’s the budget brand Shea Ili as a player... but that’s certainly not a bad thing to be. Le’Afa has played 55 minutes over two games. He’s shot 5/11 from 3PT and is hitting 47.5% from the field overall. Chuck in a handful of assists and some energetic defence, not to mention some clutch free throws late in the home win on Friday night, and he’s been the highlight of the new campaign to this point.
I lied, here are also some Net Ratings for Breakers players thru two games (via RealGM)...
Rob Loe: +83.0 (32 min)
Dererk Pardon: +34.8 (67 min)
Cam Gliddon: +25.0 (33 min)
Jarrell Brantley: +7.9 (52 min)
Izayah Le’Afa: -7.7 (55 min)
Will McDowell-White: -16.9 (58 min)
Barry Brown Jr: -17.8 (66 min)
Tom Vodanovich: -25.2 (34 min)
Rayan Rupert: -38.3 (29 min)
Rob Loe’s back to getting decent minutes, although still not enough, and is back to being an advanced stat darling. You love to see it. Also no shockers that the Next Star lad is getting torched early doors. He’ll get better as he gains experience but so far Rupert has the worst offensive rating and the worst defensive rating on the team.
2022 Women’s National League – Team of the Week #4
GK – Brooke Bennett (Eastern Suburbs) – Another week in which there were either comfortable wins or high-scoring closer ones makes it pretty tough to pick goalies and defenders. Not gonna lie. But Bennett gets the nod after some fine stops along the way in the Lilywhites’ 5-2 win over Northern Rovers, a huge result in terms of the grand final hunt. A couple of those saves came while the game was still poised at 2-2 in the second half. Plus she was very good last week too. Gotta respect the mahi.
RB – Maggie Pedersen (Western Springs) – It’s hard enough to deal with Springs when they’ve got Sofia Garcia and Rina Hirano and Sophia Dyer running in behind. Even harder when someone like Pedersen is holding that high width and swinging in crosses, causing trouble that way whilst also freeing up the forwards to roam.
CB – Jana Niedermayr (Central) – For a team that’d conceded 17 goals in their last two games to hold Southern out until the 62nd minute, despite losing their best defender, Kate Bennett, to injury early second half... that doesn’t happen accidentally. Niedermayr started in the midfield last week, not moving to CB until the damage had been done. This week she was CB all the way, same as at the recent U20 World Cup, and just having that calm, composed, technical option there made so much difference.
CB – Caelin Patterson (Capital) – Okay, they lost kinda handily. But Patterson stepped into CB with usual starter Jayden Watts absent and had to finish the game without captain Zoe Barrott who left injured and did as good a job as she possibly could have under the circumstances. A fullback for the first three games but you wouldn’t know it from this effort. That Springs attack would otherwise have scored plenty more than three times.
LB – Lara Wall (Canterbury Utd) – Seems weird that the best left back in this competition hasn’t had a TOW selection already. Cantabs a bit too inconsistent. But they got a massively important win away against Auckland Utd this week in which Wall was irrepressible. Both in defence and getting forward. Tireless work-rate. Not sure how she didn’t end up with an assist or two though it doesn’t really matter. The quality was there for all to see.
CM – Tayla O’Brien (Eastern Suburbs) – Yup, her again. Another goal. Another assist. Another Eastern Suburbs win. Another TOB masterclass in the midfield linking absolutely everything. Her combination with Deven Jackson is telepathic.
CM – Jess Innes (Western Springs) – All the stuff about her last week, repeat it again. Including scoring another goal as Springs cruised to a 3-0 win over Capital.
CM – Sarah Morton (Southern Utd) – Last week it was Sister Rose, this week it’s Sister Sarah. The Mortons know what they’re doing. SM is also the first sub to make a TOW this year... although tbf she was thrown on pretty early due to a Jasmine Prince injury. Prince had been the game-breaker for SU last week so without her they needed someone else to step up. Sarah Morton took it upon herself with a couple of assists playing the ball out of trouble and into space like the six-cap Football Fern that she is.
FW – Bree Johnson (Auckland Utd) – Yeah she missed a penalty that ended up being rather important... but she also won that penalty in the first place. And she scored a couple sizzling goals to dig her team out of a 2-0 hole, blitzing past defenders and giving the keeper no chance. She was AU’s best outlet all afternoon.
FW – Kennedy Bryant (Southern Utd) – Is it a coincidence that the two games KB has played, Southern have won? Yeah probably, considering the fixture list... but she’s still been a major factor in both of them. Bryant’s strength on the ball got her the start against Central but her lay-offs, her movement, and eventually her finish for the long-awaited opening goal got her into the Team of the Week.
FW – Deven Jackson (Eastern Suburbs) – Too easy. When you score a hat-trick of that quality in a game of that magnitude then of course you’re in the Team of the Week. The silky link-up play and constant clever off-ball movement only adds to the case. Three starts for DJ and three Teams of the Week, how about them apples?