Weird Hostility
Weird Hostility
White Ferns bronze medals and Aotearoa athletics at the Comm Games, National League football check-in, Ben Sears/Blackcaps thoughts & plenty more
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Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Joseph Manu's Legendary Mahi (Rugby League)
Best Pay Attention To This Aotearoa U20 Women’s World Cup Team (Football)
How’s That Wellington Phoenix Wahine Squad Coming Together For Season Two? (Football)
2022 Blackcaps Tracker: Efficiency With Jimmy Neesham (Cricket)
2022 Blackcaps Tracker: Another Michael Bracewell Yarn (Cricket)
2022 Domestic Cricket Contracts: Wellington Firebirds (Cricket)
27fm Weekly Playlist - August 8 (Music)
Scotty’s Word
After pondering how two games against England and Australia might look for Aotearoa's White Ferns, those two games went as expected. The reprieve came in a rematch against England for a bronze medal and White Ferns mana was on display as they bounced back swiftly with a comprehensive victory over England. That leaves the hosts without a cricket medal at their own Commonwealth Games.
This caps off Aotearoa's campaign with a positive flavour as the bowlers set that victory up, restricting England to 110/9. Fran Jonas was fabulous (2w @ 5.5rpo) and Hayley Jensen finishes as the leading wicket-taker for Aotearoa after taking 3w @ 6rpo vs England. Amelia Kerr and Lea Tahuhu were solid throughout this tournament, flashing moments of dominance though also not being the potent weapons many would expect. In a medal-game against England, different players needed to shine for Aotearoa to win.
Sophie Devine won WBBL and Super Smash last summer, then led Aotearoa through a prickly World Cup. Devine finished a smidge behind Jensen for wickets at this tournament which leads to a closer inspection of Devine the T20I cricketer...
Devine is 7th for T20I wickets and Aussie Megan Schutt is the only player with more wickets and a better strike-rate than Devine. Of the eight bowlers with 100+ wickets, Devine's strike-rate of 16.5 is 3rd. Devine is 4th for T20I runs and she has the highest batting strike-rate of the top-five.
That alone is a fair case for the best T20I cricketer ever. West Indian Stafanie Taylor is the only other player top-10 for T20I runs and wickets. At the Comm Games, Devine finished 2nd for runs and 8th for wickets.
Suzie Bates is 1st for T20I runs. Bates also finished 4th for Comm Games runs which winds up as two White Ferns in the top-five for Comm Games runs. Both had strike-rates over 110; Devine was cruising along at 115.68sr and Bates went at 131.30sr.
The class of these players has never been in doubt, even though some would twist White Ferns woes around their mahi. This is a major factor in the positive energy as seeing these troopers win something is a dose of winter bliss and their dominance is the core of wahine cricket in Aotearoa, also part of the global stature of wahine cricket.
What does this mean for White Ferns moving forward?
Winning the last game against England salvaged this campaign and yet there weren't any notable changes in Aotearoa's cricket. The growth of Jonas is enticing. Jensen found some form. I could go through all the players and provide reason for excitement. This is generally the same White Ferns stuff from the past five years though as they’re a better T20I outfit than ODIs, best players do most of the mahi, and role-players make too many mistakes.
Results since January 1st 2018...
T20I: 24-21
ODI: 17-27
This group skews younger which influences insights as we can build with these younger players. The general situation is the same with those youngsters and given a lack of development in players who have been in the team for a few years now, the development of the youngsters isn't a guarantee.
All of which sets up a fascinating summer of wahine cricket. Domestic cricket is where these players will showcase their development and the strength of women's cricket in Aotearoa depends on domestic domination. Very few of this White Ferns squad outside of Bates, Devine and Kerr have dominated cricket in Aotearoa which has been overlooked, but should now be in focus. Some will return with fresh confidence, some will be overtaken by others fizzing to demand selection.
Before that though, will be Women's Big Bash League. Kerr will return to Brisbane, while Maddy Green joins Devine at Perth. Others could make late moves and Bates doesn't appear to have a gig, which could be fun as having more high quality players in HBJ Shield and Super Smash will boost the domestic scene.
Praise jah for the White Ferns because the idea of Aotearoa not winning a cricket or hockey medal was baffling. White Ferns grabbed a medal, while Black Sticks men finished 5th and women finished 4th. The blokes resemble World Cup White Ferns as they appeared shook throughout the tournament and now they prepare for their return to Pro League hockey. Ideally the flow of international hockey fixtures elevates their mahi although they didn't win many games in their two seasons of Pro League and don't have the same talent as four years ago.
