Underground Kings
Blackcaps & White Ferns, Wellington Phoenix Women, Kiwi-NRL angles, Chris Wood's Champions League dream, Steven Adams in the NBA, All Whites selections & more
Scotty’s Word
Blackcaps lost the Champions Trophy final to India. Bummer but I made sure to do my Blackcaps celebration piece prior to the final because the outcome of this final wasn't going to change my assessment of where Blackcaps are at, plus they were working against the international cricketing forces by playing against India at their home ground in Dubai.
I don't want to repeat my whole top-four yarn so there isn't much else to add on this busy Monday morning. Blackcaps slid back into top-four status during the Champions Trophy after taking a hit at the T20 World Cup last year and New Zealand is still the best cricket nation (kg for kg) in the world.
One thing shared by Blackcaps and White Ferns is how they have been winning without senior/established players. No Trent Boult and Tim Southee for Blackcaps at the Champions Trophy, plus other lads like Lockie Ferguson, Jimmy Neesham, Adam Milne, Ish Sodhi, Henry Nichols and Finn Allen didn't play.
White Ferns just won an ODI series 2-0 vs Sri Lanka without Sophie Devine, Amelia Kerr, Lea Tahuhu, Hayley Jensen, Bella James, Lauren Down and Molly Penfold. Rosemary Mair was available for the ODIs but only selected for the T20Is and many would assume that Mair is a 1st 11 seamer regardless of format.
Not all players filling those spots are youngsters. Whether it's Michael Bracewell or Polly Inglis, good cricketers have commanded international selection and contributed to good performances. This reinforces my belief that the cricketing system in Aotearoa is excellent and I also believe that the youngsters (across all sports) are awesome.
My hottest take is that the youngsters are better than the players who have dipped out of Blackcaps via retirement or form. This is less a sizzling take and more an obvious observation for White Ferns because the development pipeline is so much better now than it was five years ago.
Blackcaps 2025 ODI Stats
Batting
Kane Williamson: 425 runs @ 60.7avg/88sr
Rachin Ravindra: 413 runs @ 51.6avg/117sr
Glenn Phillips: 353 runs @ 70.6avg/115sr
Daryl Mitchell: 327 runs @ 36.3avg/83sr
Will Young: 299 runs @ 29.9avg/84sr
Tom Latham: 262 runs @ 29.1avg/85sr
Devon Conway: 185 runs @ 46.2avg/76sr
Mark Chapman: 172 runs @ 86avg/102sr
Michael Bracewell: 128 runs @ 32avg/111sr
Mitchell Santner: 68 runs @ 17avg/88sr
Bowling
Matt Henry: 24w @ 15.5av/4.8rpo
Mitchell Santner: 18w @ 25.5avg/4.5rpo
Will O'Rourke: 15w @ 37.7avg/5.9rpo
Michael Bracewell: 14w @ 26.2avg/4.1rpo
Nathan Smith: 6w @ 37.8avg/6.6rpo
Jacob Duffy: 5w @ 23.4avg/5.6rpo
Kyle Jamieson: 3w @ 53.3avg/5.5rpo
Glenn Phillips: 3w @ 67.3avg/6.5rpo
Rachin Ravindra: 3w @ 37.3avg/4.6rpo
White Ferns ODI Stats vs Sri Lanka
Batting
Georgia Plimmer: 140 runs @ 70avg/80sr
Maddy Green: 132 runs @ 66avg/99sr
Izzy Gaze: 43 runs @ 43avg/84sr
Suzie Bates: 58 runs @ 29avg/70sr
Jess Kerr: 44 runs @ 22avg/94sr
Polly Inglis: 43 runs @ 165sr
Brooke Halliday: 42 runs @ 21avg/72sr
Emma McLeod: 10 runs @ 5avg/36sr
Bowling
Hannah Rowe: 4w @ 15.7avg/3.5rpo
Jess Kerr: 4w @ 16.5avg/2.4rpo
Eden Carson: 4w @ 23.2avg/3.7rpo
Bree Illin: 4w @ 29.2avg/4.1rpo
Fran Jonas: 3w @ 13.3avg/4rpo
Suzie Bates: 2w @ 21avg/3rpo
Maddy Green: 1w @ 5avg/5rpo
Brooke Halliday: 1w @ 60avg/5.4rpo
White Ferns won their ODIs vs Sri Lanka by 98 and 78 runs. They scored 200+ runs in both games and restricted Sri Lanka to less than 200 runs twice. Maddy Green's century was followed by Georgia Plimmer's century in the second game, with Suzie Bates joining them as the three players to put up 50+ scores in this series.
Four other batters scored 40+ runs in two innings. Inglis had the highest strike-rate for all White Ferns batters (165.3sr) and along with Green's 99.2sr, Kerr had a strike-rate of 93.6.
