2020/21 New Zealand Domestic Season

[nzfan]

ND's short-pitched assault on Rippon before his engine-rooming could get out of hand.

Shows what experience over talent means... the ND guys have so much experience they can suss out a bowler or a batsman.

 

[SteveNZ]

Dunno if you can really describe CDG as alpha, the most softly spoken man in professional sport.

Different persona in the team environment. Absolute loose unit

 

[Kippax]

Hamish Bennett talking (1:45 in) about a new Kooka on trial "with changes to be more like a Duke" that's been in action for R1 and R2. Says groundsmen have been caught slightly unaware and may prepare pitches with a closer shave for the first morning.

https://podcasts.captivate.fm/media/67f244d9-565c-48ca-ab46-2a6e64f1df50/hamish-bennett.mp3

The Top Order Cricket Podcast

A Pom, an Aussie and two Kiwis walk into a bar ... it’s not a joke, it’s The Top Order, a cricketing podcast where good friends mix their own banter and opinion with extended interviews with some of cricket's most interesting characters from the past and present day.

podcasts.google.com

 

[thundaboult]

Scotty kuggs lookin good

 

[nzfan]

Hamish Bennett talking (1:45 in) about a new Kooka on trial "with changes to be more like a Duke" that's been in action for R1 and R2. Says groundsmen have been caught slightly unaware and may prepare pitches with a closer shave for the first morning.

https://podcasts.captivate.fm/media/67f244d9-565c-48ca-ab46-2a6e64f1df50/hamish-bennett.mp3

The Top Order Cricket Podcast

A Pom, an Aussie and two Kiwis walk into a bar ... it’s not a joke, it’s The Top Order, a cricketing podcast where good friends mix their own banter and opinion with extended interviews with some of cricket's most interesting characters from the past and present day.

podcasts.google.com

Excellent find Kippax, been through most of the podcast already.

 

[Kippax]

Interesting to hear the degree to which Sears sees himself as foremost an elite student (at 12:45 in). He was willing to completely forgo a domestic contract to not feel any obligation to put cricket duty first.

 

[Kippax]

Max Chu is out of Thursday's R3 with a concussion.

I guess that sensei at the start is John Bracewell. Not that Wagner and Kuggeleijn needed a coach to push them into a mean short ball spell.

 

[straw man]

Pretty tough examination, he did quite well (esp for a 20 yr old who bats 8), even if he picked up a concussion.

 

[straw man]

4 of your 8 did OK in the last 2 FC seasons (stats below). Solia was picked as an all-rounder. Renwick was picked as a keeper (and scored 292 runs @ 58.40 in the 3 games where Max Chu played), and Nick Kelly is only restarting his FC career after occasional games for ND. So perhaps only Bowes from your list can be regarded as a mid-20s batter not currently kicking on?

O'Donnell, last 2 seasons 648 runs @ 36.00
Leo Carter, last 2 seasons 566 runs @ 51.45
Joe Carter, last 2 seasons 875 runs @ 43.75
McConchie, last 2 seasons 548 runs @ 45.67

Didn't know the two Carters' recent season stats were that respectable - so with both starting this season well they're on the up and up.

O'Donnell's 36 still ain't that good though. I had it in my head that McConchie had a poor season last season, but really he just missed a lot of the FC part between injury and NZ A matches.

 

[thundaboult]

Interesting to hear the degree to which Sears sees himself as foremost an elite student (at 12:45 in). He was willing to completely forgo a domestic contract to not feel any obligation to put cricket duty first.

Can't say that I blame him. He won't get a debut before 28 and will probably be kept out of the NZ teams cuz lets trot out tim southee for the 800th time.

 

[Immenso]

Excellent find Kippax, been through most of the podcast already.

Yeah. That's a good listen, I've subscribed.

 

[Immenso]

Max Chu is out of Thursday's R3 with a concussion.

I guess that sensei at the start is John Bracewell. Not that Wagner and Kuggeleijn needed a coach to push them into a mean short ball spell.

When did he get hit , though? Not in that montage?

What's the theory there? Weirdly opposite to normal trigger movement of moving from side-on to front-on leaves him in bad position to play the throat/inside shoulder ball?

 

[Immenso]

Hamish Bennett talking (1:45 in) about a new Kooka on trial "with changes to be more like a Duke" that's been in action for R1 and R2. Says groundsmen have been caught slightly unaware and may prepare pitches with a closer shave for the first morning.

Bit more info here, also used a bit last season:

In the back end of the Plunket Shield last summer, NZC trialled a new Kookaburra ball designed to behave a little more like the Dukes of the northern hemisphere scene, a ball that offers more to the pace bowlers.

