Perking Curiosity

White Ferns vs Pakistan & Suzie Bates legend stats, Anna Leat/Claudia Bunge clean sheets, more Charlisse Leger-Walker records, WNBL Kiwis & more

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Reading Menu

• Six Of The Best Kiwi-NRL Junior Halves In Australia For 2024 (Rugby League)

• Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Six Sneaky Juniors To Learn About (Rugby League)

• Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Signing Kurt Capewell & Depth Chart (Rugby League)

• Exploring The Wellington Phoenix’s Efficiency Boost Under Giancarlo Italiano (Football)

• The Long, Confusing Timeline of Steven Adams’ Knee Injury (Basketball)

• 2023/24 HBJ Shield: Round Three Notebook (Leigh Kasperek, Saffron Wilson, Rosemary Mair) (Cricket)

• 2023/24 Ford Trophy: Best Young/Emerging Lads Ahead Of Super Smash (Cricket)

• Five Tiers Of Blackcaps Seamers Ahead Of The 2023/24 Home Summer (Cricket)

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Scotty’s Word

White Ferns defeated Pakistan in the second ODI and wrapped up their series, with the third ODI being played today (Monday) still counting towards Women's Championship. The narrow victory over Pakistan was great as WF found a way to win, thanks largely to the winning mana of Lea Tahuhu who steered her team home with the bat.

WF almost lost that game doing typical WF things. Pakistan were 35/4 in the 12th over and as the commentators bemoaned a lack of Pakistan boundaries, they were rebuilding their innings. WF tapped out of that innings and allowed Pakistan to reach 220.

WF lost 2 wickets before cruising to 155 thanks to Suzie Bates (74 runs) and Maddy Green (83). WF then collapsed as they do and were 208/9 when Fran Jonas joined Tahuhu.

I like much of the Spark/TVNZ commentary apart from Craig McMillan shouting "it's gone straight up!" for every aerial stroke whether it's a six or caught somewhere. There is a cheerleader vibe which can be a bit icky, but my curiosity was perked when Mark Richardson suggested that Georgia Plimmer and Izzy Gaze would be able to draw on their domestic dominance, to take WF to victory after the wickets of Bates and Green.

Plimmer and Gaze were soon dismissed, quickly followed by Hannah Rowe, Bernadine Bezuidenhout and Molly Penfold. This was an intriguing moment because the issue for WF is that most of their players have not dominated domestic cricket. They have no foundations of confidence to draw upon in those moments. Take Plimmer for example, who hit a lovely HBJ Shield century a few weeks ago which was her first 50+ score in either domestic format - the century elevated her List-A average to 19!

I shared the commentators fascination for how two young WF would rebuild the innings as it was an immense juncture in the game. The youngsters crumbled in the same way that WF usually crumble, as that innings unfortunately played out in the same way that the bowlers had earlier welcomed Pakistan back into the game… before Tahuhu and Jonas grabbed a win.

WF won two games but these wins didn't change the overall vibe. Somehow WF lost T20Is in Aotearoa to Pakistan and managed to flip a celebration of Suzie Bates into WF woes. WF slid back into dominance for the first ODI as they can do and then they rolled out the WF woes classics in the second ODI, but got a win.

To complicate matters further, Pakistan are missing two 1st 11 players for the ODIs from their T20I series win. Pakistan's wonderful skipper Fatima Sana had an iffy game as captain in the second ODI as well, constantly leaving fielders back for WF to pick up singles. The cynical view is that Pakistan's flipped their winning vibe between formats, hence WF have won two games despite their usual antics.

I want to say WF turned a corner and are on the up'n'up. Somehow the two ODIs vs Pakistan encapsulated the WF demise to plateau in the same way that the T20I series loss did.

Suzie Bates though...

Bates is 3rd for ODI runs and 1st for T20I runs... for all batters in the whole world. A few months ago, Bates hit 173 runs @ 14avg/93sr in WBBL. Back in NZ Bates now has three 50+ scores in a row: 51*, 108, 74.

Bates averaged 39-74 in ODI batting for seven years in a row then this...

• 2019: 24avg

• 2020: 39avg

• 2021: 11avg

• 2022: 44avg

• 2023: 42avg

Similar flow in T20I batting...

• 2019: 31avg

• 2020: 22avg

• 2021: 14avg

• 2022: 26avg

• 2023: 39avg

Bates averages 50 (ODI) and 31 (T20I) in NZ.