Black Sticks wahine lost their last two games via penalty shoot-out which is unfortunate, but they didn't offer much funk as far as hockey shoot-outs go. Very few youngsters are able to execute what they want to do at the highest level, let alone in high pressure scenarios. That is to expected and that was a factor in White Ferns cricket as well. That comes with experience for most athletes, while also highlighting those who step into this level of sport at a young age with confidence and class.
Amelia Kerr looked at ease when she emerged for White Ferns. Dylan Brown looked at ease when entering NRL footy as an 18/19-year-old. Sarpreet Singh was threading passes as soon as he entered professional footy. Which youngsters can you remember as commanding your attention during their first few games or season?
That's not the norm though and for Black Sticks wahine, their vibrant attack tightened up and those youngsters couldn't execute their best shoot-out stuff under pressure. This group now enters the Pro League where they have been better than the blokes but haven't finished higher than 6th. The past few months could generate some momentum for a better campaign.
Lydia Ko was winning stuff when she was a youngster, not just looking at ease. Now Ko has settled into a groove of excellence and her tied-7th at the Women's Open continues her consistent mahi this year. In her last seven tournaments Ko has six top-10 finishes which can be twisted into seven top-10 finishes in her last nine tournaments. Smells like there is a new drop of the Lydia Ko Mixtape coming up.
I'm currently pondering some Ben Sears bowling mahi. Sears was solid in his four games for Blackcaps against Scotland and Netherlands. He took a wicket in each game against Scotland before taking 3w @ 5.50rpo in the first game against Netherlands, then no wickets in the next game.
Sears is someone that all kiwi cricket fans should know about as he bowls fast and does so with a weird hostility that can't be taught. Weird hostility in the sense that Sears looks scary whether he's bowling a yorker or a back of a length delivery and when bowlers have a long limbs/whippy action combo, deliveries pop and zip all over the place. That package saw Sears take 18w @ 23.27avg in the Plunket Shield and 13w @ 20.23avg in Super Smash last season.
Sears doesn't have Lockie Ferguson's accuracy and it's interesting how these two both bowl fast in very different ways. There isn't much space for Sears in a T20 World Cup squad and he needs plenty more domestic overs before sneaking into the wider ODI/Test mix. Sears has now tasted T20I cricket in Bangladesh, Scotland and Netherlands which sets him up nicely for a return to domestic cricket where he knows he can ruffle feathers.
Learning from adversity...
Melbourne Storm lost four games in a row, bouncing back with two wins. Those wins were against Warriors and Titans, now the prepare to face Panthers next. Storm are 4th on the ladder despite their adversity and that adversity continues with Jahrome Hughes out injured for a few weeks. Storm adversity involves a bigger picture as they lose the Bromwich brothers to Redcliffe, Brandon Smith to Roosters and among others.
Injuries appear to also be impact Will Warbrick. Warbrick was on fire in Queensland Cup after leaving Sevens rugby and with Storm suffering lots of injuries, Warbrick would have been given a crack by now.
Storm are sticking to their system and process. No changes, while I also noted Craig Bellamy sticking with an optimistic, sometimes realistic perspective. Storm offer no excuses while always looking for improvement which is evident in them being busy on the market - even if the NRL market makes no sense.
All Blacks adversity is now growing, with the wrinkle of firing assistant coaches complicating my view. A couple NRL clubs have fired assistant coaches and this move does nothing to change results. Organisations fire assistant coaches because they are scared to sack the coach, but need to be seen as doing something while under pressure. When an organisation gets rid of assistant coaches they are shuffling the problem along; the head coach will be an issue again in six months.
I have no issues with All Blacks losing, especially in this pocket almost a year out from the World Cup. Aotearoa is a bit crazy about All Blacks losing though and while I can sense some All Blacks mana in how they deal with these losses, I am certain that NZRU will crumble under the pressure of losses.
This is a weird pocket because it feels like everyone's on pause, waiting for Scott Robertson to be coach. Chucking Robertson in as All Blacks coach six, maybe eight months ahead of a World Cup doesn't seem like the best move. Then again, changing coach is unlikely to happen any sooner.
So, what am I learning? Melbourne Storm culture runs throughout the organisation, All Blacks culture is not NZRU culture.
Wildcard’s Notebook
With the Athletics all done and dusted at the Commonwealth Games, gotta say it was a very successful outing for the Aotearoa team as of the eighteen athletes who made the cut for the event (and it should have been more than that but let’s not have that argument again), six of them returned with medals. Two golds, two silvers, two bronzes. All of them came in field events with the shot put unsurprisingly accounting for half of those medals. Although I reckon Hamish Kerr’s high jump gold might have been the most impressive of the lot.
The Athletics section of the Comms is particularly fascinating to me as I, like many others, recently followed closely the World Athletic Championships which were held only a couple weeks ago.
