Tactically Unleashed
Wellington Phoenix positional shuffles, Ford Trophy & HBJ Shield, Kiwis in the A-League Women's, Canterbury NRL talent & more
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Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Six Sneaky Juniors To Learn About (Rugby League)
Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Signing Kurt Capewell & Depth Chart (Rugby League)
Flying Kiwis – December 6 (Football)
Football Ferns vs Colombia: A Bit of Grit in Game Tahi (Football)
Football Ferns vs Colombia: A Familiar Tale in Game Rua (Football)
The Long, Confusing Timeline of Steven Adams’ Knee Injury (Basketball)
T20I Series Loss To Pakistan Is A New Low In White Ferns Woes (Cricket)
2023/24 Ford Trophy: Round Three Notebook (Finn Allen & Nathan Smith Takeover, Emerging Will Clark) (Cricket)
2023/25 World Test Championship: Blackcaps vs Bangladesh First Test Debrief (Cricket)
2023/24 World Test Championship: Blackcaps vs Bangladesh Second Test Debrief (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
Blackcaps start their ODI series against Bangladesh in Aotearoa next Sunday and the last round of Ford Trophy cricket will be played mid-week before domestic cricket enters Super Smash mode. On Tuesday, Northern Districts host Central Districts in Whangarei and Otago host Canterbury in Invercargill, then Wednesday has Auckland hosting Wellington.
Here’s how the Ford Trophy lads who are selected in the Blackcaps ODI squad have been performing...
Finn Allen: 369 runs @ 92avg/129sr
Josh Clarkson: 78 runs @ 26avg/83sr | 5w @ 19avg/4.9rpo
Adam Milne: 9w @ 9avg/3.3rpo
Will O'Rourke: 6w @ 29avg/5.2rpo
Adithya Ashok: 5w @ 38avg/4.8rpo
Jacob Duffy: 2w @ 82avg/6rpo
Another thing I've been pondering is the First-Class mahi of Glenn Phillips and Mitchell Santner. Broadcasts tend not to include FC stats in the player profiles but I always find FC stats helpful in telling the story of how a player earned their Test spot. This is just as interesting for opposition players as it is for Blackcaps. Based on their FC batting mahi, folks shouldn't be surprised by the batting performances of Phillips and Santner...
Glenn Phillips: 42.39avg/65.9sr
Mitchell Santner: 30.94avg/51sr
Phillips has a higher FC batting average than Rachin Ravindra (38.77) and Santner isn't too far off Ravindra. Phillips also has a higher FC batting average than Daryl Mitchell (40.76), Tom Blundell (37.44) and Henry Nicholls (39.34). Kane Williamson (50.67), Devon Conway (46.77) and Tom Latham (43.53) are the only lads from the Test team with higher FC batting averages than Phillips.
White Ferns start their ODI series against Pakistan tomorrow and I didn't have time to whip up a preview, but might pop up after the first ODI for a deeper dive. A basic preview note that we discussed in the Niche Cast today: White Ferns are 2-4 in ODIs this year and 10-15 in ODIs in the last five years.
The T20I series loss to Pakistan was such a bummer because it was in Aotearoa and White Ferns are a better T20 team than ODIs. Now White Ferns face a confident Pakistan team in their weaker format and this series will update how White Ferns are tracking as the year ends. White Ferns ODI stats his year...
Batting
Amelia Kerr: 377 runs @ 75avg/82sr
Sophie Devine: 241 runs @ 48avg/100sr
Brooke Halliday: 117 runs @ 39avg/75sr
Suzie Bates: 116 runs @ 23avg/59sr
Hannah Rowe: 104 runs @ 34avg/75sr
Maddy Green: 91 runs @ 22avg/75sr
Georgia Plimmer: 52 runs @ 13avg/59sr
Bernadine Bezuidenhout: 42 runs @ 14avg/76sr
Bowling
Lea Tahuhu: 10w @ 20avg/4.9rpo
Sophie Devine: 7w @ 23avg/5.1rpo
Hannah Rowe: 5w @ 28avg/5.4rpo
Eden Carson: 3w @ 69avg/5.2rpo
Amelia Kerr: 3w @ 77avg/4.9rpo
Fran Jonas: 2w @ 56avg/4.9rpo
Jess Kerr: 2w @ 41avg/5.1rpo
The last round of HBJ Shield before the Super Smash starts was played over the weekend and I'll go deep into HBJ Shield matters on Tuesday. Wellington had two wins over Auckland, Northern Districts had two wins over Canterbury and Central Districts had a rain-affected win over Otago before their Sunday game was rained off.
