The Main Protagonist
White Ferns (and Suzie Bates), Kiwis in March Madness, Warriors vs Knights, Football Ferns squad, Blackcaps, NZ athletics, and more
Scotty’s Word
Suzie Bates has a new role for White Ferns and it seems more based around allowing a senior player with plenty of mana to stay in the 1st 11, rather than Bates commanding selection with runs and wickets. Bates started bowling spin a few years ago and there is nothing to suggest that she should be a 1st 11 spinner for Aotearoa in T20Is but this role is also about runs down the order, specifically fast runs that Bates has not delivered for a long time.
Bates in her last 10 games
Runs: 0, 0, 29, 1, 10, 0, 1
Wickets: 1, 0, 0, 0, 0
Bates in T20Is since the start of 2025
Bat: 19avg/115sr
Ball: 87avg/7.7rpo
Bates is playing as the second spinner behind Melie Kerr. Eden Carson and Fran Jonas aren’t available right now so Bates is filling that spot, but with Flora Devonshire offering lefty spin and more aggressive batting, this smells more like a Bates vs Devonshire selection battle.
Bates should probably be viewed as a slow bowler, not a spinner, in the same way Brooke Halliday is a slow bowler. Bates doesn’t really turn the ball nor does she get dip or have control of flight to deceive batters. I do not think Bates is one of Aotearoa’s best spinners and she was already struggling to score quick enough in T20s, so perhaps her batting potential in this role is overstated.
The last year Bates had a T20I strike-rate over 120 was in 2019. Here are her strike-rates since then...
2020: 90.54
2021: 84.31
2022: 101.49
2023: 106.09
2024: 103.55
2025: 115.78
2026: 50 (one innings)
There is progression on show there but for all the chat about kiwi women adapting to the increased scoring rates in women’s cricket, Bates is not keeping up and that’s an issue in a role where it’s all about strike-rates.
Meanwhile, Izzy Sharp and Jess Kerr are batting around Bates with excellent strike-rates and far more confidence to have a whack. Sharp scored 29 runs @ 139sr in the second T20I and J-Kerr scored 14 runs @ 140sr. Sharp has a T20I batting strike-rate this year of 138 and J-Kerr is on 136sr.
Bates doesn’t need to do much to keep this role because I think her presence and mana is why she is selected, plus she only needs to have a few scores or take a few wickets for her to be doing her job. Bates isn’t doing much of anything though and the issue with her as a top-order batter is evident down the order, while her spin bowling has been overhyped since she made the change.
Adjacent to this is a clear trend in White Ferns batting since the start of 2025...
White Ferns with 50+ runs averaging 30+
Melie Kerr: 90avg/153sr
Izzy Gaze: 97.5avg/151sr
Izzy Sharp: 32.6avg/127sr
White Ferns with 50+ runs averaging below 20
Suzie Bates: 19avg/115sr
Brooke Halliday: 16avg/97sr
Sophie Devine: 19.2avg/104sr
Emma McLeod: 19.6avg/92sr
McLeod’s still growing into her T20 mahi and her best batting comes in the longer format. Take her out and there are three younger batters scoring lots of runs with great strike-rates and three older batters scoring fewer runs with lower strike-rates. Like Bates, in theory Devine is one of the most brutal hitters in the world but she was below 120sr for five consecutive years of T20I batting before her 37 runs @ 132sr in two games vs South Africa.
In the second T20I, Bates and Devine were the only White Ferns who conceded more than 9rpo. Bates bowled 1 over @ 19rpo and Devine bowled 4ov @ 11.5rpo. There is far more evidence that Bates may struggle to keep her 1st 11 role, but with Devine’s scoring slowing down and having her three worst years of T20I bowling prior to 2026 (three years averaging 35+ for the first time in her career), she hasn’t been as effective as many would assume.
Meanwhile, A-Kerr’s legendary mahi continues and J-Kerr loves bowling with her sister as T20I captain more than the others...
