Impressive overseas signings, perfectly timed injury returns and two fresh captains have the Central Stags and Hinds raring to go in this summer’s Super Smash.

The teams have their first games this Saturday, 27 December at home in Palmerston North where the Hinds will play last season’s female champion Wellington Blaze.

Then the men’s reigning champs, our Stags look to kick-start their 2025/26 campaign against the Wellington Firebirds.

The Stags have pace bowler Brett Randell back in the nick of time, after a nine-and-a-month recovery from a broken collarbone and subsequent shoulder surgery.

With last season’s standout paceman Blair Tickner now nursing his own injured shoulder, the strike bowler’s return is right on cue, and he’s joined by up-and-coming Toby Findlay who likewise returns from the injury tent in time for the Super Smash — having been out of action since the early Ford Trophy games this season.

The Hinds have two stellar signings for their parallel campaign, bringing Surrey’s winning Vitality Blast captain and former England international Bryony Smith and young England A captain Grace Scrivens to New Zealand.

Scrivens, 22, is already familiar with a number of the stars and venues she’ll encounter across the campaign, having led England A on tour here against New Zealand A two years ago.

The powerful pair will turbo-charge the Hinds’ top order in a summer in which a bonus point has been introduced for women’s games when a team scored 150 runs, or achieves a run rate of >1.25x than that of the opposition in the chase.

Central Districts High Performance Manager Dave Meiring said it wasn’t just on-field skill sets that made Smith and Scrivens an attractive acquisition for the youthful Hinds team.

“We look at all-round characteristics when looking for overseas players, and the fact that both Grace and Bryony captain their respective Counties back in the United Kingdom shows that they will be able to bring plenty to the group both on and off the field,” said Meiring.

While Smith captains Surrey, Scrivens captains Essex — and both bring extensive T20 league experience from around the world.

Scrivens has played for the Melbourne Renegades in the WBBL, and the Trent Rockets and London Spirit in The Hundred, and off-spinning allrounder Smith for the Rockets, Hobart Hurricanes and Welsh Fire.

Between them, they pack 283 matches of T20 experience.

“Bryony has been a consistent domestic player in the UK for a number of years,” noted Meiring,  “and her experiences at competitions like the WBBL will stand her in good stead for what the Super Smash will bring this season.

“Being a left-hander, Grace will be a huge asset for us given the general lack of left-handed players in the women’s domestic game.”

That spells tantalising double trouble with Flora Devonshire as the other young left-handed batter in the squad.

Said Meiring, “It’s exciting to have two high-quality overseas players joining the Hinds and bringing their experience to the group, and we’re excited to see them out there on Saturday.”

Both signings are available for the entire campaign, while the BLACKCAPS’ mid-January white-ball tour or India means the Stags will have a less settled line-up.

Left-arm spinner Jayden Lennox had only just been confirmed as the Stags’ new T20 captain (in the absence of Tom Bruce) when he got the call telling him he’d been picked for the BLACKCAPS for the first time, for the T20 leg of the tour only — alongside the Stags’ contracted BLACKCAP Will Young, and a well deserved recall for this season’s standout allrounder in all formats, Josh Clarkson.

The trio will still be available up until round four of the Super Smash, while Bruce — the team’s all-time leading T20 run-scorer with 2,594 runs in the Central colours, will be back from his overseas stint with the Desert Vipers soon after.

Lennox is coming off phenomenal figures of 7/10 for Hawke’s Bay against Horowhenua-Kāpiti in last weekend’s T20 Chapple Cup, at Palmerston North’s Manawaroa Park.

Manawatū meanwhile won the title in a thriller against Taranaki, with most the Stags squad turning out for their Districts over the three days and Randell coming through the weekend successfully for Cave Cup winner Nelson.

Dean Foxcroft — who as a rookie was instrumental in the Stags winning the 2019 Super Smash Grand Final at Seddon Park, represented Cave Cup finalist Marlborough as a loan player, and on Saturday stands to play his first Super Smash game for Central since the 2019 Grand Final, having repped the Volts in the intervening seasons.

Most of the Hinds’ T20 squad has also had a solid short-format warm-up in the North v South series in Nelson or in the T20 Mike Shrimpton Trophy, also won by Manawatū, in Levin last weekend.

Young, Clarkson and Lennox are expected to be back for the last two rounds of the competition ahead of Finals and after this Saturday’s popular annual post-Christmas game at Palmerston North, the Stags and Hinds head to the South Island for away matches in Alexandra and Christchurch, and on their home turf of Saxton Oval, Nelson (3 January).

The latter two events are both 2025 Grand Final rematches between the Canterbury Kings and Stags, Central having beaten a star-studded Kings team by six wickets at the Cello Basin Reserve last season.

Central then hits the road again, this time around the North Island, before hitting Napier’s McLean Park for three home doubleheaders on 13, 16 and 24 January.

The Central teams also have a big date to circle on Friday, 23 January when Central Districts Cricket will officially celebrate its 75th jubilee.

Public can join a host of current and past players at the 75th Jubilee Long Lunch, featuring former international speakers Mark Greatbatch, Aimee Watkins, Tony Blain, 2000 ICC World Cup winner Emily Travers, and special guest Ross Taylor, by purchasing tickets online at www.cdcricket.co.nz.