The CD win over Otago featured a century for Saffron Wilson and 6 wickets for Rosemary Mair. Leigh Kasperek had a fantastic weekend with 73 runs and 2w on Saturday, followed by 5w on Sunday. Wellington also have 17-year-old Kate Chandler who scored 56 runs on Saturday, averaging 32 with the bat and 20 with the ball so far this season.
Canterbury had two losses but lots of funk. Frances Mackay was at her tricky best with this run-out and 19-year-old Izzy Sharp showcased her talent in a knock of 45 runs on Saturday. The funkiest wrinkle from the weekend though was Yssabel Curren who took 3w on Sunday and she doesn’t even have an NZC player page yet, while Cricinfo lists her as 'Yasa' Cullen.
Cullen is a lefty seamer from Darfield. Peep the funk…
Cullen joins Auckland's Bree Illing and Otago's PJ Watkins as lefty seamers. Previous seasons featured no lefty seamers and there are now three nifty lefties on the circuit.
Darfield is producing some of Aotearoa's best and funkiest young seamers. Henry Shipley, Zak Foulkes and Cameron Paul all offer a quirky seam skillset from Darfield. Cullen is a lefty but has a smooth action like the three lads which generates seam/swing at decent pace. There isn't much info about Cullen floating around the interwebs but she is still at school, with Darfield High School highlighting her selection this weekend. Darfield is the hottest cricket development pocket in Aotearoa since Tawa’s takeover of White Ferns.
Here are the best players in HBJ Shield...
Most Runs
Mikaela Greig: 232 runs @ 77avg/110sr
Caitlin Gurrey: 224 runs @ 44avg/69sr
Leigh Kasperek: 203 runs @ 40avg/81sr
Georgia Atkinson: 202 runs @ 50avg/68sr
Polly Inglis: 197 runs @ 49avg/84sr
Most Wickets
Claudia Green: 11w @ 13avg/3.7rpo
Eden Carson: 10w @ 8avg/3rpo
Sarah Asmussen: 10w @ 23avg/4.3rpo
Emma Black: 9w @ 15avg/3.9rpo
Leigh Kaserek: 9w @ 16avg/3.1rpo
Kayley Knight: 9w @ 19avg/5rpo
Gabby Sullivan: 9w @ 28avg/4.8rpo
Back on the topic of Canterbury and sporting hot pockets, Canterbury is also producing plenty of Kiwi-NRL talent. This list features lads from Canterbury and Greymouth/West Coast who I’m tracking. NRL lads at the top down to Under 17s and as always, I’m probably missing a few. West Coaster are including because much of their footy is played in Canterbury competitions. Players from St Thomas of Canterbury College who won the National Secondary Schools Championship aren’t included as most haven’t played in NSW/QLD competitions yet and many junior squads haven’t been announced. This yarn from NZ Warriors states that they have signed Bishop Neal and Lennox Tuiloma for U17s, plus Jackson Stewart and Ezekiel Faga-Ieti for U19s from that STOCC team.
Jamayne Isaako: Aranui - Dolphins
Jordan Riki: Hornby - Broncos
Griffin Neame: Suburbs Greymouth - Cowboys
Tanner Stowers-Smith: Halswell - NZ Warriors
Caius Fa'atili: Hornby - Storm
Felix Fa'atili: Hornby - Sharks
Jack Sandford: CBHS - Raiders
K-Ci Newton-Whare: Riccarton - Storm
Oliver Lawry: Halswell - Tigers
Makaia Tafua: Linwood - NZ Warriors
Montel Lisala: Halswell - Bulldogs
Bronson Reuben: Northern - Bulldogs
Sosaia Alatini: Hornby - Bulldogs
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
Disappointing stuff from the Wellington Phoenix lads on Saturday night. I had a feeling that kind of performance was due and I’m planning to write about it some more this week so stay tuned for that.
