Smashing Hands
Blackcaps vs Australia, Breakers + NBL/WNBL playoffs, Plunket Shield & domestic cricket, Kiwi-NRL teamlists, Myer Bevan in the Champions Cup & more
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Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Taking Stock Of NRL & NSW Cup Depth (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Xavier Willison The Blossoming Big Bopper (Rugby League)
The Football Ferns Have Qualified For The Paris Olympics, No Dramas (Football)
The Wellington Phoenix Blokes Are Nine Games Unbeaten And Truckin’ Along (Football)
Flying Kiwis – February 27 (Football)
2023/24 HBJ Shield: Five Best Youngsters (Cricket)
A Statistical Tribute to Neil Wagner, The Blackcaps’ Lionhearted Wicket Claimer (Cricket)
27fm Weekly Playlist: March 1 (Music)
Scotty’s Word
Lydia Ko tracker alert - Ko is playing in Singapore this weekend. Tough first round of +4 heading into Friday afternoon.
Blackcaps vs Australia rolls along. Below are some stats offered ahead of day two and one other thing that will still apply by the time you read this after day two is more Will O'Rourke hype. There were a few wild deliveries from O'Rourke on day tahi but after nipping the ball both ways against South Africa, hovering around 140km/h and enjoying funky bounce, O'Rourke repeated it all against Australia's batters.
Most notably, O'Rourke smashed Aussie hands and if Aotearoa has a seamer smashing Aussie hands then I'm chuffed. Not only did O'Rourke nip balls past both edges, numerous deliveries bounced and/or seamed straight into the gloves of Australian batters. There was also a delivery that smacked Cameron Green on his arm and along with the body blows, O'Rourke had batters hopping around.
This is why O'Rourke has climbed his way up the domestic pipeline (with a pit-stop snaring wickets against Australia A) into the Test squad. While he ticks all the impressive seamer boxes, I love his seam movement and this has been a staple of his mahi in domestic cricket on pitches around Aotearoa before being displayed on Test debut at Seddon Park. It's not just the Basin Reserve deck that is helping O'Rourke nip balls around.
Blackcaps bits and bobs ahead of day rua vs Australia
Matt Henry last 4 years...
2021: 29.5avg/2.9rpo
2022: 26.3avg/3.3rpo
2023: 29.2avg/2.8rpo
2024: 16.6avg/2.2rpo
Will O'Rourke this summer...
Tests: 11w @ 13.8avg/2.9rpo
Plunket Shield: 9w @ 18.3avg/2.3rpo
Ford Trophy: 13w @ 20.5avg/4.3rpo
Super Smash: 12w @ 19.4avg/7.7rpo
Rachin Ravindra Test bowling by year...
2021: 3w @ 40.3avg/3.6rpo
2022: 28ov @ 2.3rpo
2024: 7w @ 19.4avg/2.4rpo
Tim Southee this year: 2w @ 125avg/3.2rpo
Three centuries were scored on the first day of Plunket Shield's second stanza with Chad Bowes (114 runs) and Mark Chapman (123 runs) showing their class. The youngest lad scored the most runs though with 22-year-old Rhys Mariu scoring 145 runs in a hefty opening partnership with Bowes for Canterbury.
Mariu is playing his first Plunket Shield game of the season and his second game of the domestic cricket summer after one Ford Trophy appearance in December. In typical Canterbury styles, Mariu averages 57.8 after four First-Class games with a century and three 50+ scores in eight innings. That is now boosted by his second century, meaning that Mariu has five 50+ scores including two centuries in nine innings.
Mariu is another Canterbury youngster churning out impressive performances. O'Rourke has blasted his way into the Blackcaps, while Mitch Hay and Zak Foulkes featured in the best Ford Trophy youngsters and Plunket Shield Emerging All Stars.
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North vs South T20 games are being played this weekend after the end of the HBJ Shield seasons. First though…
North Island vs South Island games should be be a festival that all sports take part in. Even if it is too tricky to schedule these games in a window where professionals can play (NRL, Super Rugby, Blackcaps, Football, NBL basketball etc), there is space for the best semi-pros/amateurs to compete in what should be the biggest rivalry in Aotearoa sport.