Bates averaged 51 (ODI) and 35 (T20I) as skipper (38avg and 26avg under Devine).

There is lots of Rachin Ravindra hype in the cricket world. This may involve media wanting lots of clicks/views from India and Ravindra was obviously fantastic at the World Cup (where he was as comfy with conditions as Kane Williamson). Ravindra's awesome at cricket and a longterm Blackcap, yet he's not outlandishly better than Glenn Phillips or Will Young.

There are lots of good cricketers from Aotearoa and Ravindra is just one of them. Sure, Ravindra is better at batting than Henry Nicholls and yet all these lads have similar First-Class, List-A and T20 records in domestic cricket. Add in Mark Chapman and Josh Clarkson to build out these comparisons...

(FC | LA | T20)

• Mark Chapman: 43avg | 42.41avg | 26.85avg

• Will Young: 40.12avg | 41.96avg | 25.71avg

• Henry Nicholls: 39.34avg | 42.37avg | 30.07avg

• Glenn Phillips: 42.39avg | 34.4avg | 32.27avg

• Rachin Ravindra: 38.77avg | 36.2avg | 16.26avg

• Josh Clarkson: 29.26avg | 31.52avg | 29.16avg

Ravindra and Clarkson are the only lads who don't have a 40+ average in the three domestic formats. Clarkson's a lower order hitter (150sr in T20s) so his averages are naturally lower, while Ravindra could earn an IPL gig with a T20I batting average of 13.18 to go with 16.26avg in T20s. Ravindra also averages 40+ in four of of his six bowling formats, 50+ in three of them and a healthy 22-27avg in both T20 brackets.

Aside from watching other peoples pockets, there are recent examples of IPL hype meaning little. Kyle Jamieson got a big deal and played one IPL campaign in 2021. Finn Allen has not played an IPL game. Ravindra is different because of his experience in India, but NZ's buzz for IPL prices etc doesn't mean much.

There are insights into White Ferns to gain from T20 tournaments. WBBL featured just four WF this year (Bates, Sophie Devine, Kerr sisters) while A-Kerr and Devine are the only kiwis who were picked up for Women's Premier League in India.

Other Blackcaps ODI stat nuggets...

Ish Sodhi ODI/T20I bowling in 2023 - his first year playing over eight ODIs (14)...

• ODI: 15w @ 39avg/5.7rpo (8th for NZ)

• T20I: 15w @ 23.66avg/7.7rpo (1st for NZ)

Will Young one-day batting alignment...

• 2023 ODIs: 44.45avg/87sr

• Career ODIs: 43.42avg/88

• Career List-A: 41.96avg/89sr

2023 is Adam Milne's first year of ODI bowling below 30avg...

• 2023 ODIs: 11w @ 20.9avg/5.8rpo

• Career ODIs: 34.5avg/5.3rpo

• Career List-A: 27.2avg/5.2rpo

Two Super Smash sluggers to learn about...

Brett Hampton

Might be a bigger hitter than Josh Clarkson. One six behind Clarkson in Plunket Shield this season (7 vs 6) but Hampton has a higher PS strike-rate (75) to Clarkson (59). Finn Allen is the only bloke with more Ford Trophy sixes (19 vs 11) and Allen is the only bloke with more runs and a higher strike-rate; Allen has 387 runs @ 126sr and Hampton's scored 188 runs @ 118sr.

Llew Johnson

23-year-old for Otago has has flashed his funky hitting without scoring lots of runs. Johnson has a T20 strike-rate of 125 which isn't special, but he hits quirky areas and has 73 runs @ 158sr in Ford Trophy this season. Jimmy Neesham is the only other bloke with 50+ runs and strike-rate over 150 thanks to his knock for 81 runs @ 202sr for Auckland last week.

Musical jam…

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Wildcard’s Notebook

Anna Leat made her first English Super League start of the season for Aston Villa this morning, keeping a clean sheet in a 1-0 win against Brighton. Usual starting goalie Daphne van Domselaar, who was the Dutch number one at the World Cup, missed this game due to concussion protocol and thus backup Leat got the gig. Only had one proper save to make but was excellent in her distribution and got off her line a few times to deal with passes in behind and aerial deliveries. There were no mistakes. Villa’s win lifts them above Brighton on the ladder heading into a few weeks break over the holidays.

This continues a sneakily excellent third season as a pro from Leat. She’s not played much but she’s been almost unbeatable in the cup competitions and was very solid for the Football Ferns against Colombia too – getting both starts ahead of World Cup number one Vic Esson.

