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Kiwi Cricket Kōrero host and writer Ellie Indie previews the Canterbury Magicians ahead of the 2022–23 season (originally written 21/10/2022)
It’s my favourite time of year. The New Zealand domestic cricket season has begun! The current scene looks something like me sitting in my cold room with my back hunched over the keyboard and staring at the TV screen with my eyes gradually becoming dryer than a desert watching the incredibly sunny, warm opening match of the Plunket Shield. I’ll probably religiously repeat the routine for the next 6 months.
But that’s the men’s domestic tournament, what about the women’s season? We’ve got to wait a month longer for that, however, the first thing on the agenda is the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield. It gets underway on 19th November and ends on 4th March with the final, taking place in Queenstown. Midway through the tournament, we’ll be thrown straight into some non-stop T20 action in the form of the Women’s Super Smash.
This season promises to be an exciting one after teams announced who and who wasn’t on their contract list for this season; some are already looking like winners on paper — “Wellington Blaze” I hear you say? — and some are looking ready to better themselves from last year’s edition.
One of those teams looking to improve would be the Canterbury Magicians.
HBJ RESULT: 6th
SS RESULT: 4th
Out of the 10 HBJ matches they played last season (4 no results), they only managed to snatch a single win from it all. The rain certainly didn’t help their cause.
Their Super Smash campaign wasn’t too dissimilar in terms of success, only winning 4 from 10 matches and finishing 4th overall, however in the context of the competition the Magicians came close to the podium positions. They narrowly missed out on the Eliminator Final vs Otago as they trailed only 4 points (equivalent to a win) behind 3rd place Auckland Hearts.
Unfortunately, their run was riddled with tiny errors and unlucky finishes, as seen in a clash with the Hearts toward the back end of Super Smash; a final ball decider where they required 1 run, which swung Auckland’s way with the fall of Satterthwaite after she attempted to send it to the stands.
This time round Canterbury will be looking to regain their victorious form they had in the 2020–21 season, clinching both Super Smash and HBJ titles in spectacular fashion.
The winning spell for the team in red is that they’ll have their experienced & reliable trio of Lea Tahuhu, Amy Satterthwaite** (who’s currently on a player-coach basis with the side) and skipper Frankie Mackay for what looks to be the majority of the tournament, given a White Ferns call up looks unlikely for the three after being left off the national contract list.
**Has since retired from International cricket
Canterbury certainly looked a better version of themselves in the shorter format thanks to the trio. Satterthwaite** (3rd with 313 @ 31.30) and Mackay (5th with 242 @ 30.25) found themselves in the top 5 run scorers, as well as dishing out a few handy overs of spin — combining to take 28 wickets across both competitions.
Their incredibly successful utilisation of Lea Tahuhu as a pinch hitter — evident in her performances vs Otago (31* off 15), vs Auckland (11 off 6), vs CD (39* off 16) and (29* off 10), vs ND (22 off 9) — was an experiment the Magicians were heavily rewarded for. Tahuhu was a self-described “floater” for the first half of the Super Smash, only playing as a specialist batter after injury. Canterbury set a trend for the White Ferns to follow, in that they looked to promote her up the order in the international series vs India.
It would be foolish of the Hagley-based side not to take this exploit into this season.
The emerging players in this setup are one to watch out for. Izzy Sharp (17) earns her first professional contract after a handful of impressive showings for Canterbury’s Under 19 troupe and glimpses of what’s to come in her first 2 innings for the senior side last year. Some knocks proving worthy of promotion were her 66* (52) vs Auckland, 47 (42) vs CD and 35 (34) vs Wellington finishing the multi-format competition with 195 runs at 39.60.
Missy Banks (20), although not quite ‘emerging’, promises to be a major asset in Canterbury’s T20 bowling unit. The right-arm seamer comes into the 2022–23 season already with heaps of experience and caps for the Red & Black, debuting for the side at 16, and has since gone on to make 82 appearances to date.
Last year we saw Banks flourish in the 20-over comp, ending up in the top 10 wicket takers with 14 wickets @ 15.79 & Canterbury’s highest. She also attained her best T20 bowling figures (4–29 in 4) in the latest edition of the tourney after wiping out Northern Brave’s Top 4. She’ll be looking to make a similar impact this year with her dangerous swing and handy contributions in the field.
Jodie Dean (20) and her re-emergence in the Canterbury side is another worthy mention, she was able to make a return (with their White Ferns trio out on World Cup duty) after spending time in and out of the set-up for the best part of 4 years now. She showed up best for the side in the HBJ Shield, where she scored 55 runs (a best of 38 off 68) in 2 innings & took 4 wickets (a best of 3–37) at 5.56 rpo in 3 innings.
Dean’s promising performances showed potential in the ample time she was given most likely warrants her more outings for the Magicians and will potentially become a key factor for the side in their HBJ Shield title hunt, playing a similar role to fellow seamer Banks toward the end of their innings.
To conclude…
In theory, this team should do well in both competitions — but it’s likely we’ll see a repeat of last year where their T20 game was stronger than their 50 over. They can easily contend for the finals with the quality they’ve got.
It’s a fairly youthful yet experienced side, which is a massive aid for their chances at the title. With potential New Zealand Under 19 candidates Harriet Graham & Izzy Sharp looking to put their hands up for a place in the Women’s U19 World Cup in South Africa, blended in with familiar experience in players like Banks, Savage, Asmussen and their handy trio in Mackay, Satterthwaite and Tahuhu, if it all clicks, we should expect bigger and better things for this side this season. Canterbury’s contract list for this season (2022–23): Kate Anderson (moves from ND), Sarah Asmussen, Melissa Banks, Natalie Cox, Abby Gerken (WK), Laura Hughes (WK), Frankie Mackay ©, Jacinta Savage, Izzy Sharp, Gabby Sullivan, Lea Tahuhu
(Amy Satterthwaite unavailable for contract but still eligible to play)
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