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It is time. The Dream 11 Super Smash Finals are being played tomorrow at Auckland’s Eden Park with two spectacular games on the cards!
We start the day with the Women’s final being played between the Wellington Blaze and the Central Hinds. The two sides both have very talented players and played out a thrilling tied match earlier in the season. Read about it here. In the first match played between the two sides this season, they met at Napier’s McLean Park under lights. Amelia Kerr led the way with the bat as she scored 60* and Georgia Plimmer made 43*. Read about it here.
Wellington has recently gained Sophie Devine back into the side following her break from cricket. They have also gained the experience of Caitlin King who returns to bolster the side to 13 players following an injury.
Central are unchanged from the elimination final squad that defeated the Northern Brave by 45 runs. Claudia Green will be looking to follow up an excellent bowling performance where she took career-best figures of 4/24 and also grabbed a hat-trick. Read the match report from that exciting clash here.
It will surely be a thriller of a match with international talent spread across both teams. Wellington has the services of internationals: Amelia Kerr, Leigh Kasperek, Rebecca Burns, Kate Chandler, Sophie Devine, Jess Kerr, Jess McFadyen, and Georgia Plimmer. The Central Hinds meanwhile have Nat Dodd, Hollie Armitage (England), Priyanaz Chatterji (Scotland), Claudia Green, Rosemary Mair, Thamsyn Newton, and Hannah Rowe.
It is the Hinds first-ever appearance in a Super Smash Final since they lost to the Canterbury Magicians in the 2015/16 final. They also won the 2009/10 competition chasing down 89 against the Auckland Hearts. Their first ever appearance in a final was in the first season, the 2007/08 season when they lost to the Magicians as well. Having finished in the bottom two for the last few seasons it has been a season to remember for the Jacob Oram-coached Hinds.
The Blaze on the other hand will be playing in their seventh straight final and have won five of those seven. They won the title between the 2017/18 season to the 2019/20 season when they defeated the Auckland Hearts, the Canterbury Magicians, and then the Hearts again. They nearly won the title in the 2020/21 season but were defeated by a 66-run stand between Kate Ebrahim and Lea Tahuhu. The following season they defeated the Otago Sparks in the final before again falling to the Magicians last season.
It will sure be an exciting game with the Hinds looking for their second title and the Blaze looking for their eighth title.
The Men’s final will then kick off at 16:30 with the Auckland Aces taking on the Canterbury Kings.
Both teams have been spectacular all season long as they have had their international players on their sides.
The Aces have won both games between the two sides this summer. They played each other in the first match of the competition with Robbie O’Donnell’s 54* and Martin Guptill’s 47 being the highlights with the bat for the Aces before Jimmy Neesham (3/26) and Ben Lister (2/18) did the damage with the ball to secure a win for the Aces. Read about that match here. The Aces also won the second fixture in Christchurch with Finn Allen 78* being the main contribution in that match. Read about it here.
Auckland are going into the fixture with the added additions of Finn Allen, Mark Chapman, and Lockie Ferguson who are returning from the Blackcaps T20Is against Pakistan. Allen dominated the series with 275 runs and a top score of 137.
Canterbury made one change from the squad which featured in the elimination final with Angus McKenzie replacing the injured Michael Rae.
Both sides will have talent across the board with the Aces having internationally experienced players such as Finn Allen, Mark Chapman, Lockie Ferguson, Cam Fletcher, and Ben Lister. The Kings have Cole McConchie, Chad Bowes, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Will O’Rourke, Ish Sodhi, and Michael Rippon (Netherlands & NZ).
The Aces have won the competition four times. Their most was in the 2015/16 season when they defeated the Otago Volts. They have also won it in 2006/07, 2010/11, 2011/12. Auckland came second in 2005/06, 2009/10, 2014/15, 2019/20.
The Kings on the other hand have only won the title once in the first season (2005/06). They have however made five previous finals including the last three (2020/21 - 2022/23) but have lost to the Firebirds (2020/21) and then the Northern Brave for the last two seasons. They also made the final in 2011/12 and 2008/09.
It will be an exciting game with the potential for many sixes to be hit into the crowd and whoever takes out the glory will surely do it in style!
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