The age difference between the two meant that Esson was never likely to have a long run as the Ferns’ preferred keeper though this is a quicker turnaround than anticipated. But Esson’s not playing at all for Rangers these days. Leat’s doing more at a higher level and, let’s be honest, that #1 jersey has been waiting for her since she was sixteen years old winning penalty shootouts at the U17 World Cup.

Anna Leat’s 2023-24 Starts:

• Aston Villa 5-0 vs Sheffield Utd (Conti Cup)

• Aston Villa 7-0 vs Blackburn Rovers (Conti Cup)

• New Zealand 0-0 vs Colombia (International Friendly)

• New Zealand 0-1 vs Colombia (International Friendly)

• Aston Villa 5-1 vs Durham (Conti Cup)

• Aston Villa 1-0 vs Brighton (WSL)

Admittedly, that’s a big mix of competitions and levels... but we’re still talking about four clean sheets in six games conceding only twice. Van Domselaar will be back when the Villans next play footy (in mid-January) but Leat’s a good shout to get an FA Cup start plus they have one more Conti Cup group game and are almost certain to stride through into the next round – helped by the fact they drew a five-team group with their four opponents all from the division below them.

And yet as good as those stats are, conceding just twice in 540 minutes... there is a kiwi footballer who can top that. HB Køge had a scrambling 1-0 win over Aalborg on the weekend with Daisy Cleverley scoring a superb winner with five minutes to go. Volley from the edge of the area. You’ll read all about it in Flying Kiwis tomorrow (or maybe Wednesday).

This was also Claudia Bunge’s second game back after a back injury... and they’ve not conceded in either. Bunge has played exactly half of HBK’s league games leading into the winter break and the numbers are pretty remarkable...

HBK with Claudia Bunge:

7 GM | 4 W | 3 D | 0 L | 10 GF | 1 GA | +9 GD | 15 PTS

HBK w/o Claudia Bunge:

7 GM | 4 W | 0 D | 3 L | 8 GF | 7 GA | +1 GD | 12 PTS

Not only have they only conceded once in 623 minutes but Bunge herself can cancel that out given she’s also scored once in that time. Six clean sheets in seven matches. To be fair, she did miss both defeats against league leaders Brøndby... but then again maybe they wouldn’t have lost had she played. This is not including the Danish Cup or Champions League qualifiers. It doesn’t need to. It’s enough to have done this in the league alone.

Katie Bowen’s spot is unrivalled at the moment, having been the Football Ferns’ best player across 2023. But given that Rebekah Stott has gone from Europe to the A-League while Bunge has gone from A-League to Europe... that could become a similar situation to Leat > Esson. Which would be wild because Stotty’s been one of the ALW’s very best this term and in fact scored a banger of a goal this weekend too.

Competition for places. We love to see it. Next maybe we can try and find the same thing in the positions that we aren’t already strong in.

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Charlisse Leger-Walker got another triple-double this morning. Her second TD of the season, a few weeks after she became the just the second Washington State Cougars player to ever record such a statline and the first since Penny Bowden back in 1988 (who also had two overall). She one of only three players in top division women’s college basketball this year with multiple TDs. Yet another incredible achievement to add to a very long list from Aotearoa’s finest basketballing prospect. She’s on the verge of becoming the all-time NZ scorer in NCAA Division 1 competition.

15 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists was what she served up in a 95-48 victory against Houston. A monstrous victory to move WSU to 12-2 for the season and ensure a big bounce back after losing against Washington Uni in their first Pac-12 conference game, televised nationally (and on Sky Sports in NZ). CLW only scored 11 points in that game shooting 3/12 from the field and that’s a funky wee aspect of her final year of college after 14 games.

See, CLW is actually averaging her lowest points per game of her four-year career. Her highest was as a freshman scoring 18.8 ppg, which has dipped to 16.1, then 17.7... now all the way down to 12.9 points per game. She’s shooting a mere 20% from three-pointers so far – 11/55 overall. There has been a dip in her overall field goal percentage from last year (40.3%) to this year (38.0%) although this year is still an improvement on her other seasons.

Nah, the main reason she’s scoring less is that she’s shooting less. She’s the most targeted player on her team by far and has struggled to find the lanes to attack that she usually does. Not quite getting to the free throw line as often as she’d like. There might’ve been more heat check shots if the threes were dropping, and perhaps that’ll follow because she’s had streaks of being a wicked deep shooter, but predominantly it seems like the main difference is that she’s responding to the defensive focus she’s seeing by bringing her teammates into the action with her playmaking. A selfless superstar. Just to prove the point, Charlisse is averaging a career-best 4.8 assists per game so far.

