Observations - Central Hinds | NZ Super Smash
Written By: Jeet Vachharajani
Date: 04-01-2022
It comes as no surprise that the Central Hinds are languishing at #5 in the table with the Northern Brave being last. These two teams lack enough firepower as compared to the top 3 teams.
Hinds, in particular, have tried out a few different things after they got off to a winless start. Following are the key areas of concern that I observed that they need to rectify to have any shot at finishing in the top 4.
1) Lack of aggression with the bat
This has been one of the major concerns for the Hinds. The fact that Atkinson is the only batter in the entire team to have an SR of above 100 is astonishing and this puts the spotlight on how poor they have been with the bat.
Atkinson has impressed me and while she has an SR of only 103, I feel that she looks to attack more than 90% of the balls she faces and that’s one of the most in the entire competition. Where she struggles is to convert those aggressive shots into boundaries and hence, such a low SR. Watkin, who is the most aggressive player in the team has had an odd year which hasn’t helped.
Hinds have managed to find the ropes on a regular basis courtesy of Atkinson & Watkin. But, if a team has done well on the boundary count despite having a very low run-rate could mean only one thing – Very low non-boundary SR. Hinds have a non-boundary SR of just 51 which happens to be the lowest amongst all teams.
2) Slow in all phases
Hinds is the only team to not have a run-rate of 6 in any of the phases of the game. They have been so slow and to have the lowest run-rate in the PP makes their approach quite flawed.
Nat Dodd provides stability, but I feel her slow batting (SR – 77) is a contributing factor to Hinds’ poor performances in the PP. It puts additional pressure on the likes of Watkin & Atkinson. Not a single Hinds’ player has an SR of 100 in the PP.
Hinds had started off with Cunningham at #3, but as the move didn’t work and Atkinson delivered down the order, she got promoted to #3 in order to maximize the PP. But, that is when Watkin’s struggle started and nothing clicked as a result of that.
3) Death-bowling is an issue
Hinds have only used 4 bowlers at the death. Hansen & Rowe have been subject to a severe onslaught from Lea Tahuhu and their economy has sky-rocketed because of that. The control has not been there and Watkin has had to do the bulk of the job in that phase.
Hinds look at Hansen to bowl an over or two and she is specifically utilized for the death-overs role. This move hasn’t been reaping dividends for them and they need to start considering their Plan B if Hansen's struggle continues.
The problem for the Hinds is that nearly all their pacers are tremendous new-ball bowlers. But, how many can you use in that phase? There’s Green, Rowe, Mair, & potentially Rees. Stick to just one more bowler for the new-ball role alongside Green and designate the death-overs role to the remaining pacers.
4) Spin department = Jess Watkin
Each team has a frontline spinner who is supported by a couple of trustworthy spinners. The only team to not have any supporting spinner is Central Hinds.
It has been a Jess Watkin show all over. Her figures are despite bowling in all the 3 phases of an inning. All the other spinners have only been utilized in the middle-overs and yet, their economy is so high. Ocean Bartlett is young and hence, lacks consistency as a wrist-spinner. The likes of Ashtuti Kumar, Mikaela Greig, & Georgia Atkinson have found it hard to play the supporting role.
Watkin faces a Sophie Devine-like situation (Re. Perth Scorchers in WBBL 2020) where she is the one who has to find the boundaries, bowl in each phase, and take it upon herself to play a role in every facet as a skipper.
5) Pick 1 – Back 1
When a team is chopping and changing every game, it shows that they have hit the panic button. They don’t trust their own process and their frequent changes are not allowing a player to settle into a role.
Hinds opened with Watkin, but as she failed, they gave that role to Cunningham. Cunningham struggled as well & then came Kate Gaging’s turn to take over the opening slot.
Stick with a player and back her irrespective of her returns. Also, consider whether Dodd’s doing enough as an opener. Sometimes I feel that taking Dodd off that opening slot could actually be better. She’s better off playing that anchor role in the middle-overs (Bat at #3-#4) than opening and eating up deliveries in the PP, which is a phase meant to bat aggressively.
Following would be my two batting order recommendations:
One thing to note in this Super Smash is that you will rarely get to see fielders at deep fine leg and third at any stage of the 20 overs. You don’t see many boundaries behind square and that’s where Atkinson has capitalized with her switch-hits and lap shots.
The problem is that she has been doing that even in the PP when there are only two fielders outside the circle thus allowing her to access any area. Go for those shots at the death as it will fetch maximum value at that stage, but there’s no point opting for those same shots in the PP when there are other areas to target. This is the one thing she needs to be careful about.
