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The Wellington Firebirds have picked up their second victory of the season with a 172-run victory over the Stags in Nelson.
The Wellington batters got off to a terrible start with Troy Johnson (2), Nick Greenwood (0) and Gareth Severin (0) all out within the first 8 overs. It looked like early on that the wicket would be bowler-friendly, and this did show throughout the match.
Nick Kelly and Muhammad Abbas lead a fighting middle-order defence with Kelly making the second-highest score of the innings (43) and Abbas contributing 24 before he fell victim to Ray Toole. Wellington now 55/4. Callum McLachlan formed a great partnership with captain Kelly and they carried on the work that he and Abbas had done. They did however keep losing the odd wicket, just when it looked like they would be pushing on for substantial contributions.
Kelly fell at the 30-over mark and then Nathan Smith could only last 24 balls before he too was sent back to the dressing room. The big wicket of the threatening Callum McLachlan came a couple of overs later and Wellington now sitting at 151/7.
Ben Sears and Peter Younghusband contributed some lower-order runs to take the total up to 201/10 by the time they and Michael Snedden were dismissed.
Just like Wellington, the Stags didn’t get off to a good start as they lost a wicket within the first over and then Greg Hay, playing in his 100th FC match was soon sent back to the dressing room.
Tom Bruce and Brad Schmulian led a little bit of a comeback for the Stags but Bruce fell for 17 and then Schmulian was caught behind by Snedden’s bowling for 38, the second-highest score of the innings.
The wickets kept falling for the Stags at unneeded times, Dane Cleaver, Ajaz Patel and Doug Bracewell were all not able to really add to the score leaving CD on 92/7 at the end of the first day’s play.
Josh Clarkson and Brett Randell were able to combine for a semi-counter-attacking partnership to take the team to 127/8 when Clarkson was run out for 20. Randell then worked well with Blair Tickner, who defended his end extremely well. 40 was the highest score that a Stags player could contribute and Randell was the man with this.
Nathan Smith was the best bowler for Wellington taking four wickets whilst Snedden took three.
Wellington got off to a much better start in the second innings, however, both openers were back in the shed in the first 12 overs. The Stags knew they needed some quick wickets to break through and restrict whatever target Wellington would set them.
Ultimately the pair of Severin and Kelly played really good innings and got them up to over 200 before Kelly was trapped LBW by Randell for 98, a century which Kelly deserved.
Severin and Abbas were able to see Wellington through to stumps at 233/3.
Wellington didn’t have the best of starts to day three as Tickner picked up the early wicket of Severin for 77 and then Patel removed McLachlan for 8.
The rest of the Wellington batters apart from Younghusband (28*) and Abbas (45) couldn’t add many to the score with only 18 runs contributed by Smith, Ben Sears, Snedden and Hartshorn.
Randell (3/45) and Bracewell (3/73) were the pick of the Central bowlers while Patel did take 2/51 as well.
The Stags would have hoped that they could have gone to stumps only two or three wickets down if they wanted a chance to chase down the target of 357 for victory.
Unfortunately, this was not the case as they were ultimately bowled out in 58.4 overs.
Hay and Schmulian were both gone inside the first 10 overs, a regular trend for this game.
Jack Boyle and Bruce tried to work some magic, but Boyle was dismissed just before tea for 23, the Stags 58/3.
When James Hartshorn had the wicket of Tom Bruce (26) it triggered a middle-order collapse as he also had the wickets of Clarkson (2), Bracewell (4) and Randell (2). The Stags had quickly gone from 92/4 to 106/7 in the space of just under five overs.
Patel combined well with Cleaver which led to both players eventually making forty-plus scores, Patel falling one short of a third FC 50.
Once Patel was gone, it was not long before Younghusband had the wicket of Cleaver (47) and Smith grabbed Tickner (4). The Stags dismissed for 184.
The Stag's best batters in their second was Ajaz Patel who made 49 and Cleaver made 47. Hartshorn was the best bowler for Wellington taking 4/17 while Smith took 3/55.
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