The Women on the other hand... no dramas with a 2-2 home draw against a contending Melbourne Victory team with several of their top players unavailable from the start after Football Ferns duty. Only Kate Taylor started from that group, plus don’t forget the season-ending injury for Marisa van der Meer and the release of Chloe Knott since they last played. Bit of adversity there. Lots of new combinations required against the Victory. So all things considered, can’t complain with a solid point – even if that was the first time they’ve conceded multiple goals in a game this season.
It was pretty fascinating stuff, to be honest. It wasn’t only the new combinations from the start, with several players making their first starts of the season, but also other regulars getting used in different positions than usual including off the bench. Some of those positional switches were forced by the situation. Others might just be a sign of things to come. So, tell ya what, let’s rank them on a scale of ‘Better Get Used To This’ to ‘Don’t Worry About It’…
1) Rebecca Lake at Centre-Back
With MVDM out for the season, Lake is the obvious candidate to take her spot. One Cantab for another. She’d played every game so far off the bench, usually as a defensive midfielder, but RL is a defender by trade and frankly there was no drop-off from MVDM to Lake in that Victory game. A slight dip in distribution is balanced out by stronger CB instincts (remember Van der Meer predominantly used to be a fullback until last year) - although the aerial prowess will be the biggest test. But Lake’s looked comfortable at this level from day one. Only worry is the lack of depth behind her.
2) Kate Taylor at Centre-Back
They missed KT as that defensive midfield shield for sure. But until they sign someone else, any knock to Barry or Lake would surely mean Taylor having to drop deep again as she did here. I still reckon that CB is her long term position, where she’ll end up if/when she moves to Europe so this midfield experience is going to be great for upskilling her technique in the meantime. Also, it’s where she best serves the team right now. But she’s also the next woman up in central defence, as we saw here.
3) Zoe McMeeken at Left-Back
See now that was really something. McMeeken has benefited more than most by the advent of the reserves team and if you saw her in the National League this year then you saw a very confident left-back (always on the left, not the right where most of her ALW mins have come) who has been coached to drift into the midfield and even chase her way to the complete opposite part of the pitch. A wildcard presence after my own heart. There’s no need be that tactically unleashed in the WNL so clearly that had to be in preparation for an opportunity like this. Sure enough, we saw all the same stuff from ZM against Melbourne Vix... other than the banger long range goals but give her time. McMeeken was signed before she was ready, to be honest. But having been able to settle into the academy she now looks like a different player. She’s a supreme athlete. She also overlaps in a way that the other fullbacks don’t, giving her a point of difference. This won’t be the last we see of her this season (she’s already topped last season’s minutes tally of 93).
4) Alyssa Whinham in Midfield
Hopefully there’s plenty more Alyssa Whinham on the way too. This was only her second sub appearance of the term but, after a shaky start, there was plenty of promise. We also got an answer to the question of where she fits in for a team that no longer operates with a number ten. Whinham played in the midfield mirroring Macey Fraser – linking up directly with MF a few times (another slick Canterbury combo, gonna need to see much more of those two on a footy pitch together). Whinham’s physicality is probably what holds her back but there’s so much talent there to be utilised. Interesting that AW left a comment of agreement on Knott’s IG post last week (she was the first one I thought of when reading Knott’s words about the treatment of players up and down the roster given how she was away on personal leave for most of last term)... now Whinham shapes to benefit from Knott’s departure more than anyone.
5) Mariana Speckmaier at Left-Wing
Funky areas to start the second half with Speckmaier and Kelli Brown swapping spots. Specky went out wide on the left with Brown through the middle... then she remained there after Brown was subbed with Breslin going up front instead. MS is best up front but this is definitely something to ponder in certain match-ups given her dribbling skills and the rapid speed.
6) Kelli Brown in the Starting XI
The addition of Isabel Cox makes the scrap for attacking opportunities even tougher so it was a good thing she was able to sneak in a positive outing here, starting on the wing but getting some centre-forward minutes as well. Set up the second goal with a wicked long shot cutting inside and rocking the crossbar. That’s what KB does. Not sure she’ll get too many starts except when others are unavailable but when she plays she’ll make things happen. So stoked they brought her back.
