The Mustard
Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker, Will Young & Matt Henry, Super Smash cricket, Warriors NRL stat profile, Steven Adams, Wellington Phoenix, and more
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2024/25 Super Smash Scout: Whanau Affair (Kerr/McKenzie/Boyle) & Bevon Jacobs (Cricket)
2024/25 New Zealand vs Sri Lanka T20I/ODI Notebook (Cricket)
2024/25 Super Smash Scout: Kerr Sisters Takeover, The Legend Of Brett Hampton (Cricket)
2024/25 Super Smash Scout: All Things Otago, Central Districts Youngsters (Cricket)
2024/25 Kiwi-NRL Summer Guide: Cowboys, Dolphins, Broncos, Titans (Rugby League)
2024/25 Kiwi-NRL Summer Guide: Knights, Sea Eagles, Rabbitohs, Roosters (Rugby League)
2024/25 Kiwi-NRL Summer Guide: Bulldogs, Eels, Tigers, Panthers (Rugby League)
2024/25 Kiwi-NRL Summer Guide: Sharks, Dragons, Raiders, Storm (Rugby League)
2025 New Zealand Women Warriors Signings Tracker: Third Wave (Rugby League)
Flying Kiwis – December 31 (Football)
2024 Women’s National League – Team of the Season (Football)
All Whites in the November WCQs: Big Wins and Big Vibes (Football)
Scotty’s Word
Will Young is the epitome of chill kiwi excellence…
Scores in last 10 games
Tests in India: 18, 23, 71, 51
T20Is in Sri Lanka: 19, 30
ODIs in Sri Lanka: 48, 26, 56*
Tests vs England: 42, 60
Super Smash: 50
ODIs vs Sri Lanka: 90*
Test and ODI crossover
Tests in 2024: 481 runs @ 40.08avg/47.7sr | 4 x 50
Third highest average behind Kane Williamson (59.58) and Rachin Ravindra (42.78)
Recent ODIs vs Sri Lanka (November to now): 220 runs @ 110avg/91.6sr | 2 x 50
Most runs and highest average
One-day career
ODIs: 48.8avg/88.4sr
List-A: 43.65avg/89.7sr
Averaging 40+ in three of six zones (ODIs, FC, LA) and has crept above 30 (31.26avg) in Tests
Matt Henry loves to gather wickets across formats…
Wickets in last 10 games/innings…
Tests in India: 5, 3, 1, 1
Plunket Shield: 2, 1
Tests vs England: 4, 1, 2, 2, 4, 2
T20Is vs Sri Lanka: 2, 2, 1
ODIs vs Sri Lanka: 4
Tests and T20I crossover
Tests in 2024: 48w @ 18.58avg/3.2rpo
Most wickets, second lowest average behind Kyle Jamieson (15.5)
T20Is in 2024: 5w @ 21.2avg/8.8rpo
One-day career
ODIs: 25.8avg/5.1rpo
List-A: 26.58avg/5.1rpo
Averaging below 30 in all six zones (Tests, ODIS, T20Is, FC, LA, T20)
Blackcaps Stats in Four ODIs vs Sri Lanka (away/home)
Batting
Will Young: 220 runs @ 110avg/92sr
Mark Chapman: 107 runs @ 53.5avg/88sr
Henry Nicholls: 60 runs @ 30avg/75sr
Mitch Hay: 59 runs @ 29.5avg/83sr
Tim Robinson: 48 runs @ 16avg/102sr
Rachin Ravindra: 45 runs @ 45avg/125sr
Michael Bracewell: 34 runs @ 34avg/94sr
Glenn Phillips: 24 runs @ 12avg/77sr
Mitchell Santner: 15 runs @ 7.5avg/68sr
Nathan Smith: 9 runs @ 4.5avg/100sr
Bowling
Michael Bracewell: 5w @ 21.8avg/5.7rpo
Jacob Duffy: 5w @ 23.2avg/5.2rpo
Matt Henry: 4w @ 4.7avg/1.9rpo
Nathan Smith: 3w @ 43.3avg/6.8rpo
Mitchell Santner: 2w @ 56.5avg/4.1rpo
Glenn Phillips: 1w @ 64avg/4.9rpo
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Highest Super Smash Batting Strike-Rates (before CD vs ND - minimum 20 balls)
Men
Tom Bruce: 68 runs @ 212.5sr
Chad Bowes: 80 runs @ 195.12sr
Llew Johnson: 53 runs @ 176.66sr
Matt Boyle: 55 runs @ 161.76sr
Bevon Jacobs: 53 runs @ 160.6sr
Nick Greenwood: 48 runs @ 160sr
Max Chu: 86 runs @ 159.25sr
Tim Robinson: 57 runs @ 158.33sr
Martin Guptill: 91 runs @ 156.89
Muhammad Abbas: 62 runs @ 151.21sr
Women
Jess Watkin: 39 runs @ 177.27sr
Jess Kerr: 120 runs @ 142.85sr
Carol Agafili: 40 runs @ 142.85sr
