The end of Daylight Savings and the end of the Plunket Shield signal the arrival of Autumn. Summer is over, all that we love about summer vanishes as the sun rises a little earlier than it has done and on this glorious Sunday morning, Bharat Popli will be pretty damn chuffed with his efforts in the Plunket Shield this summer.

Auckland were crowned Plunket Shield champions, a nod to an experienced line up that has been doing their thing on the domestic cricket scene for a number of years now. Auckland, like many teams also had strong contributions from younger players as well headlined by batsmen Rob O'Donnell and Mark Chapman. Throw in Michael Guptill-Bunce who debuted in 2013 but only has 16 First Class games to his name and was Auckland's leading run-scorer with 859 runs, an average 45.21, four 50s and a couple hundreds.

Congrats to Auckland, the star of the 2015/16 Plunket Shield season though was Northern District's Popli. ND finished 4th on 87 points, while Auckland strolled to the title on 132 points which is perhaps thanks to the Knights' strong BLACKCAPS contingent that was in and out of their squad, Popli's consistency with the willow and sheer volume of runs is reason for celebrate for the Knights.

Popli hit 1,149 runs and was the only batsman to score over 1,000 runs this season. Only Will Young (733 runs, eight 50s) scored more half-centuries than Popli's seven 50s, however Young didn't score a single century, Popli had three. A bunch of players scored three hundreds (Ben Smith, Brad Wilson, Jeet Raval, Daniel Flynn, George Worker) and Otago's opener Brad Wilson came close to Popli with three centuries and six 50s, perhaps Central District's opener Ben Smith would have come close to Popli's volume of runs as he had 917 from only nine games while Popli scored his runs in 10 games. Since December 17, out of 14 innings' Popli didn't score a 50 in only four of those innings and in only two of those games did Popli not score a 50.

If we are to apply wider context to the performances with the bat this season, Popli's rise won't mean higher honours immediately, even if Popli scored 79 for a New Zealand XI against a touring Sri Lankan side ahead of their series against the BLACKCAPS. To demand higher honours, you've got to stack the runs up for at least a few seasons and whether Popli can continue this into next season when he'll be a marked man will be interesting.

Popli has been rewarded for an excellent season with an overseas contract with Tenterden Cricket Club in England who's top team has recently been promoted to the Kent Premier Division.

With that wider context in mind, Popli joins a group of young batsmen who will need to keep stacking the runs up as they wait for an opportunity in the BLACKCAPS' middle order. Popli, Young, O'Donnell (721 runs, 40.05 avg), Wellington's wicket-keeper batsman Tom Blundell (761 runs, 44.76 avg) and Canterbury's Ken McClure (667 runs, 60.63 avg) all enjoyed strong seasons, they are all in their early to mid-twenties. They also hold down batting spots from No.3 to No.6 where the international team is pretty healthy, this ain't a bad thing though as it ensures that this exciting crew must continue to pile up the runs.

Martin Guptill's long-form opening spot is not set in concrete, nor is Tom Latham's for that matter, hence the performances of Guptill-Bunce, Ben Smith and Jeet Raval are the most interesting. Guptill-Bunce must enjoy a few more good seasons before sliding into contention, which leaves us with Raval and Smith. Raval has been on the scene for a while now and has been on the cusp for much of that time, he scored 780 runs and averaged 55.71 this season, however this is boosted by a strong finish to the season in which he scored his three centuries and one of his two 50s in the space of just over a month.

Smith has the same record with three centuries and two 50s, he also has 917 runs at an average of 61.13. Both Smith and Raval passed the double-century mark, I prefer Smith's consistency which saw him score enough runs to get the Stags off to a good start, even if he wasn't in great nick. You can counter that with Raval being in a winning team though and the fact that Raval has being doing similar sorts of numbers for many seasons now.

It would be rude not to include a word regarding George Worker, who had hit three centuries in six games before suffering a broken hand. Worker joins Smith and Raval as the only double-centurians of the season, averaged 61 across those six games and perhaps Worker's the bloke who is closest to making that BLACKCAPS Test opening spot his own. Pigeon-holing is so dumb and Worker has only really been in the BLACKCAPS mix in limited overs formats, there's no reason why Worker can't be a Test contender and it's a mark or kiwi cricket right now that we have three blokes who are under 30-years-old who are putting pressure on Guptill and Latham.

Big shout to the domestic veterans holding it down. Wilson averaged 46.63 for Otago, Stephen Murdoch scored 824 runs averaging 43.36, Daniel Flynn scored 764 runs averaging 42.44 and even Luke Woodcock enjoyed his work at the top of Wellington's line up, scoring 739 runs at an average of 38.89.

I'll leave you with this, a batting line up that consists soley of our nation's best youngish batting talent from the Plunket Shield season. Consider this as a final thought regarding our cricketing talent coming through the ranks, each of these batsmen averaged over 40 this season and shows that while we might not have the cash or resources, we've got the talent and that's all that matters.

Jeet Raval (27 years, 55.71 avg)
Ben Smith (25, 61.13)
Rob O'Donnell (21, 40.05)
Bharat Popli (25, 67.58)
Will Young (23, 45.81)
Ken McClure (21, 60.63)
Tom Blundell* (25, 44.76)