Four bowlers took 4 wickets and Illing was the only one over 4rpo. Kerr was the most economical White Ferns bowler on 2.47rpo and she was the only kiwi below 3rpo. Every White Ferns player who bowled took a wicket. Three bowlers had 20+ overs in Illing (28), Kerr (26.4) and Carson (24.4).
Beyond the wall I zoned in on Plimmer and her development, especially after missing most of the summer due to injury. I also dive deeper into the young batters who scored runs in the latest round of Plunket Shield, but were overshadowed by the Underground King Tom Bruce.
Maddy Green's last six innings: 76, 125, 3, 126, 100, 32
Polly Inglis last four innings: 97, 38, 86, 34*, 9*
Jess Kerr last five *batting* innings: 44, 53, 104* 38, 6
Eden Carson last three *batting* innings: 54, 2*, 59*
Carson this summer...
ODIs vs Sri Lanka: 4w @ 23.2avg/3.7rpo
HBJ Shield: 22w @ 17.2avg/3.8rpo
Super Smash: 18w @ 15.3avg/6.2rpo
Bree Illing this summer
ODIs vs Sri Lanka: 4w @ 29.2avg/4.1rpo
HBJ Shield: 21w @ 21avg/4.5rpo
Super Smash: 8w @ 24.5avg/5.4rpo
Emma McLeod had a tough start to her ODI career vs Sri Lanka. The 18-year-old was the only White Ferns player who batted to score fewer than 40 total runs, scoring 6 runs @ 66.6sr and 4 runs @ 21sr.
In her last nine innings, McLeod only has three scores less than 10 runs with these two knocks vs Sri Lanka joined by her 3 runs vs Nigeria U19s. Her last domestic cricket outing saw McLeod score 63 runs @ 97sr for Central Districts in HBJ Shield. McLeod stays in the White Ferns squad for the T20Is and she didn't play much Super Smash because she was at the U19 T20 World Cup, where she has scored 174 runs @ 21.7avg/121sr across two tournaments.
Izzy Gaze seemed to suffer an injury in the third ODI, which sucks for her while also offering clarity around the wicket-keeping role for the T20Is. Inglis isn't in the T20I squad but is an easy replacement if Gaze can't go. Both scored 43 runs in two innings vs Sri Lanka...
Polly Inglis: 43 runs @ 165.3sr, 1 not-out, 2 x 4, 1 x 6
Izzy Gaze: 43 runs @ 84.3sr, 2 not-outs, 6 x 4
Yeah, Tom Bruce is the Underground King. The last dude I stood strong on being the Underground King was Matt Henry before he settled in the Blackcaps 1st 11 across all formats and now Bruce has taken the throne. The first nugget is how Bruce entered domestic cricket with runs in all three of his debuts...
First-Class: 54 runs @ 67sr
List-A: 88 runs @ 135sr
T20: 82* @ 161sr
Since his FC/LA debuts early in 2015, Central Districts have three Plunket Shield championships and three Ford Trophy championships. Bruce made his T20 debut late in 2015 and CD have won Super Smash twice, meaning that Bruce has multiple championships in each format. Some of which would have come with Bruce as captain.
Bruce averaged 40+ in three of his first four FC seasons, 50+ in two of them. Then he had three seasons below 40avg before exploding for the best phase of his FC career...
2021/22: 858 runs @ 143avg
2022/23: 887 runs @ 63.3avg
2023/24: 399 runs @ 49.8avg
2024/25: 424 runs @ 70.6avg
Bruce's latest knock was the monster 345 runs vs Auckland at Eden Park's outer oval. In three Plunket Shield games at Eden Park this season, there have been six 150+ scores. Three by Auckland batters and three by visiting batters. There have been nine team innings with four 400+ totals including two 500+ totals.
Lots of batters have scored Plunket Shield runs in Auckland this season...
Auckland vs Canterbury
Mark Chapman: 276
Rhys Mariu: 185
Scott Janett: 93
Henry Nicholls: 103
Auckland vs Wellington
Sean Solia: 170
Nick Kelly: 131
Auckland vs Central Districts
Tom Bruce: 345
Dane Cleaver: 115
Josh Clarkson: 166*
Bevon Jacobs: 157
Batting isn't super duper easy though. When Chapman scored his 276 runs, Auckland only had two other 50+ scores and six batters were dismissed for less than 50 runs. When Solia hit his 170 runs, no other Auckland batter scored 50+ runs and it was the same story for Wellington as Nick Kelly scored 131 runs.
CD lost three wickets in the first 30 overs before Bruce was joined by Cleaver, which gives us three batters who scored less than 40 runs and three batters who scored 100+ runs. Jacobs hit his 157 runs and was joined by Lachlan Stackpole's 87 runs, but they were the only Auckland batters who scored 50+ runs.
