DREAM11 SUPER SMASH
The holiday summer’s Dream11 Super Smash begins this Boxing Day, and the player signings have been pouring in for the female teams.
South Australian 24-year-old Maddie Penna is the latest to confirm her return to the national T20 league, her second season suiting up with the Canterbury Magicians.
Penna joins England rep Hollie Armitage (back for the Central Hinds), Australia’s Amanda-Jade Wellington for Northern Brave, and Scottish-born England left-arm spinner Kirstie Gordon for the Otago Sparks, all returning for another Dream11 Super Smash whirl with their sides.
Wellington is one of two overseas signings for Northern Brave’s women, with a second team signing ato be announced in coming days.
Armitage (318 runs from 10 innings last summer) is meanwhile a big repeat signing for the Hinds, the powerful top-order batter having finished as one of the top three female batters in the 2023/24 edition of the competition, behind only WHITE FERNS Melie Kerr (Wellington Blaze, 437 runs from 10 innings) and Suzie Bates (Otago Sparks, 398 runs from 10 innings).
Armitage helped propel the Hinds to their first Dream11 Super Smash Grand Final in almost a decade, and will be available for their first eight rounds this summer.
Brave’s women exited last summer’s competition in the dramatic Elimination Final against the Hinds at Seddon Park after an Armitage half century and Claudia Green hat-trick stunned them at home, and will now kick off their fresh holiday summer on the same ground – this time hosting their rivals from across the northern border, the Auckland Hearts, from 2.10pm this Thursday.
Each matchday is a doubleheader, Northern Brave’s men beginning their campaign at 5.55pm against the men’s defending national champion, the Auckland Aces.
The opening matchday in Hamilton will also be the public’s first look at a Retro Round theme day in 2024/25.
All 12 teams are honouring their white-ball Domestic legacies in selected rounds across the competition.
From there, the summer T20 schedule rolls thick and fast until early February.
Southern rivalry will take centre stage the following day (27 December) as a holiday summer extravaganza kicks off in Alexandra, Central Otago, the Otago Sparks and Volts hosting the Canterbury Magicians and Kings.
It’s the first of three Molyneux Park matchdays in the space of five days, before the summer entertainment returns to Hamilton for New Year’s Day.
• Match squads will be announced by the relevant Major Associations a day before each game
• Watch live coverage of every match on TVNZ+ / TVNZ Duke, and follow livescoring and stats at www.nzc.nz, www.supersmash.co.nz, or on the NZC app
• The action-packed schedule will comprise 64 T20s in all, spread across 10 venues throughout Aotearoa New Zealand
• Both the men’s and women’s Grand Finals, at the Cello Basin Reserve on 2 February 2025, will also be broadcast LIVE on Sport Nation
MATCHES THIS WEEK
Thursday, 26 December 2024 – Boxing Day
At Seddon Park, Hamilton
2.10PM Northern Brave v Auckland Hearts
5.55PM Northern Brave v Auckland Aces
Friday, 27 December 2024
At Molyneux Park, Alexandra
12.40PM Otago Sparks v Canterbury Magicians
4.25PM Otago Volts v Canterbury Kings
Sunday, 29 December 2023
At Molyneux Park, Alexandra
12.40PM Otago Sparks v Auckland Hearts
4.25PM Otago Volts v Auckland Aces
Tuesday, 31 December 2024 – New Year’s Eve
At Molyneux Park, Alexandra
12.40PM Otago Sparks v Central Hinds
4.25PM Otago Volts v Central Stags
