Jonny Bassett-Graham: Wellington Blaze head coach previews the new season, clash against Northern Districts

The Wellington Blaze begin their new season in the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield against Northern Districts in Whangarei.

Head coach Jonny Bassett-Graham coached the Blaze on an interim basis to their Super Smash T20 title last season, and is now the team's fulltime head coach.

He joined Adam Cooper to preview the season.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
News talks, he'd be on the Illsport Breakfast twenty three
past eight. One of Wellington's most successful sporting teams in
recent years has been the Wellington Blaze cricketers. Of course,
at the end of last summer they won yet another
Super Smash TA twenty title. But the new season begins
today Georgia Plymouth captaining the Wellington Blaze for their first
hitouts of the new summer season, which is the Hallie

(00:22):
Burton Johnston Shield the fifty over format. Two games for
them across the weekend today and tomorrow and fun today
taking on Northern Districts to open the new competition. And
new head coach full time of the Wellington Blaze is
Johnny Bassett Graham now Johnny on an interim basis coach
the Blaze in the T twenty format last year that
he saw them through too yet another title in the

(00:45):
Super Smash competition, but he's with the team on a
full time basis now. Johnny's with us now to look
ahead to the new campaign. Morning to your Johnny and
the appointment of yourself to the foot The role full
time was made during the off season. Is it nice
approaching a campaign where you've been able to so approach
it with some certainty and you've you've got the role
full time.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah, definitely, I used to. It was a great experience
to join the girls for the Super Smash, but you know,
you kind of come in as a bit of a
campaign coach to a lot of the structures established and
you're just trying to help the performance part. But this
is a cool opportunity, I guess, to to have the
girls for for a solid preseason and look to I

(01:27):
guess understand where they're all that individually and start to
shape some of the their development areas and then start
to bring the team together and in terms of how
we want to I want to play and do all
things and in regards to on shield and off as well.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Great.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
So Yeah, what has been the focus these last couple
of weeks heading into Round one of HBJA this weekend.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
Yeah, I think just just preparing for fifty over cricket.
You know, worked really hard this off season in the
S and C space around you know, we play these
games back to back, which is cool for the crickets.
A pretty demanding game you know on players and then

(02:12):
just as well, like a lot of work in that
mental skill space in terms of how we can uh,
you know, cope under pressure and stick to simple plans
for a long periods of time. And then obviously comes
to the cricket related stuff, you know, and that's you know,
I'd be speaking pretty broadly, but each individual's got their

(02:32):
own set of skill sets that we want to sort
of you know, allow them to be at their best
and encourage their own individual flair that they can bring
to the game. So that's kind of I guess some
of that.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Yeah, great, And the squad that was announced is that
the contracted players, you know, a couple of long standing
members of the Blaze, the likes of Caitlin King and
Lee Casparrick leaving. So I guess that's opened up some
some new spots the sort of balance of the team
this year maybe compared to last year.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, I was like, yeah, the two you mentioned there,
you know, buddy experienced players and the van putty integral
members of the Blaze for a long period of times.
It's never easy to you know, fill those those experienced shoes,
but it does create like a cool opportunity to have
a nice mixes, yeah, use and experience and just what

(03:30):
youth brings in that sort of you know, they don't
know what they don't know, and it's often a really
good thing that they just bring that excitement and level
of energy to a group, which can be really, you know,
really refreshing in itself. So yeah, it sort of has
its has its upside as much as it does have

(03:51):
the loss there as well.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah, and someone like Isla mackenzie, and we cover a
lot of club cricket here on news stork ZP. You
heard a lot of her name over the years. She
debuted for the plays last season and now as sort
of full time member of the squads. What is the
focus from a coach's perspective about sort of integrating someone
like her into a team on a full time scale.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
Yeah, I guess she's fortunate enough to be around the
group for the majority of last summer. You know, she's
she's played a lot and against a lot of the
members of the squad, so you know, she's got a
lot of close friendships within the group already, so that
it kind of actually makes it really easy to I

(04:32):
guess you transition her in full time and you know,
with her and a number of players, it's just about
you know, helping helping her understand and buy into what
her real strengths are and then make sure you know
she put her best forward and that we're just encouraged
to play I guess her brand of cricketers, what got

(04:54):
her and what got you know, all of our players
into domestic cricketers as living out there their strengths and
then trying to encourage them more to be super strengths. Really,
so it's been a big message to her.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
Yeah. Great, how much time will you get with the
White Ferns, the likes of Jess Kerr, Mealy Kerr, Georgia
Plymouth through the season. Are they part of this early
part of the campaign.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Yes, we will have Georgia and then Jess hopefully for
the majority of the domestic summer, and certainly will have
merely involved as well through stages for sure. So it's
really an exciting bonus to have I guess, international quality

(05:39):
players and their experience to help I guess not only
our players, but strength and the domestic competition overall as well.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yeah, and Super Smash will be starting just after Christmas.
Obviously another successful campaign last year which you were a
part of. As you mentioned, Johnny does the fifty over
stuff at the start, assist with preparations for suit smash
it as well, or do you sort of try and
separate the turn a way.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
I have a difficult question to answer. I personally think
it's a bit of boat like. There's there's definitely big
aspects that fifty over just gives us a lot more
time naturally just with the game, but it creates a
lot more repetition in game to carry on learning or

(06:28):
cementing things, and that does just prepare us for what
you know, aspects of the twenty twenty game spring. But
then the format just as really it does stand alone
and you know a little bit of the way it's played,
and then how thick and fast sort of games come

(06:49):
and I guess how thick and fast actual game can
unfold as well. So it's it's like yes and no,
to be perfectly honest.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah, fair enough, fair enough, And so two games back
to back this weekend, one hundred over is a day,
pretty pretty busy schedule for both both yourselves and Northern
and of course all the other teams playing as part
of Round one this weekend. How much work have you
been able to do focusing in on the challenge that
Northern Districts might bring for these two games.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
You know, I mean we look I fear better at
all of our opposition in terms of I guess analyzing
key trends and then working through key players. But then
that being said as well, it is just a real
big focus on making sure that we're real clear on
how we want to play and we're just trying to

(07:40):
control that part. So that's real cliche and that's classic stuff.
But yeah, it's probably more and we're facing at the
moment than it is really diving into to any real
detail of ND at the stage, just focus on on

(08:00):
the staff that we can really control.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah, yeah, great, well, Johnny, great to chat, great to
hear about the team's preparation, and a lot of excited
people are around the region to see the Blaze kickstart
this summer. So thanks for your time, mate, all the
very best through the course of the summer, and I'm
sure we'll chat again soon.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
Excellent. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (08:20):
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