Here is the latest Plunket Shield thing covering all the basics.
Brisbane Broncos had a big win over Sydney Roosters on Thursday night. Salesi Foketi made his debut for Roosters and got the Kiwi-NRL Spotlight treatment, but I want to zone in on Jordan Riki and Xavier Willison here. Their stats are inflated from a dominant performance and somehow they had the exact same running mahi...
Jordan Riki: 80mins, 13 runs - 145m @ 11.1m/run, 1 linebreak, 2 tackle breaks, 34 tackles @ 89.4%
Xavier Willison: 37mins, 13 runs - 145m @ 11.1m/run, 2 tackle breaks, 18 tackles @ 90%
Riki made his Aotearoa Kiwis debut last year on home turf in Christchurch and is the leader of an immense crop of Hornby juniors across my Kiwi-NRL ranks. There should be many more Kiwis caps for Riki and having already been in Kiwis camps alongside coach Michael Maguire, I'm curious about Riki's development with Maguire now coach of Broncos.
Willison should be in the next Kiwis squad and there is a strong chance he earns a bench spot in the top-17 if he keeps adding oomph off the bench for Broncos. The Whatawhata junior played 37mins vs Roosters and this was a smidge below his average from last season of 38.6mins, which is unlikely to increase because of the big minutes played by Patrick Carrigan and Payne Haas.
Willison averaged 104m/game last season and I will wait for a few more games before comparing that to this season because his 145m came in a demolition of Roosters. Willison did play the most minutes with the most runs, run metres and metres per run of the Broncos bench players though.
I've still got Riki behind Isaiah Papali'i and Briton Nikora, in a Kiwis forward pack and Scott Sorenson's in the mix too. Riki is ready to pounce on any absences though and Willison adds another big, mobile middle forward presence.
It's tough to get Willison into a Kiwis top-17 though because there are lots of lads leading the way as middle forwards: James Fisher-Harris, Moses Leota, Joseph Tapine, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Leo Thompson, Griffin Neame, Naufahu Whyte, Xavier Willison, Erin Clark
Beyond the wall I have some lots of NZ Warriors NSW Cup details from their 18-16 win vs Canberra Raiders in Sydney. Two quick Kiwi-NRL nuggets...
All three try-scorers in the NZ Warriors SG Ball game this weekend are from outside of Auckland. Mason Lome-Hindle is part of the Otago academy coming out of Otago Boys High School, Rico Lemalie is a Linwood junior from Christchurch who goes to Christ's College and Elijah Solomona is a Wainuiomata junior from Wellington. Solomona is part of the St Pat's Silverstream Crew along with Maui Winitana-Patelesio (Te Aroha) and the Greytown lads in Rocco Berry and Toby Crosby.
Kaiapoi junior Bronson Reuben is in his fourth season with Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and just made a jump up from U19 SG Ball to U21 Jersey Flegg. Reuben also made one appearance in U21s last year and after scoring three tries in five SG Ball games this season, Reuben scored in his first game of U21s this year.
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
The Wellington Phoenix women were on the verge of another frustrating narrow defeat, this time at home against Western Sydney Wanderers, when suddenly a couple of their imports banged in fantastic goals and they won 2-1. Mebae Tanaka thought she’d scored in week one only to have it classified as an own goal instead. It took her until game #18 to finally score one – this coming immediately after she only played 20 minutes across the previous five games – then Olivia Fergusson got her fifth of the campaign turning home a tasty Zoe McMeeken cross. They’d fallen behind after 22 mins when Alivia Kelly made an awful mistake at the back to turn over possession. Tanaka’s equaliser came in the 75th minute. Fergusson’s winner was an 86th minute classic.
The SheNix entered this game having taken just one point from five matches to leave their finals hopes in a bit of a state. The HeNix had taken two points from five leading into their trip to face Western United, where they conceded straight away and ended up getting smoked 4-1. The men look like a team thoroughly devoid of confidence at the moment but that was in complete contrast to the women who battled away in their match like they always trusted they were capable of getting back into it. Their finishing didn’t often relate to that belief (up until the last fifteen mins) but they were creating chances the whole way. Gotta give plenty of credit to Paul Temple and his staff for keeping the heads up through those wobbles, it’s tough to do but it makes all the difference.
This was a blessed week for the WahiNix because none of the four teams directly above them got any points. Kelli Brown scored a double as Perth Glory beat Western United, Brisbane Roar had their match postponed due to the cyclone (they were hosting Melbourne City), Central Coast were pipped 1-0 by Adelaide, and Canberra United lost 2-0 to Melbourne Victory. Thanks to that span of outcomes, the Welly Nix are only one point outside the top six with five matches remaining. Three of those games are at home. Three are against teams within three points of them on the ladder. They do also have to play the leaders... but before that they face last-placed Sydney FC.
