What’s hot for the Wellington Blaze?

Kiwi Cricket Kōrero host and writer Ellie Indie previews the Wellington Blaze ahead of the 2022–23 season (originally written 26/10/2022) The West Indian men’s test side from mid 70’s-early 90’s; the current Australian women’s cricket team; the Canterbury women’s cricket team from 1975-’99 — and the Wellington Blaze side of 2021–22. What do they all have in common?

They all were/are pretty dominant.

Maybe slipping the Blaze in such a group after one season of aforementioned dominance is slightly bold, but their season was nothing short of assertive. They sailed through the Super Smash unbeaten and settled for what was an overall closely contested 2nd in the HBJ. This year they’ll be defending their Super Smash champion status for the third year in a row. It’s worth noting this team is the most successful in the competition, with 7 trophies and 2 silvers to their name. The past few years have been their most presiding, winning 4 times in 5 years (2017–22) and finishing second best to the Magicians in 2020–21.

There’s no hiding the fact that the Wellington Blaze are once again looking like the squad to beat.

HBJ RESULT: 2nd SS RESULT: 1st

The Blaze saw great success last year, the only critique of their season being the final versus the Otago Sparks in the HBJ Shield. Though finishing top of the table, they were shown up on the day by Otago’s youthful bowling unit. The Sparks set them a target of 221, to which the Blaze replied with a measly 82 all out after 28.5 overs.

This seems a familiar sight for Welly fans; while they’ve seen heaps of success in the SS, their HBJ Shield story could not be more opposite. Since 2004 — their last HBJ title triumph — they’ve seen a flurry of “runner’s up” honours since, 7 to be precise, the most out of any team in that time. This year they’ll be wanting to break a decades-long streak and handing the silverware elsewhere.

Something noteworthy in Wellington’s uncharacteristic display was that they were missing 6 of their players due to the clash with the Women’s Cricket World Cup (Leigh Kasperek wasn’t selected for the Ferns but absent from the final).

It’s a worrying problem they face going into this season too. They’ve another potential 6 players going out for national duties in the Women’s T20 World Cup in February, plus some unnumbered U19 absences for the U19 Women’s World Cup in January.

White Fern players: Sophie Devine, Maddy Green ©, Georgia Plimmer*, Amelia Kerr, Jess Kerr, Jess McFadyen (WK)

Potential U19 WC players: Georgia Plimmer*, Kate Chandler, Tash Codyre, Antonia Hamilton *eligible to play in U19, likely to only participate in one.

The 3-match Bangladesh ODI series cuts into the third round of the HBJ on the 17th & 18th December. The White Ferns first match in the T20 World Cup starts on the 11th February, the same day as the Super Smash final. They’ll also miss out on the HBJ matches scheduled for the 18th & 19th February — and given their jam packed schedule, we could potentially see some players rested ahead of the last 2 HBJ matches of the group stage on the 25th & 26th.

All in all, players will most likely be able to play the whole Super Smash (minus the final), and 4–7 HBJ games. For a side like Wellington who host such a large number of Ferns, this a chance to put a dent in their title chances.

But what’s hot for the Blaze is their amazing batting power & options for all formats and phases of the game. Another massive advantage the Basin based outfit have over their competitors is that they have genuine batting ability all the way to the bottom of the team sheet. They have flexibility in their order too, their middle order which comes in the form of experienced campaigners Leigh Kasperek, Jess Kerr and Thamsyn Newton — who are the tailenders for the White Ferns — can float around the lineup with ease. They will play a massive role in the Blaze’s title chances this season.

Kasperek had some stunning performances in the middle order in the SS, evident in her 60* (43) vs CD, 29 (29) vs ND & 28 (26) vs Canterbury. Her near run-a-ball knocks came alongside power hitter Jess Kerr, who had a decent season with the bat as well, as she commanded the strike and played as the pinch hitter — similar to Lea Tahuhu for the Cantabs. Taking this partnership into the new season will be a must for the team.

Kerr had the best strike rate of anyone in the Welly set up (150.81) who’d played more than 5 innings, and a healthy average of 30.66, contributing greatly to their unbeaten run in the Super Smash by upping the run rate in the later stages of their matches.

It wasn’t just their batting that impressed the most, but their main attributes — bowling. Kasperek finished the T20 comp with the most wickets (20) and Kerr a place behind her with 18. They both went at just under 5 an over in their spells and averaged under 10.

These two playing the part of bowling all rounders floating around the order for Wellington could assist them in achieving a similar outcome of last year’s proceedings, they’ll be in good company in that middle order too, with fresh talent like Xara Jetly, Antonia Hamilton and Kate Chandler.

