Hallyburton Johnstone Shield: Team of the Tournament - Ellie Indie

Kiwi Cricket Kōrero host and writer Ellie Indie looks back to the HBJ Shield and points out key performers from this year's tournament.

It’s been a while since the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield — the premier 50 over comp for women in Aotearoa New Zealand — concluded, so I thought it may be fun to go back and reflect on this year’s shining stars!

In a year that saw greats Holly Huddleston, Katie Perkins and Amy Satterthwaite retire, to Gabby Sullivan bowling her way to the top of both domestic tournament wicket charts, it was another eventful HBJ with much to remember!

Kate Ebrahim I mean — it’s no surprise right? Ebrahim’s been in a fine run of form for the past two HBJ seasons now. Last season the Otago opener wracked up an impressive 451 runs with a best of 96* (130) vs Central Hinds, climbing over the 50 mark in her 7 innings 5 times. She was the highest run scorer by well over 100 runs to nearest competitor Kate Anderson. Ebrahim also occasionally put some pace down with her medium quick deliveries which saw her take 4 wickets overall with a best of 3–45 (7) vs Canterbury

This year, Ebrahim’s been on a whole other level. This HBJ season she topped the run scoring charts once more by almost 200 runs ahead of Amy Satterthwaite (406) with a whopping 588 runs from 9 innings at an insane average of 98. A campaign that saw 4 fifties and 2 hundreds with a best of 106* (140) with 8 fours in the final game of the season, signing off in style against HBJ runner’s up Canterbury Magicians.

She also once again handed out some pacey power taking 5 wickets with a best of 3–33 and a tournament economy of 4.59. Kate Anderson Topping the Women’s Super Smash run charts after an incredible move from the Northern Brave to the 2022/23 champions Canterbury Magicians, Kate Anderson is embracing a new stage in her career, and one that’s seeing her in a winning environment and bring home some silverware. Her 50 over form has been too shabby recently either — last year finishing the run charts behind Ebrahim with 306 runs from 6 innings at a 51 average and exciting 108.51 strike rate.

This year she dropped to 4th in the charts — but not dropping in the quality of her play. Tied with Katie Perkins (also in my team of the tournament) with 343 runs, Anderson’s coming from 9 innings. She reached the 50 mark twice, and made up a superb 141* (120) vs Central Hinds at the Hagley Oval, a knock that saw a staggering 18 fours — she also took the wicket of Jess Watkin in the same game with her offspin seeing 5 overs of the game for just 28 runs.

Anderson was awarded with the Ruth Martin Cup for women’s domestic batting, the Women’s Dream11 Super Smash Player of the Year and the Women’s Domestic Player of the Year for her efforts in all competitions. Jess Watkin Jess Watkin has been one of the best strikers in the women’s T20 game for some time now, despite her Super Smash struggles this year — even in the longer format this year she struke at 104.53 (4th highest in the comp, only player in the top 10 to play 9 innings).

Watkin made up for her lack of runs in the Super Smash in this year’s HBJ Shield by scoring 346 runs at 43.25, her second best 50 over season behind her blistering 2019/20 season seeing her reach a top score of 158. This year Watkin saw 4 fifties and a best of 96 (77) versus Canterbury Magicians with 10 fours and 4 sixes in that innings.

She also finished high up in the wickets with her offspin with 13 wickets at 22.84 in just 4.27 rpo. Watkin’s best with the ball came versus eventual champions Wellington Blaze taking 3 wickets for 11 in a rapid 3.3 overs, the pick of the Hinds bowlers — then going on to top score for her side with 63* (51). She was the Hinds highest run scorer this year. Amy Satterthwaite Amy Satterthwaite retired at the end of this HBJ season after almost 20 years playing for her native Canterbury side. If there’s anything to show the impact Satterthwaite had in Aotearoa New Zealand, Hagley Oval changed its name for her last 3 HBJ meetings to the Satterthwaite Oval to honour the great.

After Satterthwaite was dropped from NZC’s central contract system, and retiring from international cricket shortly after, she’s been on a mission to show the world what she’s capable of. In the HBJ she signed off in style with an impressive 406 runs to her name from just 7 innings at 81.20. She notched up her season best score of 103* (115) with 9 fours against Central Hinds infront of a home crowd at Hagley. This game she also passed 10,000 List A runs.

Alongside her stellar season with the bat, Satterthwaite also picked up 6 wickets at 4.93 rpo and a neat best of 2–14. A season of near perfection and few faults, Satterthwaite has left NZ cricket with an incredible legacy. Katie Perkins Katie Perkins was amongst the retirements this year, following a career that spanned near 17 years. Perkins has been a mainstay in the Auckland batting units since her arrival as well as earning over 100 caps in 2 formats for the White Ferns. With over 4500 runs in List A, Perkins goes out on a high.

Scoring 343 runs from just 6 innings this year, Perkins finds herself joint 4th in the charts. An impressive 68.80 average, Perkins reached a season and personal List A best of 113* (123), and followed it up with 94 (107) vs the day later — both innings vs Otago Sparks. She notched up two more 50 scores in her season, 64 (86) vs Canterbury Magicians and 65 (80) vs Wellington Blaze.