Shikha Pandey: 69 runs @ 130.18sr
Amelia Kerr: 74 runs @ 125.42sr
Molly Penfold: 23 runs @ 115sr
Bella James: 26 runs @ 113.04sr
Brooke Halliday: 50 runs @ 25avg/111.11sr
Rosemary Mair: 28 runs @ 107.69sr
Maddy Green: 32 runs @ 106.66sr
Jess and Amelia Kerr are top-five for runs and batting strike-rates, top-10 for wickets
White Ferns in Super Smash
Batting
Jess Kerr: 120 runs @ 120avg/143sr - 1st
Amelia Kerr: 74 runs @ 74avg/125sr - 2nd
Suzie Bates: 63 runs @ 21avg/95sr - 5th
Lauren Down: 61 runs @ 61avg/91sr
Brooke Halliday: 50 runs @ 25avg/111sr
Hannah Rowe: 33 runs @ 16.5avg/63sr
Maddy Green: 32 runs @ 16avg/107sr
Rosemary Mair: 28 runs @ 14avg/108sr
Bella James: 26 runs @ 8.6avg/113sr
Molly Penfold: 23 runs @ 23avg/113sr
Izzy Gaze: 20 runs @ 10avg/77sr
Bowling
Eden Carson: 8w @ 8.1avg/5.4rpo - 1st
Fran Jonas: 7w @ 6.7avg/4.7rpo - 2nd
Leigh Kasperek: 6w @ 6.6avg/5rpo - 3rd
Amelia Kerr: 5w @ 7.8avg/4.8rpo - 5th
Rosemary Mair: 4w @ 9.5avg/4.7rpo
Jess Kerr: 4w @ 11.5avg/5.7rpo
Hannah Rowe: 4w @ 12.2avg/6.1rpo
Molly Penfold: 1w @ 53avg/7.5rpo
NZ Warriors 2024 Stat Profile per Fox Sports (Average per game)
Points: 11th - 21.3
Tries: 12th - 3.8
Runs: 2nd - 173.5
Run Metres: 3rd - 1,489
Linebreaks: 13th - 4.6
Tackle Breaks: 6th - 35.2
Offloads: 14th - 7.3
Tackled in Opposition 20: 1st - 35.1
Completion Rate: 1st - 82
Goal Kicking: 13th - 74%
Kicks: 4th - 21.5
Kick Metres: 9th - 566
Forced Drop Outs: 5th - 1.3
Kick Return Metres: 2nd - 122
Dummy Half Runs: 13th - 5.6
One Pass Hit Ups: 1st - 86
General Play Passes: 12th - 96
Errors: 16th - 9.1
Penalties Awarded: 5th - 5.7
Penalties Conceded: 11th - 5.1
Points Conceded: 9th - 23.9
Tries Conceded: 9th - 4
Run Metres Conceded: 13th - 1,373
Offloads Conceded: 17th - 6.2
Missed Tackles: 14th - 31.8
Quick check in with the Kiwi-NRL juniors I recognise in the Bulldogs Under 19 SG Ball summer squad...
Albert Balchin: Papatoetoe/St Paul's College
Azariah Toki-Mautairi: Otahuhu
Bronson Reuben: Kaiapoi/Northern/St Bede's College
Cheldon Hayward: Linwood
Fine Fale: Hamilton Boys High School
Genesis Sherlock: Linwood/St Bede's College
Kaawyn Patterson: Westlake Boys High School
Sosaia Alatini: Hornby
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
Man, some of the reactions to a dull Wellington Phoenix defeat on Friday night got rather depressing to see. No doubting that the Nix lads were pretty awful in losing 2-0 away to Melbourne City. They only mustered one shot compared to 21 for City. The possession stats weren’t too wonky, with City balancing out at 54% for the match, but most of their ball was in the Nix half whereas the Phoenix themselves could hardly get over halfway. It was pretty bad but, like, let’s keep a few things in context here...
For whatever reason, the Nix hardly almost never do well when they play in Melbourne.
The Nix were without Alex Rufer and Marco Rojas for this fixture.
They were 1-0 down after seven minutes but it remained 1-0 until the 83rd min with the Phoenix very much within range if they could get one of those counter-attacks to work.
For all of their territorial dominance, Melbourne City didn’t create much outside of those two goals. They mustered a total xG of 1.14 from those 21 shots, more than half of those shots being low-percentage strikes from outside the area – shots that Chiefy’s Nix are happy to allow.
The set-up may have appeared negative, with five at the back, but this is a tactic that they employed many times last season which earned them some very good results.