A-Kerr: 17.2avg/5.8rpo
Devine: 33.8avg/6.1rpo
Bates: 35avg/8rpo
Satterthwaite: 37avg/6.3rpo
Blackcaps have a similar lower order batting unit to White Ferns. Jimmy Neesham is the Bates player as the realty of his T20I batting right now does not match the perception. Cole McConchie and Josh Clarkson are the Sharp/J-Kerr duo who offer genuine oomph with the bat deep down the order.
McConchie and Clarkson added quick runs in the second T20I, which offers a clear difference in their mahi with Neesham so far against South Africa...
Cole McConchie: 33 runs @ 143.4sr
Josh Clarkson: 26 runs @ 288.8sr
Jimmy Neesham: 34 runs @ 106.2sr
Like Bates, Neesham should be a good T20I batter but that isn’t the case in recent years...
2024: 14.6avg/107sr
2025: 8.2avg/103sr
2026: 21.6avg/120sr
Clarkson has only played one game so far this year but McConchie offers a nice comparison to Neesham this year with 39avg/134sr. So far against South Africa, Neesham has bowled 1 over so he’s operating more as a batter than an all-rounder. Clarkson didn’t bowl in his only appearance either and Zak Foulkes didn’t play the second game, so I’m curious about which all-rounders do what moving forward.
Canterbury’s younger batters in the first innings of their Plunket Shield vs Central Districts with their First-Class averages prior to this game
Rhys Mariu: 52 runs (53.8avg)
Matthew Boyle: 75 runs (34.77avg)
Mitchell Hay: 85 runs (46.83avg)
For paid subscribers
Brooke Halliday’s underwhelming T20I mahi
Bree Illing and Rosemary Mair intrigue
Spotlight on Ben Sears
Auckland’s fresh selections in Plunket Shield including Marco Alpe
Luke Hanson information
First game of the year for Jeremiah Leama this year with NZ Warriors
NZ Warriors halves combinations this weekend in all grades…
NRL: Tanah Boyd, Luke Hanson (both Aussies)
NSW Cup: Jett Cleary, Jack Thompson (both Aussies)
U21s: Maui Winitana-Patelesio (Te Aroha), Harry Inch (Nelson College)
U19s: Hinckley Ioka (Glenora), Wiremu Makea (Nelson College)
U17s: Keanu Simpson (Sacred Heart College), Jackson Robinson (Aoraki)
The Luke Hanson debut for NZ Warriors is super duper cool and interesting, but you may not know that 17-year-old Bishop Neal is named to make his NSW Cup debut this weekend. The last bloke who played NSW Cup at 17yrs was Leka Halasima and while Halasima had a crazier rise, Neal’s steady build up to this moment offers ample preparation.
Bishop Neal
2025: 10 games of U17s
2026: 2 games of U19s, 2 games of U21s, named for NSW Cup debut
Leka Halasima
2023: 6 games of U19s, NSW Cup debut
Neal has crazier highlights than Halasima...
Neal is also from Christchurch while Halasima comes from an area that folks expect to produce incredible players - Sonny Fai and Jason Taumalolo are just a couple of the players who come from the hub of Mangere/Papatoetoe/Otahuhu/Otara.
Christchurch is on the rise though and Neal adds a tremendous dose of x-factor to the growing production line in Canterbury. Neal is a Hornby junior and he joins Makaia Tafua (Linwood) in the NSW Cup team this week, while Tanner Stowers-Smith (Halswell) is in the NRL team and Jason Salalilo (Papanui) would be playing NSW Cup if he wasn’t injured.
Five notable Kiwi-NRL juniors from Christchurch below NRL...
Felix Fa’atili (Hornby) is still in the NSW Cup group for Sharks as a big bopper.
K-Ci Newton-Whare (Riccarton) moved up from U21s to NSW Cup this year and he is the most notable Aotearoa junior in the Storm system as a middle forward.
Jackson Stewart (Hornby) played NRL preseason for Roosters and after having a few games at centre for their U21s team, he is now at fullback.
Sosaia Alatini (Hornby) has settled at edge forward for Bulldogs U21s after a weird summer that is aligned with weird Bulldogs antics.
Bronson Reuben (Kaiapoi) is halfback for Bulldogs U21s.
Antonio Verhoeven is not from Christchurch but the Cobden-Kohinoor junior from Greymouth has played two games of Queensland Cup on the wing for Wynnum as part of the Broncos system. He has 3 tries, 4 linebreaks,13 tackle breaks and 3 offloads so far.