As many sports as possible, festival atmosphere across different locations. Stream it all. Surely this has to be done at some stage. Instead, North vs South games have come and gone as if they were one-off gimmicks. Here are the North and South squads laid out in a depth ladder…
White Ferns-ish: Leigh Kasperek, Izzy Gaze, Nensi Patel, Molly Penfold, Georgia Plimmer, Hayley Jensen, Kate Anderson
Could be White Ferns: Mikaela Greig, Saachi Shahri, Emma Black, Felicity Robertson, Polly Inglis (wk)
Best youngsters: Prue Catton, Marama Downes, Bree Illing, Emma Black, Caitlin Blakely, Gabby Sullivan
Rising youngsters: Flora Devonshire, Emma McLeod, Joise Penfold, Sarah Asmussen, Olivia Gain, Bella James, Izzy Sharp, Jess Simmons
Could be there: Xara Jetly, Kate Chandler, Natasha Codyre (Wellington), Jess Watkin, Kayley Knight, Natasha Wakelin (ND), Molly Loe (Otago), Georgia Atkinson (CD), Jodie Dean (Canterbury)
NRL is in Las Vegas!?
I'd rather NRL show more interest in Aotearoa and the Pacific Islands, instead of being thirsty for the USA market (most sports want a piece of the USA market and with the T20 World Cup coming up we will soon learn how credible that thirst is). These games are the start of the NRL season though and here are the Kiwi-NRL lads selected for this weekend's games...
Sea Eagles: Jaxson Paulo (Northcote), Josh Aloiai (Glenora) | Raymond Tuiamalo-Vaega (Marist)
Rabbitohs: Siliva Havili (Manurewa)
Roosters: Joseph Manu (Tokoroa), Brandon Smith (Waiheke), Siua Wong (Burnham/Manurewa), Sitili Tupouniua (Marist), Naufahu Whyte (Bay Roskill) | Fetalaiga Pauga (Glenora), Zach Dockar-Clay (Bell Block)
Broncos: Jesse Arthars (East Coast Bays), Deine Mariner (Marist), Jordan Riki (Hornby), Xavier Willison (Whatawhata)
Funky Kiwi-NRL bits in Queensland/NSW Under 19s...
John Fineanganofo (Auckland Grammar) selected at hooker for Redcliffe. Played halves last year and opportunities in U21/Q Cup may come at hooker.
Mason Barber (Tweed - Hokianga) and Kylem Vunipola (Wynnum - Palmerston North) selected as fullbacks.
Caelys Putoko (Forestland) at centre for Ipwsich. Could rise to Q Cup in the Titans pipeline.
Big boppers named...
Redcliffe: Elijah Rasmussen (Westlake Boys), Patrick Kailahi (Takahiwai)
Sharks: Sione Latu (Victoria), Manako Piutau (St Paul's)
Eels: Javahn Stevenson-Hala (Palmerston North)
Knights: Te Kaio Cranwell (Linwood), Bailey Carmichael (Te Puke)
Tallan Egan is named in NZ Warriors U19 squad. NZW have three U21 halves from Australia: Egan, Jesse Soric, Luke Hanson.
The Canterbury - Bulldogs partnership is growing.
Musical jam...
Wildcard’s Notebook
Those Breakers turned it on in the play-in game, beating Sydney Kings 83-76 to keep their season alive for at least one more game. They’ll take on Illawarra Hawks on Monday at 9.30pm NZT, with the winner of that game advancing to a semi-finals series against Melbourne United.
Thing is, the Breakers trailed for most of the first half, battling just to stay within range. But those battles paid off as they were able to keep the deficit within single-figures at half-time and then came surging back after a few adjustments and there ya go. Tied the game up, then did some typical Breakers things by gift-wrapping that lead back through a bunch of fouls of the personal and also unsportsmanlike variety. Mantas Rubstavicius got himself ejected amidst.