From: https://international.nzc.nz/news-items/plunket-shield-25-loaded

 

[nzfan]

Interesting to hear the degree to which Sears sees himself as foremost an elite student (at 12:45 in). He was willing to completely forgo a domestic contract to not feel any obligation to put cricket duty first.

Fair enough... he can likely complete his study within a year and the lad is confident whether contract or not he will be picked to play. He's in the wider NZ Squad from what I hear. You'll definitely see him playing for NZ in couple of years if not earlier. I suppose his confidence in his bowling gives him the option to reject the contract if it doesn't allow him to complete studies. Once the studies is out of the way he can concentrate on full time cricket. If all goes well then great otherwise he can always fall back on building a career outside of cricket. You'll more and more of this kind in future. We are quite shy of trying new players and although this adds to consistency somewhere this will also reduce new talent from coming up. Double edged sword. The domestic contracts are not worth lots unless you are appearing for NZ A or for Black Caps consistently. Besides Black Caps prefer to pick contracted players and not so much outside of it.

 

[nzfan]

When did he get hit , though? Not in that montage?

What's the theory there? Weirdly opposite to normal trigger movement of moving from side-on to front-on leaves him in bad position to play the throat/inside shoulder ball?

Played reasonably well for a no.8 With that high back lift it's hard to drop the hands and he has to play at it. This is where you got to have a mean pull shot if you have to survive the barrage of short ones. You can't just try and defend or get out of the way every time. Got to be a mix of duck, sway, hitting one or two and bowlers will move away from this plan. You can't expect a 20 year old no.8 to do that as yet but the good thing is he will go back and work on it. You got to pick the length early and on a variable pitch it's better to sway than duck. Kuggs is harder to face, he has awkward action and hard to pick his short ones.

 

[Immenso]

Fair enough... he can likely complete his study within a year and the lad is confident whether contract or not he will be picked to play. He's in the wider NZ Squad from what I hear. You'll definitely see him playing for NZ in couple of years if not earlier. I suppose his confidence in his bowling gives him the option to reject the contract if it doesn't allow him to complete studies. Once the studies is out of the way he can concentrate on full time cricket. If all goes well then great otherwise he can always fall back on building a career outside of cricket. You'll more and more of this kind in future. We are quite shy of trying new players and although this adds to consistency somewhere this will also reduce new talent from coming up. Double edged sword. The domestic contracts are not worth lots unless you are appearing for NZ A or for Black Caps consistently. Besides Black Caps prefer to pick contracted players and not so much outside of it.

I think its probably reasonably common. For the young guys still at university.
I have no actual inside knowledge.
To either turn down a contract, or more likely, place lower on the contract list in exchange for more flexibility on availability.

The lower places on the list are perfectly suited to a student.

 

[Immenso]

To give it some numbers. 15 players per squad (plus 20 blackcaps central contracts)

Domestic retainers range from 27k to 54k. (+20% match fees for captain).

Domestic match fees. All games combined total a pool of potentially $29125 each.

Plus share of prize money.

For 7 and a half months long contract.

Plus winter training fees ($125 per day)

Top domestic player who played all matches could earn $83k. (plus any prize money plus winter training)

Top domestic player, who was also provincial captain in all formats, who played all matches could earn $89k. + winter fees + prize money.

During the last contract period plus the winter (April 2019 to April 2020). 32 players played for the blackcaps in at least 1 format. So 12 extra domestic-contracted players also picked up Blackcaps match fees.

No information on NZ ‘A’ fees. But unless they go away in winter, any matches played for NZ ‘A’ and getting paid a fee also means missing a provincial match fee anyway due to fixture clashes.

For reference Blackcaps retainers range from 200k to 100k.
Match fees: $9000 per test, $4000 per one-day international and $2500 per Twenty20 international.

If you yo-yo for a few years between lower Blackcaps contract and top domestic contract plus domestic match fees plus a few blackcaps fees you'll be doing nicely.

 

[nzfan]

A top domestic professional with the highest contract playing all the formats, all the games can earn about 90k but that said there's only one top contract. I'd say it's reasonable one car earn over 75k and up to 90k if he's consistently playing. That said once you hit 30s and not contributing enough your place is on the line. Besides, loss of form, injury etc you have to take into account.

At best you can play say 10-15 years but after that their earning capability will be none through cricket. They'll need a new skill or develop one. I don't think anyone in NZ can aspire to lead life out of domestic cricket. They have to have parallel career otherwise they'd be lost post retirement. As for the effort goes, they have to put their body on line and work through out the year these days. It's only really worth if you can play at least 10 years of black caps cricket otherwise I don't see being a full time cricketer in NZ is a good option.

 

[Chewie]

There's a bunch of injured players for this round of the PS (I've updated the draft spreadsheet)

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Some good signs from Dale Phillips. He scored a century for Otago A last week and now is on a run a ball 50 for the main team vs Wellington.