World Champs mean every nation (except Russia lol) is invited. Commonwealth Games mean only those that the British Empire meddled with get to participate. It differs from sport to sport. Cricket for example probably still had the five best nations involved, whereas for others the top competitors in the world are all absent which drastically changes the fates of any kiwis involved.
On that note, here are the various NZers fared in both/either of those two major Athletics meets…
The results there are the results in the highest standard of competition that they advanced to, by the way. Would’ve been too messy to have a table that included prelims and whatnot. Eddie Osei-Nketia’s NZ record time of 10.09 seconds at the World Champs came in his heat for example which is why his slower time in the semis is the one listed here. Same deal with Zoe Hobbs who ran slightly slower in each subsequent Comm Games round. But the final is the one that matters most, obviously.
I’ve specified which runners times were in finals with an (F). Those that topped out in the semi-finals are SF and the number in the brackets is where they placed in that round. Q means qualifying round. H means heats. Also to be clear Quentin Rew competed in the 10km race walk at the Comms but the 20km race walk at the Worlds.
Note that with the exception of Lauren Bruce who fouled all three qualifying attempts in the women’s hammer throw, every one of the kiwis who attended Birmingham 2022 in athletic events made it to their finals. Although Quentin Rew’s was a one-off final and he got disqualified without finishing.
The Worlds were always gonna be a much higher standard yet as you can see the bar was lower for participating as the NZ team sent over several additional competitors who didn’t even come close to progressing out of the first round. They each would have done much better at the Comms but nah we only want those with a hope of medals there, apparently.
Hamish Kerr is a funny one. Topped out at the exact same measurement at both yet missed out on the final entirely at the Worlds (due to countback) whereas that height won gold at the Comms. Beat out Brandon Starc (brother in law of Aussie cricketer Alyssa Healy... and also actual brother of fellow Aussie cricketer Mitchell Starc) who hadn’t competed at the Worlds.
Imogen Ayris made a huge jump from one to the other. Failed to clear her first height in the qualifying rounds in Oregon but come Birmingham she was on her game and won a bronze medal, edging out compatriot Olivia McTaggert on countback. McTaggert did make the finals at the Worlds but didn’t register a height when it mattered.
Tom Walsh’s Comms effort would have snuck him a bronze at the World Champs and thus broken up the all-USA podium there. Meanwhile Jacko Gill would have been fourth in Birmingham based on his WC best but incredibly he added fifty centimetres to that mark to smash the personal best he set back in July in Auckland by 32 centimetres. On the other hand, Maddi Wesche’s WC best was also a massive personal best and would have easily won her gold at the Comms. Wasn’t to be though.
Notice also that Julia Ratcliffe threw 33cm less at the Comms and won silver compared to a World Champs mark that didn’t even make the final (albeit she only missed out by one measly centimetre).
Lovely wholesome Blackcaps story here, kitting out a youngster who’d copped a six to the noggin during the first T20I against the Netherlands. Ish Sodhi was the one who’d struck the blow. Never really feels like that bloke gets enough credit for wielding a very useful bat. Two Test match fifties including one that saved a Test batting almost an entire day. Plus in the white ball stuff he’s a guy who can legitimately come out and hit sixes from ball one late in an innings. That’s pretty valuable.
Anyway, he hit a big six and it landed on a kid’s head. The kid started balling his eyes out, as you would, and the game halted for a wee bit as the team physios ran over to check him out. Kid was fine, albeit probably had a headache, and when he’s older he’ll say it was worth it after getting a signed Netherlands jersey, a Sodhi jersey, and being able to perform mascot duties at the coin toss for game two.
Lesson to you kids out there: don’t try and catch those sixes, just let them hit you (although probably not on the head – let’s not be silly here).
Also some less than ideal news on the topic of Martin Guptill striving to be the all-time leading international T20 run scorer (and thus joining Suzie Bates who leads the women’s tally)... since writing about this last week it turns out Rohit Sharma wasn’t even that injured as he miraculously recovered to play in India’s fourth T20 against the West Indies and scored 33. This after Guptill had only managed 2 runs in the second and final game vs NED when 11 would have seen him go clear top of that list.
The gap was briefly a mere 8 runs. Then it rose to 41 runs. At least Sharma did take a blessed rest for the fifth match overnight, which India won again. India plays at the Asia Cup later in the month but Guppy has a three-game series against the West Indies to play first so even if it does get taken away from him soon afterwards there’s a very good chance that Guptill temporarily breaks that record very soon. 42 runs needed from three innings to go outright.
Crunch time in the regional winter phases of National League football, folks. On Sunday I enjoyed a bit of Napier City Rovers vs Wellington Phoenix Reserves on the weekly livestream. Rovers won it 2-0 which puts them in a fantastic position to crack the National League (which starts in October). Mostly I wanted to put my scouting hat on for the Welly Nix lads, most of whom were part of last season’s Natty League crew, but I was impressed by some of what Rovers had to offer. They’re now nine points clear of Waterside Karori (who have a game in hand) with three rounds remaining so it’s all but in the bag for them as they seek to hold onto this fourth place.
