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Auckland, Otago, and Central have all started the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield in style with victories on the opening day of the season.
Northern Districts vs Auckland Hearts
Having elected to bat first at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui, Northern found themselves on the back foot early with the loss of Yaz Kareem to Bree Illing for a duck.
The innings for the hosts were soon back in the right direction, with Tash Wakelin’s 55 and Caitlin Gurrey’s 27 proving critical at numbers two and three.
However, following Wakelin’s wicket to Fran Jonas, it brought about a sudden fall in wickets for the home side, with Jonas grabbing Bernie Bezuidenhout the following ball.
Maddy Green’s runout of Caitlin Gurrey meant Northern had gone from 89/1 to 90/4 and then 106/5 when Amie Hucker had Nensi Patel caught for two.
The flurry of wickets was countered by some critical lower-order contributions alongside captain Jess Watkin’s 42 from 45 balls.
Resistance was shown by Holly Topp, who pushed on for 20 but fell to Molly Penfold. Skye Bowden, on her Northern debut, having previously played for Auckland, contributed 12 before becoming Hucker’s second wicket of the day.
A final wicket stand between Jesse Prasad (35) and Marama Downes (28*) allowed the home team to go from 200/9 through to 247/10, being bowled out in the final over of their innings.
Wickets were shared between Illing, Hucker, Penfold, and Jonas, who all finished with two a piece alongside Green’s and Josie Penfold’s runouts.
Auckland started their chase of 248 for victory in fast fashion as they raced out to 46/1 however, this was helped by Northern giving away extras early on.
Lauren Down fell in the sixth over to Downes for 13, and from there, Saachi Shahri and Green combined to take the game well within Auckland’s hands.
Both players played calm innings and never allowed the Northern bowlers to settle, with Shahri making her 12th List A 50 and Green her 26th.
Whilst Shahri fell for 76 and Green for 65, White Fern Izzy Gaze and Prue Catton carried on their work to see Auckland to victory in the 45th over.
Gaze finished on 41* and Catton on 25*, whilst Downes (1/42), Prasad (1/30), and Wolland (1/18) were the wicket-takers for the hosts.
Canterbury Magicians vs Otago Sparks
The Otago Sparks proved far too strong for the Canterbury Magicians in Rangiora with a stunning effort with the ball by all the bowlers to have Canterbury all out for 60. It followed their 198 runs with the bat in the 39 over rain-reduced fixture.
Bella James proved crucial at the top of the order for Otago, with her 63 runs leading the way for their total in the fixture that had a couple of starts and stops because of the rain.
An ally was found to bat with her through Caitlin Blakely at number three following the dismissal of Saffron Wilson for 16 in the 15th over.
Following the major delay due to rain and the reduction in overs, it did mean that when the Otago players came out, they were going to need to be aggressive with the bat.
James fell not long after the delay, and with both Felicity Robertson (23) and Polly Inglis (17) scoring at more than a run a ball, it allowed the Sparks to end on 198 with a revised target of 231 for Canterbury.
Frankie Mackay ended with three wickets, while Gabby Sullivan and Sarah Asmussen both took one each.
Canterbury were never able to get going in their innings, with wickets falling right throughout, led by Louisa Kotkamp’s four-wicket haul.
The Magicians found themselves in a real hole at 26/6 after just 13 overs and then 39/8 in the 19th over.
Kotkamp’s four wickets were helped by two-wicket hauls to Emma Black and Robertson, while Hayley Jensen and Eden Carson finished with one each.
The Magicians will be wanting to regroup for tomorrow’s fixture, while Otago will be looking to carry on the momentum.
Wellington Blaze vs Central Hinds
With rain falling in the capital and a delayed toss, it was clear that there was going to be a reduction in overs, and before play started, it was confirmed that the game had been reduced to 43 overs per side.
The Hinds batting innings was led by youngster Emma McLeod with 25 at the top of the order, but it was Jess Kerr and Xara Jetly’s efforts with the ball that caused the real damage.
Kerr picked up two wickets in two balls to have the opening two wickets of the innings with Georgia Atkinson (7) and Thamsyn Newton (0) being the two victims.
On her debut as captain for the Hinds, Mikaela Greig made her way through to five before being bowled by Jetly, and Hannah Rowe fell for a duck.
Sitting in trouble at 39/5 just after the powerplay, the Hinds were going to need the middle to lower order to stand up.
Twenties from Flora Devonshire (23), Kate Gaging (22), and Claudia Green (21*) did relieve some of the pressure, but wickets kept falling as the Hinds slipped to 113/9.
In what would eventually be a match-defining partnership between Green and Aniela Apperley (13), they got the visitors through to 141 from 40.4 overs.
Four wickets went to Kerr, and Jetly grabbed three.
The Blaze did lose an early wicket of Rebecca Burns, also on her debut as captain for five, however, they were sitting in a steady position at 43/1.
They quickly, however, fell to 46/5 in the space of just 12 balls as Ocean Bartlett and Green ripped through the Wellington middle order.
Bartlett continued her success right throughout on her way to a haul of 6/27, and Green grabbed 3/19.
The victory for the Hinds leaves them sitting in second place on the table, sitting behind the Sparks on net run rate.
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