Wellington Phoenix ALW Remaining Fixtures
Away vs Sydney FC (12th)
Home vs Central Coast Mariners (6th)
Home vs Melbourne City (1st)
Away vs Canberra United (7th)
Home vs Western United (4th)
Not saying they’ll definitely do it... but a first ever A-League Women’s finals berth is absolutely within their capabilities from here. By the way, there’s a bit more on ALW kiwi goal scoring in the subscriber’s lounge, if you’re keen (as well as some Chris Wood UCL manifestation).
As for the blokes, well at least Nathan Walker scored a nice goal. He’s starting to express himself a lot more when he gets on the pitch. Luke Brooke-Smith also had another extended cameo. Once again, the senior players seem to be letting them down (Scott Wootton and Alex Rufer were well below their best in that match and Kosta Barbarouses has only scored once in ten fixtures and it was a penalty – there’s way too much trying to use Kosta as a hold-up guy when his best attribute is his movement off the ball). At least Paolo Retre was way better this time, pushing a couple of very enticing passes into the attacking third during his sub stint… which sounds like the bare minimum but for the Nix at the moment it’s a notable achievement).
Game One of the Aussie NBL Finals went to Melbourne United. They won 96-88 on the road against the Illawarra Hawks to take first blood in the series. Rocked them with a 32-point fourth quarter for the comeback. No Flynn Cameron in this one which doesn’t bode great for his involvement in this match-up but Rob Loe played 16 minutes with 2 points and 3 assists while Shea Ili was typically awesome with 30 minutes, 13 points (4/9 shooting), 3 rebounds & 4 assists.
Melbourne United were beaten finalists last season with this same trio of kiwis involved. They’ve won championships during the Dean Vickerman era in both 2017-18 and 2020-21, with Shea Ili involved in the latter (and Tohi Smith-Milner a youngster with Melbs for the former). Ili also won the NBL championship with the Breakers in 2015 so he’s going for his third success. But Rob Loe, surprisingly, has never quite lined up with Aussie league glory so it’d be a first title for both he and Cameron should it happen. It’s presumptuous to speak about this after one game of a five-game series... but the Illawarra Hawks have no NZers in their current squad so screw ‘em. Not even worth considering the alternative.
Steven Adams and Alperen Sengun have shared the floor for 34 minutes this season... and exactly half of that has come in the last two games. Adams was on a minutes restriction to begin the season and often skipped out games with short turnarounds as they ramped him up after nearly two years out injured. Then he began getting some more significant minutes around January and things were going sweet. But an ankle injury in February slowed him back down and he’s only recently gotten back to full capacity again. We’re three-quarters of the way through the season now, the playoffs are in sight, and it seems that Rockets head coach Ime Udoka may finally have clocked onto the value of double bigs.
Those past two games were both comfortable wins against the New Orleans Pelicans. The Rockets won by 12 on the road then won by 29 at home. Adams played around 18 minutes in each, with 3 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists in the first and then 6 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks in the other. The Rockets won his minutes by 17 points and 16 points respectively. Not as much Steve-o as we’d prefer but those are dominant bench contributions... and to be fair old mate Alpy Sengun is probably the team’s best player so it’s hard to nudge him out of the way.
Fortunately, he doesn’t have to because they can share the floor. In the 17 minutes that they were out there together across these two Pelicans games, the Rockets had a 128.9 offensive rating and 78.9 defensive rating. Just a cheeky +50 net rating. Very small sample size but that’s consistent with what those two have done in the rest of their time together so far. You do lose a lot with switchability but the rebounding is unreal and Sengun has a skill set that easily translates to the power forward position where he can attack beat up on smaller markers and score in the paint. Remember that Adams is a legendary screen-setter and box-out maniac too.
Steven Adams: “It's good because it's something new. It's just engaging. Also, a lot of my career has been spent that way as well, playing double big line-up anyway. It's just good, just figuring it out and I feel like we play with each other pretty well, just gravitate the defence. In a sort of way it's a different look, so I think it's a pretty useful tool going forward.”
Alperen Sengun: “I had a lot of big guys next [in Europe] to me so nothing new for me. But in my NBA career it's new. I already know what I can do, open space for my teammates. I think when we play me and Steven, too, it opens space a lot on Amen and Tari, too. They can get a lot of offensive rebounds out there. So we just got good. We testing, it's working. That's what we'll keep doing.”
Ime Udoka: “[Adams] was huge as far as giving us that size with the double-big lineup, rebounding, screening, all the intangibles that he does, and so just a presence in the middle. So doesn't matter what he does as far as scoring, he can impact the game in every other way and we felt that.”
Now we wait and see if it continues.
Musical Jam...