Above them Miramar Rangers have a game in hand on Wellington Olympic which, if they win it, will see both teams level on points with very similar goal difference. The two rivals still have to play each other so that fixture is almost certain to decide who wins the Central League for 2022... though they’ve both already qualified for the National League. As have the Phoenix Reserves who’ve got an automatic spot withheld for them but would have qualified anyway as they sit third on the ladder, only six points off top. That loss to NCR was only their third defeat all term.
We’re pretty much guaranteed those four teams (Wellington Olympic, Miramar Rangers, Wellington Phoenix & Napier City Rovers) as the four representatives from the Central League. Western Suburbs made it last year but are rebuilding with a younger Ole Academy wave right now so they’ve dropped down a bit. Glad to see Napier City up there though – one of the biggest shames of last season was that the teams that qualified for the men’s NL were all from Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. Exactly in line with one of the main worries about the new format.
Down in the Southern League there’s another fascinating title race going on. Cashmere Technical and Christchurch United have already wrapped up the two National League spots available and are tied on 40 points with three rounds remaining. United have a game in hand which is likely to tip it in their favour... however the two clubs face each other head to head in a fortnight so Cashy Tech are still very much in the hunt. Selwyn United were the Southern League’s inaugural National League reps along with Cashmere Tech in 2021... their fortunes have been flipped on their head – from second place and Natty League in 2021 to having won one game all season and sitting last in the lone relegation spot with three games left to save themselves in 2022.
Up in the Northern League no surprises that Auckland City have long since run way with the trophy. They did have a head start by sneaking a few fixtures in early to make room for their current OFC Champions League quest (two wins from two as it stands, looking sharp) but it was only a matter of time until they secured it anyway. Yet to lose this year. Northern League trophy on the shelf. Into the Chatham Cup semis. Currently looking good in the OFC Champions League. National League to follow. Could Auckland City win a quadruple this year? What’s more, could they got the entire year without losing a single match?
The other three National League places are probably going to Birkenhead United, Auckland United, and Melville United. However Hamilton Wanderers are still an outside chance of catching up, currently five points back with four games in the bank. Either way at least one Waikato team is going to make the Natty League which is good business for the competition same as having Napier City there.
As for the Women’s National League, the regional franchise teams are all still around for at least one more year with the exception of the Auckland/Northern region. So Canterbury Pride, Southern United, Central, and Capital will be battling away against the top for teams of the NRFL Premier Division... which Northern Rovers secured this very week. A 2-1 win over second placed Auckland United on Thursday night - Michaela Foster’s 94th minute goal ensuring it’s been a good week for at least one member of the Foster clan - backed up with a 0-0 draw against West Coast Rangers on Sunday made their lead unassailable despite still having four games to play.
Nothing else up for grabs over the remaining month of the season. Auckland United, Eastern Suburbs, and Western Springs are all only separated by two points with four games left but they’re 14 points clear of Ellerslie so they’ll be the four northern NL representatives.
So as it stands, this is what we’ve got (italics means unconfirmed)...
Men’s 2022 National League: Auckland City, Birkenhead United, Auckland United, Melville United, Wellington Olympic, Miramar Rangers, Wellington Phoenix Reserves, Napier City Rovers, Cashmere Technical, Christchurch United
Women’s 2022 National League: Northern Rovers, Auckland United, Eastern Suburbs, Western Springs, Central, Capital, Canterbury Pride, Southern United
Also there’s no space left to break it down but the Men’s NBL playoffs take place over the next week, with the Women’s Tauihi taking a week off to allow the blokes the full spotlight and then they’ll pick up with their final round and then playoffs with a full spotlight themselves. Check out the schedule. Get down to a game if you’re in the region. Watch it on the telly if you’re not. Gonna be some fantastic basketball on show.
Everyone’s pretty high on the Taranaki Airs right now and for good reason by I’ve got a sneaky suspicion that the Wellington Saints – who started the season with five losses from six games before sacking a coach and getting a couple imports in and they’re currently on a six game winning streak – are gonna come out triumphant when the dust settles.
Not got much going on in the Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker stuff so gonna leave that one until Friday to give things more time to settle. I do have a couple notes to make there but you can wait for those.
Instead here’s a rare divergence into television matters to say that mate if you haven’t watched Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal yet then best hurry up. It’s indescribably hilarious. Levels on top of levels on top of levels. You really don’t want me to say a single word about it. Just watch it blind and you’ll see. It’s like Nathan For You but on cocaine.