Wellington star Xara Jetly first came into the Blaze squad as a specialist fielder when she was 16, now she’s 21 — a record breaking offie and due her breakout season.

Last year she amazed all present in Whangarei and watching at home with returns of 4–1 (3) in the Super Smash versus Northern Brave — the best figures in the tournament’s history. She finished the competition with 13 wickets in 10 innings at 4.65 rpo and 8th highest wicket taker overall. Jetly alongside fellow offie Kasperek will be the best of the spin attack, especially in the SS.

Jetly can also contribute to that incredibly flexible batting order, like Leigh. There hasn’t been much in her domestic career to show for it, but her performances for North City in their top order (more recently) — 86* (65) vs Hutt District, 52 (38) vs Johnsonville — show that she’s more than capable of hitting the ball far. It’s unlikely she’ll be promoted above Kerr or Kasperek, but keep an eye out for her if she gets an opportunity in the closing stages of a game.

While she didnt get heaps of HBJ appearances (hardly any player did thanks to the beautiful NZ weather), it’s expected she’ll dish out a similar staging to her T20 game in the 50 over. It’s not typically been her best format, however last year looked like things were improving for the Offie. She’d taken 9 wickets at an average of 16.11 in 5 innings — for reference, it’s one less wicket than last year in half the time — though little time to make a real impression off of, if this season is anything along those lines, she could be up there in the wickets column and a trophy in her hand.

Wicketkeeper-Batter Antonia Hamilton (18) has shown a lot of promise and potential for Hutt District and Wellington’s U19 side, and that’s been reflected in her receiving her first professional contract. Hamilton had a busy season in club cricket at the top of the order, scoring the most runs in the city’s Premier Women’s club season, a whopping 601 runs averaging 54.64. Hamilton is certainly an exciting up-and-coming talent and one to watch out for this season when provided the opportunity

She also featured in the Bates / Devine XIII U19 development matches alongside fellow Blaze Kate Chandler, where Hamilton stun in front of coaches and selectors in the final game with 41* (26), a catch and a stumping. It’s expected she’ll play in similar fashion for the senior side this year at the top of their order, whilst keeping wicket in the instance Jess McFadyen is called up to the Ferns squad.

A senior team call up looks likely for Hamilton this year in both competitions, with some appearances in the U19 tournament and hopefully the junior’s World Cup.

Another rising player we should be looking out for this year for the U19 World Cup is Kate Chandler (15). Her story draws some similarities to that of Melie Kerr; Chandler first broke out onto the scene 2 years ago, 3 weeks after her 14th birthday. What’s even more extraordinary was that she took a 5-fer (5–41) claiming big wickets including Tahuhu, Mackay & Ebrahim only 4 matches into her domestic career, and a 3 wicket haul in her second.

Since then she’s made appearances for the side sporadically, however with the U19 World Cup on the horizon she’ll be looking to take advantage of as many chances as she gets to ensure her name is on that squad list to South Africa.

It’s not just her stunning bowling, but her ability to play almost anywhere — from opening to tailender — in the order makes Chandler such an appealing pick for both the NZ U19 & Wellington senior side. In 6 innings for Wellington’s U19’s last year, she scored 148 runs averaging 37.00, finishing the competition Blaze’s second highest run scorer and 8th overall. There’s much more to come from her over the next few years and this season could be an Alice Capsey-esque one.

To conclude…

It will be no surprise if this team does the double this year. While they’ll be plagued with missing Ferns throughout their HBJ run, it will be the senior players of Kasperek, Jetly and Doughty who will come in handy and lead the side from the front.

Kasperek also has a case to prove to the Ferns’ selectors, after a turbulent year being left out of the India home series squad, World Cup squad and then eventually the NZ contracts despite coming out best in the Super Smash, and more recently a successful 50 over campaign with the Northern Diamonds in their Rachael Heyhoe Flint trophy triumph. As previously mentioned, Hamilton and Chandler look as though they’ll be fighting for a place in the U19 World Cup, and so will be looking for as much gametime for the side as possible to prove their worth. Their performances could be crucial for Wellington to get the runs on the board — and avoid a repeat of last year’s final.

With the overwhelming amount of Ferns they have in the set up, it’ll be hard to see how they lose the Super Smash with Devine, Green & both Kerrs. As for the HBJ, it will be, for the most part, down to their domestic players & how they will step up and fare.

They’re very much still the team to beat.

Wellington Blaze contracts (2022–23):

Nicole Baird, Olivia Boivin, Rebecca Burns, Kate Chandler, Tash Codyre, Dee Doughty, Antonia Hamilton (WK), Xara Jetly, Leigh Kasperek, Caitlin King, Thamsyn Newton, Maneka Singh.