Thankfully, the Sydney Kings were a shambles in that second half. They’ve rebuilt their starting five with a new coach this season (whom they’ve just sacked) and things never clicked for them. They had Angus Glover sitting on the bench seemingly for some unnamed disciplinary reason despite him being so effective during the finals last year. The first field goal by a kiwi player in this game didn’t come until the fourth quarter, but Izayah Le’afa was able to double the dose with a couple of crucial three-pointers amidst an 11-3 run to start the fourth which established the winning lead. Parker Jackson-Cartwright did the rest.
PJC scored 34 points with 6 assists and 5 rebounds. He was immense. A massive performance from the smallest bloke on the court. He then brought out some absolute lunacy to celebrate, raging multiple times at commentator Derek Rucker (while he was commentating courtside)... seemingly because he was only ranked seventh on Rucker’s Top 15 players yarn on the NBL website. Insanely weird thing to care that deeply about. His post-game interview then bordered on obnoxious as he blurted out random mantras about ‘winning’. He was utterly decisive in this game though. Would love to see that semi-final match-up of PJC against Shea Ili... box office material, that.
The Kings choked and spluttered and the Breakers were good enough to take advantage. Even despite the injury bug continuing. Will McDowell-White rushed back from his shoulder issue, with a quietly influential 11pts/5ast, but Zylan Cheatham rolled his ankle in the first half and looked pretty hobbled despite still scoring 18 points. For the NZers, Le’afa was in the starting five and he scored 6pts in 24 mins. Tom Abercrombie played 10 scoreless minutes though did offer some very nice defence. Rough one for Finn Delany though, he shot 0/5 for 2pts/1reb/1ast in his 16 minutes, once again struggling to find his role within a team that doesn’t really fit him.
It’s been a strange season for Delany, due to a mix of injuries and roster depth. Comparing this term to his previous two Breakers seasons, the main difference in his production between this and two years ago is just that he’s playing eight fewer minutes... but two years ago was when they were the worst team in the NBL. Delany’s best season was the one before that, and he’s not come close to recapturing that magic this term. Signing both he and Cheatham didn’t make sense at the time and it’s only gotten more confusing as to what exactly they had planned there... other than the standard Breakers strategy of signing the best players available and then trying to make it fit afterwards like a movie director hoping to find their story in the editing room.
Finn Delany in NBL21
36 GP | 33 MIN | 16.2 PTS | 6.8 REB | 2.2 AST | 46.4 FG% | 34.3 3P%
Finn Delany in NBL22
26 GP | 32 MIN | 10.0 PTS | 5.6 REB | 2.1 AST | 39.4 FG% | 29.7 3P%
Finn Delany in NBL24
18 GP | 24 MIN | 8.8 PTS | 3.7 REB | 1.0 AST | 39.4 FG% | 32.8 3P%
If the Breakers – and Parker Jackson-Cartwright – can repeat this effort against the Illawarra Hawks then they should find that’s a winnable contest too. Doubt they can go further than that, but semi-finals with a flawed roster and heaps of injuries would be a pretty solid achievement, all things considered. You definitely can’t doubt the fight, which is a credit to coach Mody Maor.
Important thing to say is that there are four days off between Wednesday night and Monday night and that’s the sweet spot for the Breakers. When they have less than four days off they always lose: 0-7 this season in those situations. When they have 4+ days off between games they’re now 14-8. This will still be the second game in a week for them and that’s where all those 0-7 matches also came from, however the turnaround is more generous. We’ll see which of those trends holds up.
Prior to the Breakers game, Tasmania JackJumpers strode their way to a 92-76 win against Illawarra Hawks in the 3 vs 4 match-up. That puts them into the semis to face Perth Wildcats, while I’ve mentioned that the Hawks get a second chance against Breakers in the last play-in. Will Magnay led the way with a brilliant 25 points & 10 rebounds... and with the that hefty margin of victory they were able to spare 2:06 minutes for Tom Vodanovich and 1:18 for Walter Brown. Vodanovich scored 1 point, getting to the free throw line for 1/3 amongst the final seconds. Tommy V also got a short stint in the first half, about 45 seconds in which he committed a foul. Nothing else of note for the two NZers but cool to see them involved in the playoffs all the same.
