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Batting queen Alyssa Healy celebrates with the trophy after Australia won the 2022 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup final against England at Hagley Oval in Christchurch last week, helped in large part by her ruthless knock of 170. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Summer is gone and cricket is (nearly) finished. Long-serving Otago Daily Times cricket writer Adrian Seconi reflects on the season that was, dishes out a few awards and names yet another paper team in a bumper edition of Notes From Slip.

What has a teal blue Mark III Cortina got to do with test cricket?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Except it was my pride and joy right up until I pranged it not long after driving it off the lot in the summer of 1990.

The Black Caps went a bit the same way this season. The shine came off the newly minted world test champions. They have been formidable at home but produced some erratic form this season.

The heavy loss to Bangladesh was bruising. The inability to close out the series against an inferior South African side left another dent.

There were two good wins in between but the losses caused the sort of tremors you feel in your foundations.

That four-pronged pace attack, which has served them so well at home, was missing a specialist spinner.

Left-armer Ajaz Patel took 10 wickets in an innings in Mumbai but was overlooked for all four home tests.

In hindsight, that was a mistake, particularly for the first test.

An elbow injury kept Kane Williamson sidelined and he will strengthen the side when he returns.

But are the Black Caps at the top of the slide?

They’ve got an ageing seam attack. Kyle Jamieson has come back to the pack. Ross Taylor has joined BJ Watling in retirement.

The grade for the home test season would be a C at best.

The White Ferns would get the same mark. In many ways, their World Cup campaign hung on that opening game against the West Indies.

They struggled for most of the match but needed just six runs with three wickets in hand with an over remaining.

You could write a thesis on how they blundered from there.

The non-selections of Wellington spinner Leigh Kasperek and Otago batter Kate Ebrahim just defied common sense. That pair would have strengthened the side significantly and perhaps made a difference in those tight games where the White Ferns fell short.

The Volts were mostly terrible and we will leave it at that other than to say let’s hope they recruit a good seam-bowling all-rounder and a decent young quick.

The Sparks, however, leaned towards the sun and flourished.

Otago had gone two years without posting a win in the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield but produced a stunning turnaround to win the competition.

The Sparks also made the final of Super Smash but were well beaten by Wellington.

The awards

Best game

The White Ferns will not agree but their opening loss to the West Indies in the World Cup had everything. The visitors dominated for much of the match but the White Ferns kept themselves in the chase and got into a position to win. But unlikely bowling heroine Deandra Dottin flipped the script again in the final over. She came up with a cracking yorker to dismiss Katey Martin and the remaining dominoes tumbled.

Wellington Firebirds batter Michael Bracewell swings away during his team’s Super Smash elimination final against Canterbury Kings at the University Oval in Dunedin in January. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Best innings

Australian opener Alyssa Healy clouted 170 in the World Cup final against England. That cannot be topped. But former Otago and Wellington cricketer Michael Bracewell crunched 141 not out from 65 balls in a T20 against a very good Central Districts attack. That is some hitting even if it was at the tiny Pukekura Park.

Best bowling

Ajaz Patel took those 10 wickets in an innings in India so we have gone with another wonderful performance which was almost as extraordinary. Matt Henry took seven for 23 to help bowl out South Africa for 95 in the first test and set up a huge win. It was the third-equal best figures by a New Zealander and joint best for New Zealand in tests at home. He drew level with the seven for 23 Richard Hadlee took against India in Wellington in 1976.

The Seconi XI

(Selected from players seen in action in New Zealand this summer)

Top order

Very tempting to fill all the slots with the Australian women’s cricket team, but Auckland’s George Worker was incredibly consistent and joins Australian wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy at the top of the order. Healy pummelled 170 in an extraordinary innings during the World Cup final against England, while Worker scored four centuries in the Ford Trophy, which was a tournament record. Otago’s Kate Ebrahim had another top season in the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield and is named at first drop. She was the competition’s leading scorer for a second year running and helped set up victory for the Sparks in the final with a knock of 92.

Middle order

Devon Conway batted in the top order for the Black Caps, but he looks certain to make the No 4 spot vacated by Ross Taylor his own. He built on his immensely promising start to international cricket with a couple of centuries against Bangladesh and 92 against South Africa. He is joined by South African women’s opener Laura Wolvaardt. She scored five half centuries in eight innings during the World Cup, so we’ve squeezed her into the middle order.

All-rounder

Gone with a grassroots cricketer here. Taieri all-rounder and Dunedin club cricketer of the year Beckham Wheeler-Greenall scored 509 runs and picked up 24 wickets for his club this season. He got an opportunity in a couple of T20s for Otago this season. The former New Zealand under-19 representative has a promising career ahead if he can continue to develop.

Wicketkeeper

Healy could take the gloves but South African gloveman Kyle Verreynne gets the gig. He helped set up victory in the second test against the Black Caps with an undefeated innings of 136.

Seamers

South African paceman Kagiso Rabada nabbed 10 wickets in two test against New Zealand and is just a little special. Matt Henry does not get many test opportunities but filled in for Trent Boult against South Africa and was brilliant, taking 14 wickets at 16.14. The final spot goes to South African women’s pace bowler Shabnim Ismail. The feisty quick nabbed 14 wickets in the World Cup and was not afraid to give the recently vanquished a send-off. Not always that well advised these days, but do we have to crush all the colour out of cricket?

England spinner Sophie Ecclestone celebrates after dismissing Shabnim Ismail, of South Africa, during the 2022 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup semifinal at Hagley Oval in Christchurch in March. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Spinner

England left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone got hammered in the World Cup final by Healy but who didn’t? She was otherwise outstanding, with 21 wickets at an average of 15.61.

Honourable mentions (and lots of them)

- Bangladesh right-armer Ebadat Hossain bowled his side to a shock victory over the Black Caps with a career-best haul of six for 46. He may never have another day quite like it.

- Otago spinner Eden Carson just keeps getting better and was the Sparks’ leading wicket-taker with 31 this season.

- Northern Districts seamer Brett Randell was the pick of the first-class bowlers this season, while Auckland rookie Simon Keene made a huge impact in his first season.

- New Black Cap Michael Bracewell has turned himself into a really compelling all-rounder. He has always had power with the bat but now he can spin the ball as well.

- Otago keeper Max Chu is a slick operator behind the stumps and an improving batter. He is a natural leader as well and potentially a future Black Cap.

Black Caps spinner Ajaz Patel celebrates his 10th wicket in an innings during the second test between India and New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai in December. PHOTO: SAIKAT DAS/SPORTZPICS

Questions for 2022-23

Will Ajaz Patel play a test on home soil?

Who will come to the end of their run first — Tim Southee, Trent Boult or Neil Wagner? Wagner is the oldest at 36 but he is unbreakable, right?

Any chance Nathan Smith will return to play for Otago any time soon?

Can we get Michael Bracewell back as well?

Is Craig Cumming the next White Ferns coach?

How many more runs does Kate Ebrahim need to score to get a run in the White Ferns one-day team?

adrian.seconi@odt.co.nz