A career and a season worth recognising, Auckland will be at a loss without their consistent batter. Leigh Kasperek It would be a piece of mine if I hadn’t included or mentioned Leigh Kasperek. There is good reason why I do though — and it’s because she’s just so good.

20 wickets in this year’s HBJ, Kasperek finishes 2nd in the wicket charts, with the 5th best strike rate (18.00) and the 5th best average (12.85). A consistent performer for the champions Wellington this year, Kasper’s best performance came in the final to ensure the trophy with a 4 wicket haul at 4.60 rpo. She demolished the Canterbury top order, with keeper Hughes, Anderson, top scorer for the side Satterthwaite and Cox falling to her offspin.

Kasperek has also been working on her batting for the past couple of seasons, really adding to the dimensions of her game. This year she finished a respectable 8th in the run-scoring charts with 274 runs, with two fifty plus scores with a season best of 87 (76) which included 10 fours vs Auckland Hearts at the Basin. Nat Dodd If there’s one format Nat Dodd excels in, its the 50 overs — and this year was no different. Scoring 316 runs from 9 innings, including finishing not out 3 times as the Hinds opener, Dodd averaged 52.66 with two 50+ scores and a best of 83 (91) with 7 fours.

As a keeper, Dodd had the second most dismissals with 13 victims: 10 catches (1st in tournament) and 3 stumpings (3rd in tournament) Caitlin Blakely Caitlin Blakely has been a handy top order batter for Otago for near to 10 years now, but this season she’d added another aspect to her game she’d rarely used before. Blakely bowled some quite useful overs in both Super Smash and HBJ. This season, she’d had a career best as a bowler in the HBJ.

Claiming 12 wickets this season (beating her best of 2 back in 2018/19), Blakely was a surprising addition to Otago’s bowling attack, but a key one. She’d taken 2 four-wicket hauls, 4–45 vs Central Hinds seeing the end of opposition skipper Nat Dodd for 81, Kerry Tomlinson on 20, Melissa Hansen on 13 runs and Ashtuti Kumar on 5.

Aside from impressing with the ball, Blakely scored a modest 243 runs from 9 innings with a best score of 78* (85) vs Auckland Hearts at the University Oval, averaging 30.37 across the tournament. Gabby Sullivan There’s no way around it — Gabby Sullivan has had a blistering cricket season. Topping both the Super Smash and HBJ wicket charts, Sullivan had set a new season wicket taking record in the Women’s Super Smash with 21 wickets, beating Leigh Kasperek, Jess Kerr and Frankie Mackay who all reached 20.

Sullivan had been consistent in all HBJ games this season up until the very end, where in the final she took 4–54 including big wickets of Jess McFadyen on 53 (70) and Maddy Green on 106 (106). She also kicked off the season beating her best List A figures with 4–31, also against Wellington. She also had the 4th best economy in the comp striking at just 3.87 runs per over and a key average of 15.04.

It’s worth mentioning this was Sullivan’s first full season back after picking up injury toward the beginning of the 2021/22 season, making her return and record breaking season just that bit more special. Sullivan was awarded the Phyl Blackler Cup for women’s domestic bowling for her sublime campaign across all tournaments. Sarah Asmussen Being in a part of the same bowling attack as Lea Tahuhu, Gabby Sullivan and Missy Banks, its hard to see how there’s any more wickets left for you to take — but it’s no tough task for leggie Sarah Asmussen.

Asmussen finished joint 3rd in the wickets charts alongside Tahuhu with 14 wickets each. With an economy of 4.89 and strike rate of 29.14, Asmussen has been a secret weapon amongst the Canterbury ranks.

This year saw Asmussen take her first List A 5-fer and best figures of 5–36 vs Central Hinds, a spell that saw the end of Emma McLeod on 53, 3 other batters for single digits with a golden duck, and Kerry Tomlinson on 15. Another important performance came from Asmussen of 4–42 including 2 maidens against Otago, removing 3 of the batters in quick succession. Nicole Baird Perhaps a slightly biased pick but I can’t be the only one on the Nicole Baird hype train right? I’ve well and truly been obsessed with Baird’s left arm spin ever since she made broke into the Wellington team this year. It’s been a fairly solid debut season for the Blaze bowler, taking 11 wickets in both formats.

Focusing on her HBJ, her 11 wickets came at a respectful 4.16 economy with 6 maidens to go along with it — and an average of 23.63. A best of 3–45 came vs the Auckland Hearts removing Emma Irwin on 15, Katie Perkins who was on 65, and skipper Prue Catton for 2 in her allocated 10.

It’s exciting to see what Nicole Baird can do next season given an impressive start to her domestic career. Hopefully with less rain-affected matches, Baird can give us her full potential. Special mention: Caitlin Gurrey A season that started off in fine form for Caitlin Gurrey soon turned into a campaign of rest and recovery after getting injured before the midpoint of proceedings. Despite only playing 4 HBJ matches, Gurrey racked up 324 runs (her second best in a HBJ season) with a whopping best of 183 (145) made up of 20 fours and 7 sixes beating her previous high score of 123 and also equalling a New Zealand record for the highest competition score with Suzie Bates’ 183* from 2005/06 season.

Had she not been injured, who know what heights Gurrey would have gone to this season? Hopefully, she can keep the momentum going into the 2023/24.