Musical jam…
Nick’s Notebook
Kiwis in NCAA March Madness 2026
Women
Charlisse Leger-Walker (UCLA – 1 seed)
Shawnessy Nordstrom (California Baptist - 16)
Ella Brow (Baylor - 6)
Anika Jyland (Stephen F Austin State - 16)
Waiata Jennings (Alabama - 6)
Lilly Taulelei (Iowa State - 8)
Lauren Whittaker (Gonzaga - 12)
Men
Hayden Jones (Wisconsin - 5)
Oscar Goodman (Michigan - 1)
They split the brackets up into four sections so keep in mind there are four different 1-seeds in each... but yeah we’ve got a couple athletes there at contending schools. Oscar Goodman has only appeared in 12 games this year with a max of 10 mins played so don’t expect to see too much of him... but this is a potential crowning month for Charlisse Leger-Walker as she wraps up her long college career before declaring for the WNBA Draft.
CLW started every game she played for UCLA this season. Her scoring was way down as she found herself on a team with many scoring threats, rather than being the main protagonist as was the case at Washington State. But because of that she had career high shooting percentages and assist numbers whilst playing like a more traditional point guard. And her team is amazing, going undefeated in conference play (31-1 overall) on the way to the Big 10 championship – they won by 51 points in the final with CLW logging 11p-5a-4r-3s in 29 minutes.
The other lady to keep an eye on is Lauren Whittaker, whose Gonzaga team probably won’t go deep but Whittaker has had an absolutely tremendous rookie season. The 20yo averaged 19.4 points, 10.2 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game to be named West Coast Conference Player of the Year. That’s not Freshman Player of the Year (although she won that too) but overall WCC Player of the Year, as voted by the coaches in the conference. She’s only the second freshman to win this award in this conference, the other being Sonya Carter back in 1986.
Whittaker broke a record by winning 13 Freshman of the Week awards during the season. She led the WCC in points, rebounds, and field goal percentage and her 17 double-doubles were more than any other freshman player across the whole nation (and tied-12th most for all NCAA women’s basketballers). Oh yeah and after getting that honour, she then led Gonzaga to win the WCC Tournament title for the first time since 2022 where she won Tournament MVP in the process. Just as Charlisse Leger-Walker wraps up her incredible and unprecedented college career... we’ve seen another college star emerge.
2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships Squad
Women
Zoe Hobbs - 60m
Eliza McCartney - Pole Vault
Imogen Ayris - Pole Vault
Alison Andrews‑Paul - 800m
Boh Ritchie = 800m
Annalies Kalma - 400m
Tapenisa Havea - Shot Put
Men
Tom Walsh - Shot Put
Geordie Beamish - 3000m
Tiaan Whelpton - 60m
James Harding - 800m
Thomas Cowan - 800m
Lex Revell‑Lewis 400m
Interesting group there, with Olivia McTaggert also named as a non-travelling reserve in the Women’s Pole Vault. We were only allowed to send two athletes per event so that’s been a real battle between her and McCartney (back on the major stage after some good domestic form – she won silver at the World Indoors in 2024) and Ayris. Guess that’s why they went out of their way to name her... if McCartney picks up another of her injuries between now and then, McTaggert would get elevated.
Tom Walsh is the reigning champ in Men’s Shot Put at the Indoors (having won in a weakened field last year). Hamish Kerr was our other medallist last time (silver) but he’s opted not to compete this year. Kerr is among a strong group of kiwi athletes who qualified but are focussing on other things ahead of the 2026 international season. That includes the running bros Sam Ruthe and Sam Tanner (there’s the U20s World Championships in August which is what you’d imagine Ruthe is aiming to peak for.).
Also Maddi Weshe is sitting this one out, though we have still got a Women’s Shot Putter in there as Tapenisa Havea makes her senior global debut, currently honing her craft at University of Arizona. James Preston, Rosa Twyford, and Jacko Gill are others who qualified but skipped. Note that there’s no 100m sprints at the World Indoors hence why Zoe Hobbs and Tiaan Whelpton are running 60s. Geordie Beamish is another to watch after his stunning and completely unexpected 3000m Steeplechase gold at the World Champs last year. He’s running the flat track this time, with no steeplechase on the agenda. The World Indoors take place in Poland over the weekend.