Observations - Central Hinds | NZ Super Smash
Written By: Jeet Vachharajani
Date: 04-01-2022
It comes as no surprise that the Central Hinds are languishing at #5 in the table with the Northern Brave being last. These two teams lack enough firepower as compared to the top 3 teams.
Hinds, in particular, have tried out a few different things after they got off to a winless start. Following are the key areas of concern that I observed that they need to rectify to have any shot at finishing in the top 4.
1) Lack of aggression with the bat
This has been one of the major concerns for the Hinds. The fact that Atkinson is the only batter in the entire team to have an SR of above 100 is astonishing and this puts the spotlight on how poor they have been with the bat.
Atkinson has impressed me and while she has an SR of only 103, I feel that she looks to attack more than 90% of the balls she faces and that’s one of the most in the entire competition. Where she struggles is to convert those aggressive shots into boundaries and hence, such a low SR. Watkin, who is the most aggressive player in the team has had an odd year which hasn’t helped.
Hinds have managed to find the ropes on a regular basis courtesy of Atkinson & Watkin. But, if a team has done well on the boundary count despite having a very low run-rate could mean only one thing – Very low non-boundary SR. Hinds have a non-boundary SR of just 51 which happens to be the lowest amongst all teams.
2) Slow in all phases
Hinds is the only team to not have a run-rate of 6 in any of the phases of the game. They have been so slow and to have the lowest run-rate in the PP makes their approach quite flawed.
Nat Dodd provides stability, but I feel her slow batting (SR – 77) is a contributing factor to Hinds’ poor performances in the PP. It puts additional pressure on the likes of Watkin & Atkinson. Not a single Hinds’ player has an SR of 100 in the PP.
Hinds had started off with Cunningham at #3, but as the move didn’t work and Atkinson delivered down the order, she got promoted to #3 in order to maximize the PP. But, that is when Watkin’s struggle started and nothing clicked as a result of that.
3) Death-bowling is an issue
Hinds have only used 4 bowlers at the death. Hansen & Rowe have been subject to a severe onslaught from Lea Tahuhu and their economy has sky-rocketed because of that. The control has not been there and Watkin has had to do the bulk of the job in that phase.
Hinds look at Hansen to bowl an over or two and she is specifically utilized for the death-overs role. This move hasn’t been reaping dividends for them and they need to start considering their Plan B if Hansen's struggle continues.
The problem for the Hinds is that nearly all their pacers are tremendous new-ball bowlers. But, how many can you use in that phase? There’s Green, Rowe, Mair, & potentially Rees. Stick to just one more bowler for the new-ball role alongside Green and designate the death-overs role to the remaining pacers.
4) Spin department = Jess Watkin
Each team has a frontline spinner who is supported by a couple of trustworthy spinners. The only team to not have any supporting spinner is Central Hinds.
It has been a Jess Watkin show all over. Her figures are despite bowling in all the 3 phases of an inning. All the other spinners have only been utilized in the middle-overs and yet, their economy is so high. Ocean Bartlett is young and hence, lacks consistency as a wrist-spinner. The likes of Ashtuti Kumar, Mikaela Greig, & Georgia Atkinson have found it hard to play the supporting role.
Watkin faces a Sophie Devine-like situation (Re. Perth Scorchers in WBBL 2020) where she is the one who has to find the boundaries, bowl in each phase, and take it upon herself to play a role in every facet as a skipper.
5) Pick 1 – Back 1
When a team is chopping and changing every game, it shows that they have hit the panic button. They don’t trust their own process and their frequent changes are not allowing a player to settle into a role.
Hinds opened with Watkin, but as she failed, they gave that role to Cunningham. Cunningham struggled as well & then came Kate Gaging’s turn to take over the opening slot.
Stick with a player and back her irrespective of her returns. Also, consider whether Dodd’s doing enough as an opener. Sometimes I feel that taking Dodd off that opening slot could actually be better. She’s better off playing that anchor role in the middle-overs (Bat at #3-#4) than opening and eating up deliveries in the PP, which is a phase meant to bat aggressively.
Following would be my two batting order recommendations:
One thing to note in this Super Smash is that you will rarely get to see fielders at deep fine leg and third at any stage of the 20 overs. You don’t see many boundaries behind square and that’s where Atkinson has capitalized with her switch-hits and lap shots.
The problem is that she has been doing that even in the PP when there are only two fielders outside the circle thus allowing her to access any area. Go for those shots at the death as it will fetch maximum value at that stage, but there’s no point opting for those same shots in the PP when there are other areas to target. This is the one thing she needs to be careful about.