Any time you make 375 passes in your own half and only 41 in the opposition half, it’s not going to be a good performance. This wasn’t some out-of-the-ordinary collapse from the Nix though. They’ve mostly been pretty solid this season outside of that three-game losing streak... nothing to panic about yet.
But it’s clear that they’re missing that link in midfield. Ben Old used to give them that by dropping deep to collect the ball and then bursting away with it, hauling the team forward in transition. Even then they were a limited attacking team though. What they really need is somebody in the midfield who can dribble in more subtle ways. Dropping the shoulder to collect the ball on the turn. Stepping through pressure. Someone who can protect the ball on the move.
Alex Rufer is great at using his body in those situations but he’s generally static when he does so. That’s about consolidating possession. We’re talking about advancing things. Too many times the ball hits the Phoenix midfield and they’re only looking for one/two touch passes where perhaps taking a few extra touches to change the angle would be more useful – especially if they want to play with wingbacks, who might need that extra few seconds to shift from defence mode to attack mode. To put it another way, they’re fluid without the ball but not so fluid with the ball.
It might be that Marco Rojas can provide this link when he returns, that’s probably what Chiefy’s been hoping since day one. They’ve gotta get him fit first, though. In the meantime, no, David Ball is not the answer to this puzzle. Nor is Mohamed Al-Taay, who is more as a backup to Rufer and Retre. Funnily enough, the Phoenix Women have someone doing this exact role fantastically at the moment: Annalie Longo.
Matt Henry since January 2022
Tests: 83 wickets at 22.51 average
ODIs: 47 wickets at 25.59 average
T20Is: 20 wickets at 22.40 average
Matt Henry prior to January 2022
Tests: 37 wickets at 46.27 average
ODIs: 98 wickets at 25.89 average
T20Is: 7 wickets at 27.28 average
The odd thing about Henry is that he had such mediocre stats in Test matches for the first seven years of his career and then suddenly something clicked and he became a genuinely world class pace bowler. A large part of what clicked was that Trent Boult stopped playing Tests and therefore Henry was able to bowl with the new ball – in innings where he doesn’t take the new ball, he’s only got 15 wickets at an average of 69.93 so that’s a bit of a giveaway. Except what makes this so odd is that he was always this good in ODIs. He’s never had a year of ODI cricket averaging more than 33 with the ball (although he didn’t play any in 2024 due to the limited calendar). His home stuff is much better than the away stuff but that’s hardly abnormal.
Henry is tenth all-time in ODI wickets for the Blackcaps with 145 of the bad boys and he’ll probably get the three he needs to surpass Shane Bond before this current Sri Lanka series is done. With Tim Southee and Trent Bould probably not going to play ODI cricket again, that makes Matt Henry NZ’s top active wicket-taker in the format as we lead into the Champions Trophy.
Leading Active Wicket-Takers for NZ in ODIs
Matt Henry – 145 wickets (25.80avg/5.17rpo)
Mitchell Santner – 109 wickets (37.36avg/4.85rpo)
Lockie Ferguson – 99 wickets (31.55avg/5.68rpo)
Ish Sodhi – 64 wickets (36.71avg/5.51rpo)
Adam Milne – 57 wickets (35.56avg/5.42rpo)
Michael Bracewell – 20 wickets (37.15avg/5.23rpo)
Rachin Ravindra – 18 wickets (46.61avg/6.02rpo)
Jacob Duffy – 16 wickets (27.31avg/6.27rpo)
That’s without counting Jimmy Neesham... and frankly I almost didn’t put Adam Milne in here either until I remembered that they did recall him for the Sri Lanka tour in November after Lockie Ferguson got injured. None of those three guys I just mentioned have contracts. Ish Sodhi does but he wasn’t picked in the current squad. Seems like he’ll still be a good shout for a Champions Trophy in Pakistan though.
Steven Adams Minutes Played This Season
October: DNP, DNP, DNP, 14, 10
November: DNP, 14, DNP, 16, DNP, 15, DNP, 7, DNP, 5, DNP, 15, DNP, DNP, 7
December: 4, 11, 18, 10, DNP, 6, 10, DNP, 12, 11, 3, 12
January: 7, 7, 17
Translating that into English, he started off with a minor injury then settled into a run of playing every second game. In December he began featuring much more often though with smaller minutes loads. Lately, he’s begun to play some part in every game – Adams has gotten on the court in seven consecutive games - and the offensive rebounds are beginning to flow.
It’s been a very slow build from the Houston Rockets but slow and steady was always how they framed it. It was never about what he could do at the start of the season, it was about what he’d be able to offer at the other end... which may or may not be for the Rockets because they’re coming up to a decision soon where they’ll either have to start giving him proper rotation minutes with an eye on him being an impactful presence in the playoffs or else they’d better start pondering a trade because he’s getting close to his old self again and seven minutes per game ain’t gonna cut the mustard.