The Football Ferns have named their squad for the semis and final of OFC World Cup Qualifying happening in Aotearoa in three weeks. Games are in Hamilton vs Fiji on April 12, then if we progress as planned we’ll face either Papua New Guinea or American Samoa at North Harbour Stadium on 15 April. Very early squad announcement from Michael Mayne once again, so fingers crossed there are no injuries between now and then. Last time it was the other way around where injured players at the time of selection (Kate Taylor specifically) returned to fitness before the squad amassed – though that was fine, it was a good opportunity to rotate a little bit. Four debutants got opportunities during the group stage in the Solomon Islands (Charlotte Lancaster, Pia Vlok, Suya Haering & Maddie Iro) with a few senior players rested to focus on club stuff. Those rested players have mostly been recalled now that it’s crunch time...
In come Jacqui Hand, Gabi Rennie, Ally Green, and Kate Taylor. Hand joined FC Basel at the start of the year and used her time off to nail down a starting spot at her new club. Rennie’s been injured during preseason for Eskilstuna United, who’ve been promoted to the top flight in Sweden, but must obviously be alright now with their campaign to begin in ten days. Ally Green recently joined FC Copenhagen and debuted for them off the bench last weekend. Taylor’s back starting games for Dijon having recovered after missing a couple months – she played ninety mins as Dijon lost to a late goal against PSG in the French Cup quarters this morning.
Those four replace Maddie Iro, Suya Haering/Lara Wall, Manaia Elliott, and Mackenzie Barry in the squad. Haering was a replacement for the injured Wall last time and neither has been picked this time. Wall’s still injured and Ally Green’s taken Haering’s spot. Similarly, Mack Barry has been awesome for the Phoenix but she played the fewest minutes during the group stage and Kate Taylor’s back so one of those defenders had to miss out. Taylor, Bunge, Stott, Foster, Anton, and Moore are all ahead of her at the moment.
They’ve only picked two goalies since there are only two games. That means Iro’s been cut and there’s room for an extra forward. Manaia Elliott is super unlucky to also make way... but she’s a wide player and that means competing with Indi Riley, Charlotte Lancaster, Ally Green, and potentially Hand or Rennie as well. Rennie should be playing as a wing-back if the 3-5-2 remains. Hand should not be... but she has been used there in the past. Same with Hannah Blake who retains her spot after being much better utilised as an attacking midfielder. Personally, I’d have preferred Elliott over Green but it’s hardly a scandalous decision.
No sign of Katie Bowen again. That continues to be baffling... although at least we’re building a pretty nice team in her absence so it’s not like we’re leaving out our highest-level pro to make room for random amateurs or unready youngsters. It’s a good squad with or without her. Also, Anna Leat is still injured which is why she’s absent. Malia Steinmetz should be back from her long-term injury soon. Macey Fraser is back playing for the WahiNix but way too soon for her just yet.
Footy Ferns Projected Depth Chart (April 2026)
GK – Vic Esson | Alina Santos
RCB – Claudia Bunge | Meikayla Moore
CB – Kate Taylor | Rebekah Stott
LCB – Mickey Foster | Liz Anton
RWB – Indi Riley | Gabi Rennie
CM – Grace Jale | Grace Wisnewski
CM – Maya Hahn | Emma Pijnenburg
LWB – Ally Green | Charlotte Lancaster
CAM – Katie Kitching | Hannah Blake | Pia Vlok
FWD – Jacqui Hand | Deven Jackson
FWD – Kelli Brown | Milly Clegg
The CB and WB spots are interchangeable, it might be that Stott plays RCB over Bunge, for example. Similarly, maybe Rennie starts at RWB and Riley at LWB. Otherwise those hierarchies are based on the selection trends we saw last tour and at other times under Michael Mayne.
For those of you on the paid subscriber beat, you’ve also got a few NZ National League thoughts and some kiwi football travel miles to check in with after the jump
Musical Jam...