Alumni will also feature on the management side of things for both the Stags and Hinds during this Super Smash season.

Retired Stags Plunket Shield captain Greg Hay returns for his second summer as the Hinds’ assistant coach, supporting head coach Deepak Joon.

And another successful retired skipper, Kieran Noema-Barnett, has been appointed as head coach Ben Smith’s assistant for the Stags.

Noema-Barnett still holds the Super Smash record for the fastest fifty — off just 14 balls in the 2010/11 HRV Cup, peppering Invercargill with six sixes and three boundaries; and only four men, current players Dane Cleaver, Bruce, Young and Clarkson, have played more than his 89 T20s for the Stags.

Richly experienced WHITE FERN Hannah Rowe is heading into her first season as the Hinds’ full-time T20 captain, having both co-captained (with Jess Watkin, now Northern Brave’s captain, below) and deputised for the team in the past.

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Rowe requires just three more Super Smash caps to become the first player to reach 100 T20 games for the team, putting her on track to bring up the milestone at Hagley Oval on New Year’s Day.

Rowe is already the team’s leading all-time wicket-taker with 71 victims, with fellow contracted WHITE FERN Rosemary Mair in second spot on 62.

The key pair return from side strains that excluded them from the most recent weekend of the one-day Hallyburton Johnstone Shield action and the subsequent NZC North v South series last week.

In a squad now without retired veterans Mikaela Greig and Thamsyn Newton, Napier’s Cate Pedersen is in the frame  to play her first T20 for the Hinds since 2021/22 after her return from Auckland, while off-spinner Lizzy Cohr spingboards off her outstanding first four games of Hallyburton Johnstone Shield one-day cricket into the Hinds’ Super Smash squad for the first time.

 

The 23-year-old from Wairarapa debuted for the Hinds as a late replacement in their second game this season, following Ocean Bartlett’s concussion during the opening one-day round in New Plymouth.

Cohr has gone on to take three four-wicket hauls in her first four one-day appearances, the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield’s unheralded top wicket-taker overall with 14 wickets at a tight average of just 10.64.

The sole gate by the hockey turf opens at 11.40am on Saturday at Fitzherbert Park and spectators are advised to arrive in plenty of time to avoid queues, with a large crowd anticipated.

The Hinds versus Blaze game starts at 12.40pm, with the Stags and Firebirds following from 4.25pm.

Super Smash tickets are available online from www.cdcricket.co.nz with discounts on adult tickets, family passes and mates packs when purchased before game day. 

Children under five years are free admission at all Central Super Smash events.

2025/26 SUPER SMASH — presented by KFC

ROUND ONE OF 10

Fitzherbert Park, Palmerston North

27 December 2025

12.40pm | Central Hinds v Wellington Blaze

4.25pm | Central Stags v Wellington Firebirds

CENTRAL HINDS

Hannah Rowe — captain, Manawatū

Elizabeth (Lizzy) Cohr — uncapped, Wairarapa

Flora Devonshire — Hawke’s Bay

Kate Gaging — wicketkeeper, Nelson

Claudia Green — Nelson

Ashtuti Kumar — Manawatū

Emma McLeod — Wairarapa

Rosemary Mair — vice-captain, Hawke’s Bay

Cate Pedersen — Hawke’s Bay

Grace Scrivens — uncapped, overseas player

Bryony Smith — uncapped, overseas player

Kerry Tomlinson — Taranaki

Head Coach: Deepak Joon

Assistant Coach: Greg Hay

Contracted players unavailable for selection:

Georgia Atkinson (unavailable), Ocean Bartlett (concussion)

CENTRAL STAGS squad

Jayden Lennox — captain, Hawke’s Bay

Will Clark — Hawke’s Bay

Josh Clarkson — Nelson

Dane Cleaver — wicketkeeper, Manawatū

Toby Findlay — Hawke’s Bay

Dean Foxcroft — Hawke’s Bay

Curtis Heaphy — Manawatū

Ajaz Patel — Hawke’s Bay

Brett Randell — Nelson

Angus Schaw — Hawke’s Bay

Ray Toole — Manawatū

Will Young — Taranaki

Head Coach: Ben F. Smith

Assistant Coach: Kieran Noema-Barnett

Contracted players unavailable for selection:

Joey Field (injury), Blair Tickner (injury)

Tom Bruce (casual playing contract) is also unavailable (playing overseas)

HOME EVENTS

27 Dec 2025, Fitzherbert Park, Palmerston North

12.40pm: Central Hinds v Wellington Blaze

4.25pm: Central Stags v Wellington Firebirds

3 January 2026, Saxton Oval, Nelson

12.40pm: Central Hinds v Canterbury Magicians

4.25pm: Central Stags v Canterbury Kings

13 January 2026, McLean Park, Napier

2.10pm: Central Hinds v Northern Brave women

5.55pm: Central Stags v Northern Brave men (under lights)

16 January 2026, McLean Park, Napier 

2.10pm: Central Hinds v Auckland Hearts

5.55pm: Central Stags v Auckland Aces (under lights)

24 January 2026, McLean Park, Napier 

2.10pm: Central Hinds v Sparks

5.55pm: Central Stags v Volts (under lights)*

Tickets at www.cdcricket.co.nz

 Full schedule at www.supersmash.co.nz

Article added: Thursday 25 December 2025