7) Michaela Foster in Defensive Midfield
If you’ve only watched Foster for the Nix and the Ferns then you’d have been shocked to see her anywhere other than at left back or, maybe, in case of emergency, as a left winger. But if you watched Foster in the National League then you’ve seen her play in basically every position except goalie. One of my favourite Foz stats is how she played in two Kate Sheppard Cup finals in the same year, with the 2021 version postponed until early 2022 due to covid stuff. Further to that stat is how she played centre-back for Hamilton Wanderers then right wing for Northern Rovers. Predominantly a fullback when she was at uni in the States, she also played a fair bit there for WaiBOP at the end of their existence. And was mostly a centre-mid for Rovers in the National League last year (with a bit of striker amidst). She was tidy in her quarter of an hour or so at CDM here although it doesn’t feel like something that’ll become a regular vision, especially not if they sign another defender/midfielder.
8) Hope Breslin in Midfield
Yeah I dunno, I didn’t think it worked. This was probably a matter of just doing a one-off job for the team because Breslin’s style was a bit too frisky in those pivotal midfield areas. As much as I love midfield dribblers, there’s a time and a place and HB was taking too many risks and turning over too much ball. No shade, it’s not her position. To be honest, I assumed Emma Main would play CM and Breslin RW when I saw the line-up and I’m still not sure that shouldn’t have been the case... although Main’s smart tracking for the second goal may say otherwise.
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NZ Stat Leaders In The A-League Women (After Seven Rounds)
Overall league rank in brackets
Minutes Played
Kate Taylor (Wellington Phoenix) – 609 (25)
Hannah Wilkinson (Melbourne City) – 576 (36)
Mackenzie Barry (Wellington Phoenix) – 570 (37)
Grace Jale (Perth Glory) – 560 (40)
Marisa van der Meer (Wellington Phoenix) – 540 (45)
Goals + Assists
Hannah Wilkinson (Melbourne City) – 4 (3 goals, 1 assist)
Grace Jale (Perth Glory) – 3 (3 goals)
Hannah Blake (Adelaide United) – 3 (2 goals, 1 assist)
Expected Goals (xG)
Hannah Wilkinson (Melbourne City) – 4.5 (1=)
Grace Jale (Perth Glory) – 2.0 (12)
Hannah Blake (Adelaide United) – 1.4 (22=)
Kate Taylor (Wellington Phoenix) – 1.4 (22=)
Chloe Knott (Wellington Phoenix) – 1.4 (22=)
Manaia Elliott (Wellington Phoenix) – 1.0 (38=)
Macey Fraser (Wellington Phoenix) – 0.8 (45=)
Rosetta Taylor (Adelaide United) – 0.8 (45=)
Emma Main (Wellington Phoenix) – 0.7 (52=)
Expected Assists
Liz Anton (Perth Glory) – 1.4 (4)
Grace Jale (Perth Glory) – 1.3 (8=)
Emma Main (Wellington Phoenix) – 0.9 (22=)
Hannah Wilkinson (Melbourne City), Annalie Longo & Alyssa Whinham (Wellington Phoenix) – 0.7 (32=)
Completed Passes
Rebekah Stott (Melbourne City) – 399 (1)
Mackenzie Barry (Wellington Phoenix) – 273 (14)
Marisa van der Meer (Wellington Phoenix) – 263 (16)
Kate Taylor (Wellington Phoenix) – 247 (20)
Michaela Foster (Wellington Phoenix) – 234 (26)
Tackles + Interceptions
Kate Taylor (Wellington Phoenix) – 36 (3)
Michaela Foster (Wellington Phoenix) – 30 (10=)
Rebekah Stott (Melbourne City) – 24 (25=)
Mackenzie Barry (Wellington Phoenix) – 22 (33=)
Macey Fraser (Wellington Phoenix) – 21 (37=)
Aerial Duels Won
Kate Taylor (Wellington Phoenix) – 13 (1)
Grace Jale (Perth Glory) – 10 (2=)
Marisa van der Meer (Wellington Phoenix) – 10 (2=)
Hannah Wilkinson (Melbourne City) – 7 (6=)
Chloe Knott (Wellington Phoenix) – 6 (10=)
Those stats are all from FB Reference by the way, so for the record I dispute their very strict definition of an assist and would definitely have given Blake another (for winning a penalty via foul).