By the way, the Rockets are 10-9 when Adams either doesn’t play or gets fewer than 6:55 minutes. They’re 13-4 when he plays more than that number. The other day he logged a little under seven minutes against the Boston Celtics, during which the Rockets were +8. They lost the game by 23 points which means they were outscored by 31 in the other 41 mins. He was also +9 in 11 minutes of a loss to Sacramento and +10 in 17 minutes of a loss against Golden State in consecutive early December games. There is a trend emerging here and it’s the same one that’s been present throughout his career.
Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker
We’ve had a week of transfer window and already the good stuff is rolling in. There’ll be more details about all the completed moves in Flying Kiwis tomorrow (or maybe Wednesday, depends how fast I can work) but you don’t have to wait until then for the headlines because, as Fabrizio Romano would say: here we go.
The Stipe Ukich move to NK Istra 1961 was promptly confirmed after the Auckland City forward celebrated his 18th birthday. He’s joining a top division club in Croatia where it looks like he’ll go straight into the first team. A superb move for a superb young player. I’m actually kinda surprised that the reaction in NZ footy circles has been kinda subdued about this but perhaps that’s just because they haven’t read the Flying Kiwis roundup yet. For anyone wondering why he didn’t go through the A-League first: he didn’t need to. The A-Leagues are excellent platforms from which to get European pro moves and Ukich already has that move. As for the levels, Ukich’s competitive debut for Istra 1961 could come against Dinamo Zagreb on 26 January, a club that just hired Fabio Cannavaro as their new manager and who will have just played a Champions League game against Arsenal when that fixture rolls around. You wanna talk about levels, those are levels.
In Friday’s newsletter, it was mentioned how Gabi Rennie had told Aland United that she was leaving after a strong debut season in Finland’s top tier. It was also mentioned how the way that situation was framed suggested that she already had something else locked and loaded. Well, she did. Because Rennie’s since been unveiled at Eskilstuna United in Sweden. One-year contract with the second-tier club, who were a Champions League side as recently as eight years ago but got relegated for financial reasons and have been rebuilding since. Rennie’s arrived at a time when they’re talking of promotion back to the Damallsvenskan. Not a huge step up from Finland but it’s one with big upside if they do manage to get promoted. Should be plenty more goals and assists carrying on from her 2024 haul.
Matt Garbett’s days at NAC Breda are numbered and it’s not a very big number either. Might even be single-figures after they left him (and a couple others) out of the travelling squad for their winter break training camp in Spain. NAC got a new coach after being promoted to the Eredivisie and now, six months later, that coach is ready to start shaping the squad to his vision. Garbett’s been used as a midfielder, as a winger, as a false nine, as a starter, and as a substitute by Carl Hoefkens so he never had a steady role under this bloke. Such is football. MG’s contract expires in six months and they’re not going to pick up his option for an additional year so he’s been told to look for something else. Pretty rough but perhaps best for all parties.
Nothing new emerged over the weekend about three other fellas who’ve entered the last six months of their current deals: Chris Wood, Libby Cacace, and Tyler Bindon. The Reading fans did sing a nice song for Bindon after their latest match, declaring that they want him to stay. He applauded, as you do, but the situation doesn’t change. Wood should re-signed with Nottingham Forest, Bindon will surely leave Reading, and Cacace could go either way.
There’s been a loan move for Henry Gray. He’ll join Braintree Town in the English fifth tier after serving as Ipswich Town’s fourth-choice goalkeeper (the alternate alternate) for the first half of the term, also chipping in where possible for the Ipswich U20s (mostly just home games where he could stay available for the seniors just in case). Gray’s got an Ipswich deal that runs through until mid-2027 so time is on his side and he might as well grab some senior footy over the next few months. Coincidentally, he played against Braintree Town twice last season on loan at Chelsmsford City. This was in the sixth tier. Both matches were 3-0 wins... but Braintree went on to get promoted so that’s who he’s linking up with this time. Slowly working his way up the divisions.
Also, back in that sixth tier, old mate Josh Redfearn’s had his Welling United contract extended until the end of the season after scoring three goals in his first nine matches for the relegation-threatened club.
Ally Green has left AGF (Denmark) and is now a free agent. They’ve released her early from her contract after a strange half-season in which she was initially delayed due to the Olympics and then she got injured. Finally she returned for a run of games and sparked the team into a sudden boost in form... then equally as suddenly she disappeared again. Probably because they were preparing to release her. Where is she going to land? Dunno but if you’re Sydney FC sitting in last place and looking for help then you’re probably scouring around for alums who you might be able to coax back. Ally Green would be one of those, just like what Melbourne Victory did with Claudia Bunge (who scored in a 4-4 draw vs Western Sydney last night, by the way).
Musical Jam...