The Fundamentals
Blackcaps vs India, Aotearoa rugby league, Ford Trophy, White Ferns, Breakers, NZ National League & more
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New Zealand vs India Second Test Debrief (Cricket)
White Ferns 2024 T20 World Cup Debrief (Cricket)
Auckland FC Signing Tracker & Squad (Football)
A New Australian NBL Season Looms And Once Again It’s Chock-Full Of Kiwi Players (Basketball)
Three Themes Of New Zealand Warriors Recruitment & Development Ahead Of The 2025 NRL Season (Rugby League)
2025 New Zealand Women Warriors Signings Tracker: First Wave (Rugby League)
2025 New Zealand Women Warriors Signings Tracker: Second Wave (Rugby League)
Scotty’s Word
One thing that was leftover from my Blackcaps vs India debrief was how both teams have had regime changes in recent times. Tom Latham has made a difference as Blackcaps captain and India changed coaches earlier this year, moving from Rahul Dravid to Gautam Gambhir.
India bounced back from a first up loss vs England and won the next four Tests in a row under coach Dravid. Then Gambhir took over ahead of the home series vs Bangladesh which India won 2-0, although there were a few holes appearing in the home team's mahi.
I'm basking in the fact that Blackcaps won the first Test via seam bowling excellence, then India went all in on spinny conditions and Aotearoa won that Test via spin bowling excellence. The only stage where it felt like India had dominant swag was when Yashasvi Jaiswal started their run-chase with lots of boundaries, otherwise it was India who were troubled by spin bowling after the Blackcaps scored enough runs against India's spinners.
Throughout the second Test, Blackcaps had better body language and pounced on any opportunities dished up by their hosts. For all the runs, wickets and excellent fielding, Blackcaps won this Test by returning to Aotearoa fundamentals which is aligned with Latham taking over skipper. India had phases of being scary but they never intimidated me or the Blackcaps, which (from an outside perspective) is aligned with Gambhir taking over as coach.
Two teams in transition and the changes suited Aotearoa.
Recent Blackcaps Test Results
In Pakistan: Draw, draw
Vs England: Loss, win
Vs Sri Lanka: Win, win
In Bangladesh: Loss, win
Vs South Africa: Win, win
Vs Australia: Loss, loss
In Sri Lanka: Loss, loss
In India: Win, win
Mitchell Santner Test Bowling By Year
2015: 6w @ 31avg/2.7rpo
2016: 21w @ 39.9avg/3rpo
2017: 7w @ 33.7avg/2.2rpo
2019: 5w @ 96.8avg/2.7rpo
2020: 2w @ 29.5avg/2.3rpo
2021: 23ov @ 2.9rpo
2023: 6w @ 19.3avg/2.9rpo
2024: 20w @ 22.3avg/2.7rpo
White Ferns won the second ODI in India and did so without Amelia Kerr. The younger Kerr sister is out injured for a while (so she's not included in the stats below) and White Ferns continue to enjoy nifty contributions from their role-players, as well as the big donnies...
NZ: 259/9
Suzie Bates: 58 runs @ 82.8sr
Georgia Plimmer: 41 runs @ 82sr
Sophie Devine: 79 runs @ 91.8sr
Maddy Green: 42 runs @ 102.4sr
Izzy Gaze: 11 runs @ 122.2sr
Jess Kerr: 12* @ 200sr
India: 183
Lea Tahuhu: 3w @ 4.2rpo
Jess Kerr: 2w @ 4.9rpo
Sophie Devine: 3w @ 3.7rpo
Eden Carson: 2w @ 3.2rpo
White Ferns vs India Stats
Batting
Sophie Devine: 81 runs @ 40.5avg/89sr
Maddy Green: 73 runs @ 36.5avg/101sr
Georgia Plimmer: 66 runs @ 33avg/88sr
Suzie Bates: 59 runs @ 29.5avg/80sr
Brooke Halliday: 47 runs @ 23.5avg/68sr
Lauren Down: 29 runs @ 14.5avg/39sr
Izzy Gaze: 20 runs @ 10avg/44sr
Jess Kerr: 15 runs @ 15avg/136sr
Bowling
Jess Kerr: 5w @ 19.6avg/5.2rpo
Eden Carson: 4w @ 18.5avg/3.7rpo
Lea Tahuhu: 3w @ 14avg/4.2rpo
Sophie Devine: 3w @ 19avg/4.3rpo
Suzie Bates: 1w @ 30avg/6rpo
Fran Jonas: 10ov @ 3.3rpo
Molly Penfold: 5ov @ 5.6rpo
Shout outs J-Kerr. White Ferns won the T20 World Cup but J-Kerr is a better ODI bowler and she has slotted in nicely to the team playing in India...
