Around Aotearoa as folks pondered various lockdown meditations, there was an air of certainty with regards to the 'next up' Blackcaps batsman permeating from the lands covered by ferns, manuka and kauri.
The Women's Big Bash League started with plenty of rain last weekend and unfortunately, the team who managed to get through their two game was Adelaide Strikers and Suzie Bates is still out nursing an injury.
Northern Districts Knights batsman Joe Carter was one of three players to pass 50 on the first day of Aotearoa's Plunket Shield round two and the Knights skipper went large with 146*.
Wrapping up round tahi of Aotearoa's Plunket Shield we've got a few runs for Tom Latham, Sean Solia's all-round skills and all the antics from a Northern Districts Knights vs Central Districts Stags game that was split in half.
What better way to start the kiwi cricket summer than a couple lower order hundies and piles of wickets?
Plunket Shield cricket is back and there is a wee bit of team selection funk to explore in the two games that started yesterday, while Otago Volts vs Auckland Aces sparks up today.
While predicting 1st 11 line up funk and various match up possibilities are niggly tasks for Plunket Shield preparation as we don't have the direct line of communication with coaches, there are still funky things that are so obvious they have to be documented ahead of round tahi.
The Niche Cache has served up plenty of domestic cricket content that zones in on Blackcaps fringes and notable domestic cricket troopers who have demand attention with plenty of runs/wickets, here it's all about one up and coming prospect from each team.
The glorious come back of kiwi cricket via Aotearoa's White Ferns resulted in a 2-1 T20I series loss and then a 3-0 ODI Rose Bowl sweep over in Brisbane, none of which was ideal and yet there are still some funky aspects of White Ferns cricket to keep the positive vibes flowing.
It’s the biggest heavyweight fight we’ve ever seen between two New Zealand boxers and it’s a fight that never would have happened if everything had gone to plan. Two pugilists whose rivalry tracks back more than a decade to their amateur days.
The sun is shining, the evenings are getting warmer, the birds are chirping away in the trees and cricket bats are in heavy stock at all your local sports stores. The Summer of Cricket is fast approaching.
The main event of the kiwi cricketing summer that is the Plunket Shield is only a matter of weeks away and while there's always Plunket Shield hype permeating from the lands of Aotearoa, don't ask NZC because they can't bother to serve up a Plunket Shield schedule.
Snapping a 13-game losing streak against Australia in all formats is lovely and Aotearoa's White Ferns showed promising signs in winning the third T20I in Brisbane, yet losing the series 2-1 extends the trend of not quite dipping into their full potential.