Fresh And Familiar Faces Come In For Central Stags, Hinds

A long-awaited Stags recall, a fresh T20 captain, and a brand new face in the Hinds are all features of the Central teams heading to Hagley Oval for this Friday's Dream11 Super Smash T20 doubleheader.

The recall is Bevan Small who is no stranger to top level domestic cricket after 89 matches across all three formats for the team.

The 30-year-old Manawatu allrounder is in the frame to make his first appearance in four years for the Central Stags.

His last appearance was a T20 in February 2019, after which two major knee surgeries took him completely out of the game for two long years.

Having been involved in the wider training group for the past two seasons, Small comes in for paceman Liam Dudding who was injured after being struck on the forearm whilst bowling in the nets in Napier yesterday.

Small brings plenty of big match experience with 36 T20s under his belt with the team who remain top of the Dream11 Super Smash table as they head to Christchurch for the Friday afternoon clash with the Kings.

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The brand new face in the Central Hinds squad named for Friday night under lights against the Canterbury Magicians is New Zealand-based Scotland international representative, Prijanaz Chatterji.

The experienced 29-year-old right-armer is in line to make her Hinds and Dream11 Super Smash debut, having previously represented Wellington Blaze in the one-day format only across four games in the 2019/20 summer.

A regular member of the Scottish team, Chatterji has been playing for the Nelson Nyxons, represented Central Districts A earlier this season, and has also represented Surrey and Oxford University in her extensive career.

She slots in for Hannah Rowe who has headed to South Africa for this year's T20 World Cup with the WHITE FERNS.

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The fresh captain is Natalie Dodd who takes over the Central Hinds duties from Jess Watkin in this round, allowing the key player to refocus on her batting.

Dodd is ideally placed to step in, already the skipper of the side in the one-day Hallyburton Johnstone Shield and coming off a hot streak of half-centuries for the team across both formats.

That's the kind of form that Watkin - normally a top order powerhouse, is seeking to recapture.

Whilst still contributing strongly with the ball and in the field, Watkin wants to turn around her Hinds season with the bat after a frustrating streak of low scores.

She scored a brilliant century for Manawatu in the Mike Shrimpton Trophy in recent weeks, but at Domestic level her last half century was in the HBJ Shield back in November.

Watkin will swap over with Dodd by taking up the vice-captaincy role, and coach Jamie Watkins says it will be business as usual for a team that is used to having a number of leaders in the squad.

"Jess has just been struggling a little with her form, and came to us asking if she could have some time away from the captaincy to fully focus on her own game preparation.

"It allows her to have more time to prepare her own game, to get back to playing as she wants to."

Coming off consecutive scores of 83 in the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield and 59, 29, 78 not out and 60 in the T20s, Dodd is sitting in the top two runscorers this summer in the Dream11 Super Smash league, in scintillating touch with 272 runs at a 45.33 average.

She is poised to overtake Otago Sparks star Suzie Bates (293 runs) who is now away in South Africa with the WHITE FERNS at the ICC T20 World Cup.

Both the Central Stags and Hinds matches tomorrow are live and on demand at Spark Sport, with livescoring at www.cdcricket.co.nz

DREAM11 SUPER SMASH

ROUND EIGHT

HAGLEY OVAL

Frday, 27 January

3PM • Central Stags v Canterbury Kings

6.50PM • Central Hinds v Canterbury Magicians

Both matches live on Spark Sport only

CENTRAL HINDS

Natalie Dodd (captain, wicketkeeper) — Taranaki

Jess Watkin (vice-captain) — Manawatu

Georgia Atkinson — Manawatu

Ocean Bartlett — Wairarapa

Prijanaz Chatterji — Overseas player — uncapped

Flora Devonshire — Hawke’s Bay

Kate Gaging — Nelson

Claudia Green — Nelson

Mikaela Greig — Manawatu

Melissa Hansen — Wairarapa

Rosemary Mair — Hawke’s Bay

Kerry Tomlinson — Hawke’s Bay

COACH • Jamie Watkins

CENTRAL STAGS

Tom Bruce — captain, Taranaki

Will Clark — Hawke’s Bay

Josh Clarkson — Nelson

Jayden Lennox — Hawke’s Bay

Ajaz Patel — Hawke’s Bay

Brett Randell

Bevan Small — Manawatu

Ben Smith — Whanganui

Ross Taylor — Manawatu/Wairarapa

Ray Toole — Manawatu

Bayley Wiggins — wicketkeeper, Hawke’s Bay

Will Young — Taranaki

COACH • Rob Walter

Unavailable contracted players

Dane Cleaver (BLACKCAPS in India)

Blair Tickner (BLACKCAPS in India)

Doug Bracewell (BLACKCAPS in India)

Hannah Rowe (WHITE FERNS in South Africa)

Joey Field (shoulder injury)

Seth Rance (shoulder injury)

Liam Dudding (forearm injury)

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