2024 T20Is: 33ov, 2w @ 115.5avg/7rpo
2024 ODIs: 58.3ov, 12w @ 24.5avg/5rpo
J-Kerr is also one of the strongest hitters for White Ferns and she has shown that in her two innings against India. She has a ODI batting strike-rate of 107.9 and T20I batting strike-rate of 113.6.
The next round of Ford Trophy games is Wednesday so I'll do a check in tomorrow. Auckland defeating Otago was the only game that was played on Sunday due to rain.
Canterbury: 2-0 | 12pts
Auckland: 2-1 | 8 pts
Wellington: 1-1 | 7 pts
Northern Districts: 1-1 | 6 pts
Otago: 1-2 | 2 pts
Central Districts: 0-2 | 2 pts
Ford Trophy Stat Leaders
Batting
Chad Bowes: 253 runs @ 253avg/159sr
Michael Sclanders: 182 runs @ 60.6avg/85sr
Dale Phillips: 165 runs @ 55avg/81sr
Will O'Donnell: 160 runs @ 53avg/74sr
Brad Schmulian: 134 runs @ 44.6avg/116sr
Jack Boyle: 130 runs @ 43.3avg/88sr
Tom Bruce: 120 runs @ 60avg/140sr
Henry Cooper: 118 runs @ 59avg/97sr
Leo Carter: 118 runs @ 39.3avg/85sr
Luke Georgeson: 114 runs @ 38avg/105sr
Bowling
Matt Bacon: 10w @ 12avg/4.7rpo
Blair Tickner: 7w @ 17.8avg/6.5rpo
Angus McKenzie: 5w @ 6avg/2.3rpo
Zak Foulkes: 5w @ 7.4avg/3rpo
Danru Ferns: 5w @ 17.6avg/5.5rpo
Scott Kuggeleijn: 5w @ 22.6avg/5.9rpo
Andrew Hazeldine: 5w @ 33.4avg/5.5rpo
Michael Rippon: 4w @ 5.7avg/3.9rpo
Adithya Ashok: 4w @ 30.5avg/5.3rpo
Dean Foxcroft: 4w @ 35.7avg/6.6rpo
Jock McKenzie and Adithya Ashok are two lads to track for Auckland. McKenzie hit 66 runs along with a century to Michael Sclanders and he is part of a younger all-rounder group who I think are excellent cricketers...
(Auckland down to Otago)
Jock McKenzie: 22yrs | 18avg/71sr | 41.4avg/5.5rpo
Kristian Clarke: 23yrs | 10.7avg/68sr | 23.8avg/5.6rpo
Will Clark: 23yrs | 41.3avg/94sr | 34.2avg/6.6rpo
Nathan Smith: 26yrs | 26.4avg/94sr | 32.1avg/5.4pro
Zak Foulkes: 22yrs | 19.6avg/78sr | 19.6avg/4.4rpo
Luke Georgeson: 25yrs | 35.9avg/77sr | 23.5avg/5.4rpo
Ashok has hauls of 2w, 0w, 2w so far. List-A bowling is his worst format by a smidge and I've added his LA stuff by year below his format break down...
First-Class: 34.66avg/3.4rpo
List-A: 36.29avg/5.5rpo
T20: 22avg/7rpo
2021/22: 11w @ 38.72avg/5.8rpo
2022/23: 10w @ 27.1avg/5.3rpo
2023/24: 6w @ 51avg/5.3rpo
2024/25: 4w @ 30.5avg/5.3rpo
Those stats are in tune with how kiwi spinners have settled into domestic cricket. The best spinners average over 30 in Aotearoa and that usually dips towards excellent T20 averages. It ain't easy being a spinner in kiwi conditions and Ashok continues his development as the leading young spinner.
Tough Sunday evening for Aotearoa rugby league. Kiwi Ferns and Kiwis both lost to Australia in front of hearty crowds, although there is no reason for greater concern. Kiwi Ferns were gritty in defence but had no attacking threat and that can be tweaked as they spend more time together, while a younger Kiwis team fought valiantly but lacked the mature class of Australia.