The Breakers had a huge win on the weekend, delivering quite possibly their best performance of the NBL to date, winning 111-82 against the Cairns Taipans on the road despite having their travel disrupted by the weather. You know it was a big when when Alex McNaught and Dan Fotu were allowed off the leash for the last few possessions. No Zylan Cheatham minutes... but he did travel with the team and could feature on Friday against the Sydney Kings. If they’re going to make a run, now would be a good time.

Here’s the thing though... it was against Cairns. And the Breakers are now 3-0 against the Taipans this season. They’re 3-0 against the Taipans and 2-9 against everyone else. Too often this season the Breakers will win one and then lose the next and they won’t make any progress like that. Still, this was a reminder of what they’re capable of and if they can do this consistently (make every team wear orange against them?) then this season is far from busted.

Lithuanian Next Star prospect Mantas Rubstavicius had his breakthrough performance in this game. 21 points on 5/8 shooting with 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Shot 9/9 from the free throw line. Made three triples. Of course, the Breakers don’t really gain anything from this in the long run since he’s just going to go and get drafted into the NBA in six months... but if he can help them win games in the meantime then that’s something. None of their imports stay longer than one year so it hardly makes a difference. Rubstavicius does seem to have a natural ability to score and that’s an elite talent. Not gonna lie though, it’d be way cooler to see Finn Delany and Izayah Le’afa top scoring rather than playing dual fourth-fiddles to the imports and a Next Star.

Over in the WNBL, something weird happened with Melbourne Boomers losing back to back games. After winning five in a row, they’ve lost three of four to drop to second place behind Townsville Fire. Need to see more Penina Davidson amongst it – she’s averaging only 13 minutes per game (4.6 points, 4.1 rebounds). Still big minutes for Tera Reed there but probably aren’t enough shots coming her way given that she’s still converting at 54.2% from three pointers this season.13/24 overall.

Akiene-Tera Reed in WNBL24...

1. vs ADL: 32 MIN | 10 PTS (2/3 3PT) | 10 REB | 2 AST | 2 STL

2. vs SSF: 28 MIN | 18 PTS (3/3 3PT) | 6 REB | 1 STL

3. vs SYD: 31 MIN | 19 PTS (3/4 3PT) | 8 REB | 3 AST

4. vs BEN: 26 MIN | 6 PTS (0/2 3PT) | 4 REB | 2 AST | 2 STL

5. vs UCC: 37 MIN | 5 PTS (0/2 3PT) | 3 REB | 2 AST

6. vs PER: 25 MIN | 5 PTS (1/3 3PT) | 7 REB | 4 AST | 2 AST

7. vs PER: 22 MIN | 13 PTS (2/2 3PT) | 6 REB | 1 AST | 2 STL

8. vs UCC: 32 MIN | 8 PTS (1/2 3PT) | 5 REB | 1 AST | 2 STL

9. vs ADL: 31 MIN | 4 PTS (1/3 3PT) | 6 REB } 1 AST

Also worth an update is that since the last WNBL mention a few weeks back the UC Capitals have added Jade Kirisome to their roster. Not sure if that’s as a replacement for the injured Tahlia Tupaea or not but it would be fitting since Tupaea is an Aussie-raised player who popped over to Aotearoa for some Tauihi and then ended up switching allegiances and representing the Tall Ferns. Kirisome, 23 years old, was born and raised in Brisbane and played for Australia at youth level but her parents are NZers and in fact her brother Tane even represented the Tall Blacks a couple of years ago. Kirisome recently finished up at St Mary’s in San Francisco where she was a teammate of Amy West and Tayla Dalton. She played for the Mid-North Whai in the most recent NZ season.

Kirisome has been able to sneak into five games so far, adding up to 17 minutes. She’s missed all five field goal attempts so we’re still waiting on the first points. Meanwhile Esra McGoldrick (Bendigo Spirit) had her best game yet last week with a 15-minute effort against Southside Flyers in which she scored 5 points with 4 rebounds and a block. They got thrashed by 25 points which is probably why the extended run came about but at least she tallied up some stats with it. Her teammate McKenna Dale also got on the court for a couple of minutes that game, her second appearance in the NBL, but has yet to register anything in the major stat categories.