As for the WNBL, the Melbourne Boomers have been on the slide lately and they began their semi-final series with a 90-86 defeat against Southside Flyers. Penina Davidson is still out injured with the calf strain that ruled her out of the Tall Ferns Olympic qualifiers, though Tera Reed was back for the first time since suffering a concussion during that Ferns tour. She scored 11 points on 3/3 shooting in 19 minutes of action in her WNBL playoff debut. Also added an assist and a steal.
She wasn’t in the starting five, having dropped back to the bench during the team’s wobbles across the second half of the campaign, but she was out there in the clutch to close (mostly standing in the corner not getting passed the ball, so it goes). All her scoring came in the first half though, to be fair, she wasn’t the only Boomer draining shots in this game. They just couldn’t contain the likes of Lauren Jackson, Jasmine Dickey, and Leilani Mitchell... and now they’re going to need to win two in a row to advance to the finals – beginning tomorrow night at 9pm NZT.
Across the full season, Reed has shot 24/55 from three-point land, for 43.6%. For all players who’ve attempted at least ten triples, she’s second only to Cassandra Brown of Townsville Fire (25/53 for 47.2%).
Random moment from the Blackcaps coverage that I chuckled at this morning. Brad Haddin keeps calling Mark Richardson “Richo” for some reason so they chucked that into the graphics as a joke while the camera was focused on them but the lads were too busy talking about the actual game so one of the technical staff accidentally reached into the shot while pointing to Haddin’s screen so that he’d acknowledge it (which is dutifully did)...
Not quite as funny as the Reservoir Dogs march that the commentary team did prior to day one but more organic, which is better. We were talking the other day about a possible reprise of this Cricket Commentator Rankings piece from a few years back, so I’ve been paying a bit of extra attention to this stuff, as you can tell.
6-cap All White Myer Bevan made a bit of history this week with a goal for his Canadian club Cavalry FC. That goal (watch it here) was the first ever by a Cavalry player in the Concacaf Champions Cup – the Champions League of North and Central America – and it was also just the second ever scored by a New Zealander in this competition. Following in the footsteps of the great Duncan Oughton who scored for Columbus Crew in a 4-1 win against the oddly-named Joe Public FC of Trinidad & Tobago back in 2010. Sounds a little like a team name from an unlicensed video game but nope they won three TT Pro Leagues in their 15 years of existence.
Bevan’s goal made it 1-1 on the day in their second leg clash against Orlando Pride (of America’s MLS), but that was only a consolation having lost 3-0 in the first meeting. They ended up losing 6-1 on aggregate. Pretty much as expected. Still, Myer Bevan did get to do something very memorable. MB was the tied-top scorer in the CPL last year alongside Ollie Bassett who you may remember from his brief stint with Team Wellington in the old NZ Premiership. Don’t expect this to bring him into any All Whites squads quite yet as the level’s not quite up with some of the folks he’s competing with... but it’s always cool to see kiwi players having success. Bevan has dual-Canadian citizenship so he’s in a great spot there.
New Zealanders With Goals In The Top Continental Club Competitions
European Champions League: Wynton Rufer (8), Marko Stamenic (1)
Asian Champions League: Kosta Barbarouses (5), Jai Ingham (3), Michael McGlinchey (2), Marco Rojas (1)
North/Central American Champions Cup: Duncan Oughton (1), Myer Bevan (1)
African Champions League: Jeremy Brockie (1)
And... we don’t really need to roll out the numbers for the Oceania Champions League. There are lots of them. No scorers in the Copa Libertadores of South America... but Marco Rojas did become the first NZer to play in it while he was with Colo-Colo so that’s something.
Note that Wynton Rufer won the Champions League Golden Boot in that 1993-94 season, sharing it with Ronald Koeman. Quite possibly the greatest individual achievement ever by a kiwi footballer, though I’m not sure it gets the deserved credit – possibly because the UCL wasn’t nearly as visible to an Aotearoa audience back then. I’ve been trying on and off for a few years to compile clips of all those goals but there’s still one that’s evading me so if anyone’s got some lost VHS tapes or whatever of the second leg game between Werder Bremen and Dinamo Minsk then hit me up in the DMs.
The bad news is that the cricket’s been awful today, the good news is that there’s a new Earth Tongue song...