The Sparks used the Suzie Bates-hotline to reach out to Kirstie Gordon and Linsey Smith.
Gordon (25) was playing grade cricket in Sydney and Smith (27) was plugging away at club level in Melbourne.
It was just a hop, skip and a swim away — although we can confirm they travelled by plane from Australia — so the former England representatives seemed a likely pair to fill the gaps which had suddenly opened up.
Bates and fellow White Ferns Eden Carson and Hayley Jensen are in South Africa preparing for the Women’s T20 World Cup, and with Paige Loggenberg also away with the New Zealand under-19 team, Otago faced going into the business end of the Super Smash with a relatively young squad.
Bates’ global reach really came in handy. She helped coach Craig Cumming track down some replacements.
The pair arrived in Dunedin this week, just in time to do some team bonding at the Red Hot Chilli Peppers concert on Thursday night.
Hopefully they will find themselves on Higher Ground and will avoid any Scar Tissue when they make their debut for the Sparks against the Hinds at the University Oval tomorrow.
Smith and Gordon have competed for spots in the England team in the past, so there is some healthy competition between the pair.
But they have also played together for England and had two seasons together at the Loughborough Lightning.
And Smith, who played the last of her nine T20 games for England in June 2019, said they were quite different bowlers.
"I’m a bit different to Kirstie. She is probably more the traditional left arm spinner whereas I’m a bit more darty and quicker through the air and don’t get as much turn," she said.
"But I’ve discovered my role in T20 cricket over the last few years has been bowling in the powerplay and death overs and trying to dot the batters up and squeeze them at the top."
"I got sold the short straw but it’s something I’ve really enjoyed. Hopefully I can learn a bit more about the batters out here and perform a role for the Sparks.
"There are not many games left and it’s a kind of crucial point in the tournament. It would be really exciting to make the finals with the team."
Gordon, who has played one test and five T20s for England, said she had watched some Super Smash games on television and had noted the grounds were a bit smaller and "that will need to be factored into your line and length".
"I probably don’t know a huge amount about the domestic talent in New Zealand, so I guess that is where we call on our team-mates to learn about different players and their plans.
"But most of all we need to stick to what we now, stick to our plans and strengths and go from there."
Super Smash
Dunedin, tomorrow, 11am
Otago: Bella James, Olivia Gain, Polly Inglis, Kate Ebrahim, Caitlin Blakely, Felicity Leydon-Davis (captain), Linsey Smith, Kirstie Gordon, Emma Black, Sophie Oldershaw, Gemma Adams, Molly Loe.
Central Districts: Georgia Atkinson, Jess Watkin, Natalie Dodd (captain), Mikaela Greig, Kerry-Anne Tomlinson, Rosemary Mair, Claudia Green, Priyanaz Chatterji, Flora Devonshire, Melissa Hansen, Ocean Bartlett, Kate Gaging.