Keep in mind that Australia played last week and already played through mishaps, plus Kiwis and Kiwi Ferns both lost to Australia last year before winning the next week.
Both games were entertaining and the intensity of international rugby league was on display. Aotearoa needs full-strength teams to beat Australia (like they had last year) and we are still in a phase where I don't expect NZ to win against Australia. Aotearoa hasn't earned those expectations just yet and they now need to build into must-win games vs Tonga (men) and Papua New Guinea (women).
My favourites (all younger players)...
Keano Kini: 26 runs - 254m @ 9.7m/run, 5 tackle breaks, 1 offload, 2 tackles @ 33.3%
Naufahu Whyte: 42mins, 15 runs - 147m @ 9.8m/run, 5 tackle breaks, 3 offloads, 29 tackles @ 100%
Griffin Neame: 47mins, 14 runs - 141m @ 10m/run, 3 tackle breaks, 31 tackles @ 96.8%
Abigail Roache: 10 runs - 88m @ 8.8m/run, 2 tackle breaks, 13 tackles @ 100%
Annessa Biddle: 8 runs - 96m @ 12m/run, 39 tackles @ 95.1%
Recent Men's International Rugby League Results
New Zealand
Win vs Samoa: 50-0
Loss vs Australia: 18-36
Win vs Australia: 30-0
Loss vs Australia: 10-22
Australia
Win vs Samoa: 38-12
Win vs NZ: 36-18
Loss vs NZ: 0-30
Win vs Tonga: 18-0
Win vs NZ: 10-22
England
Win vs France: 64-0
Win vs Tonga: 14-4
Win vs Tonga: 26-4
Win vs France: 40-8
Win vs Samoa: 34-18
Tonga
Loss vs England: 18-22
Loss vs England: 4-14
Loss vs England: 4-26
Loss vs Australia: 0-18
Samoa
Loss vs Australia: 12-38
Loss vs NZ: 0-50
Loss vs England: 18-34
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
The longest ever home Test series winning streak ended on Saturday evening as the Blackcaps beat India by by 113 runs to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. India had won 18 Test series in a row on home soil. Won them. No drawn series, let alone defeats. They were last beaten in a home series by England in 2012. Prior to this tour, the Blackcaps had only ever won two Test matches in India and they’ve doubled that tally in the space of a fortnight. Incredibly, it’s also the first away series win for the Blackcaps since beating Pakistan in 2018... which was in the UAE so technically even that might not count. Also not counting the WTC final here either since that was a one-off neutral venue match. In that case it’s a 2-0 win against Zimbabwe in 2016. Bloody hell.
Blackcaps Away Series, Past 10 Years
Won 2-1 vs West Indies | 2014
Drew 1-1 (3) vs Pakistan (UAE) | 2014
Drew 1-1 vs England | 2015
Lost 0-2 (3) vs Australia | 2015
Won 2-0 vs Zimbabwe | 2016
Lost 0-1 (2) vs South Africa | 2016
Lost 0-3 vs India | 2016
Won 2-1 vs Pakistan (UAE) | 2018
Drew 1-1 vs Sri Lanka | 2019
Lost 0-3 vs Australia | 2019
Drew 1-1 vs England | 2021
Lost 0-1 (2) vs India | 2021
Lost 0-3 vs England | 2022
Drew 0-0 (2) vs Pakistan | 2023
Drew 1-1 vs Bangladesh | 2023
Lost 0-2 vs Sri Lanka | 2024
Winning 2-0 vs India | 2024
I still don’t understand how it happened, but Mitchell Santner took 7/53 and 6/104 in this match despite having played 63 previous first class games in his career (that’s first class, make sure you read it right) and only ever taking one five-for in his life. Two four-wicket hauls and to go with it. Average over 40.
Those were numbers that never gave much justification for his place in the Test squad (though admittedly he’s not always been available for Plunket Shield due to his other Blackcaps efforts)... and when he had played in Tests it’d been the same story. Apparently he had the world record for most wickets without ever taking four in an innings. His best was 3/34 and his average was 42.16. Now he’s shaved nearly six runs off that avg thanks to match figures of 13/157 in one of the nation’s greatest ever Test match victories.
Also, it’s very unlikely... but these two results do put the possibility of Aotearoa qualifying for the WTC final back on the table. The Blackcaps are up to 50% on the points tally with an even split of wins and defeats with no penalty points against them. They can get up to 64.29% by winning the third match in India and then sweeping the home series against England. One loss and we’re talking 57.14%. India are playing five Tests in Australia soon so if they get smoked there like they have done here then that does make things interesting. But there are way too many things that need to break right for that to be worth worrying about at this stage. We’ll settle for the whitewash in India.
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After writing about how the Breakers probably aren’t very good in Friday’s newsletter, they did the most Breakers thing imaginable and beat Sydney Kings on the road on Sunday. Won 93-89 to move to 4-2 for the season. I didn’t get to pay this game close attention because there was simply too much great kiwi sport on at the time but here are a couple of things that did stand out:
93 points is their season high in a game, beating the 91 points they scored against Brisbane in game one. They’ve had two games in the 90s, two in the 80s, one in the 70s, and one in the 60s range.
Naturally, a Breakers win involved both Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Matt Mooney scored 20+ points.
Coach Kop only used an eight-man rotation here. Multiple times he’s gotten ten blokes out in the first quarter but here it was a tight eight with PJC, Mooney, Karim Lopez, Jonah Bolden & Sam Mennenga in the starting line five and Freddie Gillespie, Grant Anticevich, and Sean Bairstow all getting at least 12 mins off the bench
Parker Jackson-Cartwright played 38 minutes out of 40. The commentators have been calling for him to get huge minutes given that he’s basically the entirety of their offensive scheme at the moment but actually the three previous wins had all come with PJC getting less than 30, while the two losses he’d played around the 32-33 mins range each time
Sydney Kings sucked, they look disjointed and lacking in focus... but Izayah Le’Afa did score 23 points including 6/13 from three-pointers. He needed that because he’d started the season shooting 1/20 from distance before making three triples against Perth and now six against NZB this week. Points totals of: 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 3, 0, 9, 23. That’s more like it from Izayah.
Now let’s have a peek at the top of the A-League table ah would you look at this...
WNL Team of the Week #5
GK – Lauren Paterson (Southern United) – Didn’t have much to do against Central but was outstanding in the narrow win against Wellington United. Saves for days. Plus she got a goalie assist!
RB – Zoe Barrott (Wellington United) – It was in a losing cause but we’ve gotta recognise the valiant efforts too. There were three or four simply heroic defensive acts from ZB, who also tried her best to give the Diamonds some attacking sparkle.
CB – Tiana Hill (Western Springs) – Didn’t catch the Springs vs Karori game because the replay never arrived but Springs did announce Hill as their team’s player of the team and being familiar with Hill’s game I’m happy to go along with that idea. She’s been fantastic for a few weeks now holding down a centre-back position despite it not being her natural spot.
CB – Hannah Mackay-Wright (Southern United) – HMW scored three goals this week across two games. Plus another that went down as an own goal so she had to settle for the assist. Did miss a penalty but she scored with the offensive rebound. Not a bad week’s mahi for a defender.
LB – Saskia Vosper (Auckland United) – She’s cooking. Set up a goal and defended like a champ. Back to back TOWs for the ex-Phoenix fullback.
CM – Rose Morton (Southern United) – Tossed and turned between Morton and Georgia Keen in this spot. Keen scored a beauty against Central but then Morton also scored in that game and had a couple assists. Both have been great. Keen’s presence has freed Morton up to get more involved in attack and that’s working out pretty well.
CM – Chloe Knott (Auckland United) – This is the third one of these teams that she’s made but what can you say? She’s that good. Scored a remarkable goal to turn the tide in AU’s favour against the Cantabs. Unparalleled workrate and attacking presence from midfield.
CM – Shontelle Smith (Southern United) – Absolutely instrumental, scoring a brilliant winner against Wellington Utd and then causing carnage with her corner kicks against Central. Tenacious and creative. Perfect combo.
FW – Zoe Benson (Eastern Suburbs) – Let’s see, her team won 10-0 and she scored two goals, assisted three, and was heavily involved in the moves for four more. That’s 90% Benson Usage Rate. Superb.
FW – Charlotte Roche (Auckland United) – Two goals in a statement win against her old team Canterbury United. The production remains... and the talent around that production is improving so much. Her hold-up play was excellent in this match.
FW – Bree Johnson (West Coast Rangers) – Scored both goals and hit the crossbar seeking a hatty. Her dribbling is always a threat and here her pressing was even more effective.
Musical Jam...