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Kiwi Cricket Kōrero host and writer Ellie Indie talks about Round 2 of the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield (Originally written 20/11/22).
This HBJ Shield Round was full of action despite constant rain interruptions and two fixtures without a proper result. Before it came pouring down, we saw Northern Districts batters Caitlin Gurrey (87 off 99) and Bernadine Bezuidenhout (101 off 95) tear those Otago bowlers to pieces.
There was action elsewhere when the match looked lost for the Wellington Blaze — they bounced back. From 99–5, they ended the overs-reduced innings with 178–9. Canterbury? They could only climb to 51 all out in 19.2 overs.
Catch all the action from this round here!
Otago Sparks won the toss, bowled first. Northern Districts, 308–4 after 45.3 overs. B Bezuidenhout 101 (95), C Gurrey 87 (99), S Barriball 48* (39). Match ended in No Result.
Northern Districts vs Otago Sparks at Cobham Oval, Whangarei
Northern Districts playing XI: Brooke Halliday ©, Emma Baker, Sam Barriball, Marama Downes, Caitlin Gurrey, Eimear Richardson, Bernadine Bezuidenhout, Shriya Naidu, Holly Topp, Tash Wakelin, Eve Wolland
Otago Sparks playing XI: Felicity Leydon-Davis ©, Gemma Adams, Caitlin Blakely, Emma Black, Chloe Deerness, Kate Ebrahim, Sophie Gray (WK), Bella James, Molly Loe, Sophie Oldershaw, Saffron Wilson
Northern Districts’ innings:
Bernadine Bezuidenhout and Caitlin Gurrey opened up the innings for the Northern Districts after a convincing 46-run win (via DLS method) the day before over the Otago Sparks. The two got the score rolling along comfortably, racking up a hundred partnership in just 19.1 overs, with Gurrey reaching her half-century in 69 deliveries.
In an attempt to break this match-winning partnership, they’d brought on Chloe Deerness hoping to enforce a breakthrough. However, Bezuidenhout responded by tapping her for 4 to fine leg in only her third delivery to bring up the opener’s half-century. Deerness escaped the over conceding 13 runs — a sign of Gurrey & Bezuidenhout’s intent.
Deerness came back for her second over, only to suffer the same treatment, going for 9 runs and assisting ND by bringing up their 150 score and partnership. This also saw their run rate climb rapidly, from 5.29 to 6 in just under 7 overs.
The Sparks kept persisting with the young spinner and reaped the rewards. She took the dangerous opener Gurrey — nearing that all-important milestone — lbw on 87. This left the batting side 164–1 and brought last round’s star allrounder Brooke Halliday to the crease.
With 20 overs to go, the Northern Districts were 186–1 with the run rate and tally climbing with each over. While they’d lost Gurrey, they still had Bezuidenhout in rhythm and pumping out the runs. Halliday brought up the 200 for the side in 31.3 overs — not many signs of slowing down for the home team.
Otago had other ideas though, Caitlin Blakely and Sophie Gray worked in harmony to remove the ND skipper via a stumping before she could pose a threat — 9 runs off 16 balls for her.
Inevitably with the way she was going, Bezuidenhout smashed the century in just 93 balls. A real driving force in the runs for ND in this match and had an incredibly impressive weekend in return to cricket, with 62 runs in 68 balls in her previous innings the day before. Bernadine is back.
The next 2 balls she faced would be the last of her day, falling lbw to Blakely. This innings is now her 2nd best in List A cricket, behind her 124 for Western Province in South Africa. The fall of the wicket brought on fresh-off-the-plane Eimear Richardson, who spent the majority of the month in Pakistan on international duty for her native Ireland, bringing back her crucial learnings to bring into her HBJ game.
Sam Barriball had places to be, playing the majority of her innings at 100+ SR. She also brought the 250 up for ND in the 39th over, proving no matter what the Otago bowlers throw at them, it’s still most likely going for runs regardless of the wickets falling.
Richardson scored similarly to her partner on at the other end, only that her time was cut short by Saffron Wilson after 23 runs, out lbw. New batter, and wicketkeeper Holly Topp scored the runs that saw the Northerns reach yet another milestone to the Otago bowler’s dismay, 300 up for the inform side.
The weather seemed to be on Otago’s side too, halting the match midway through Deerness’ over to allow for some drizzle to come through. ND were 308–4 (45.3) at this stage, and then lunch was called. Unfortunately play never got going again and was called off, leaving the match as a no result.
A disappointing end considering how impressive the Northern Districts top order had been, however, they took two points from the game instead to make up for the lack of result.
Canterbury Magicians won the toss, bowled first. Wellington Blaze 178–9 after 44 overs. J McFadyen 31 (54), G Sullivan 4–31 (9), L Tahuhu 2–34 (9). Canterbury Magicians 51 ao after 19.2 overs. C King 3–1 (1), D Doughty 2–8 (2.2), L Kasperek 1–5 (4). Wellington Blaze won by 127 runs.
Canterbury Magicians vs Wellington Blaze at MainPower Oval, Rangiora
Canterbury Magicians playing XI: Frankie Mackay ©, Kate Anderson, Missy Banks, Nat Cox, Gabby Sullivan, Laura Hughes, Emma Kench, Jacinta Savage, Issy Sharp, Jess Simmons, Lea Tahuhu
Wellington Blaze playing XI: Nicole Baird, Rebecca Burns, Kate Chandler, Dee Doughty ©, Xara Jetly, Leigh Kasperek, Caitlin King, Jess McFadyen (WK), Thamsyn Newton, Georgia Plimmer, Maneka Singh
Wellington’s innings:
Frankie Mackay saw it best to bowl first after a delayed start to the match, affecting the full playing time and shortening it down to 44 overs a side. Lea Tahuhu struck almost instantly in her second over; Becky Burns skied it for a 7-ball duck to Cantabs skipper Mackay. This brought Georgia Plimmer to the crease to face her new White Ferns teammate.
Plimmer came out firing, sending the ball to the ropes twice in her first seven deliveries.
Nerves started to settle in when there was caught behind shout and a half-hearted lbw call from the red & blacks. Sadly for Plimmer, in an attempt to send it back to the boundary, the nerves won as it fell into the hands of Nat Cox the delivery after.
Wellington were 20–2 (4.5) needing to rebuild and slowly score missed runs from early departures, as Kasperek came in to accompany Jess McFadyen.
Soon after, Missy Banks came on to bowl — her first over being a maiden. This was the first time Kasperek since coming on had faced a full over, creating some pressure on the recent RHF trophy victor. In the batters' partnership, it seemed vital for the Welly keeper to maintain the strike to keep the partnership alive.
Kasperek was 1 off 11 at one point but powered her way to 15 off 23 after an unconvincing start. She and McFadyen restored calmness in the innings after losing those 2 wickets early on. From 20–2 (5) to 60–2 (14), the two were able to build a comfortable foundation for their teammates to capitalise on.
Missy Banks had been dangerous for the Blaze for the majority of the innings, going at 4.40 RPO — then she’d taken Wellington’s highest run scorer of the day Jess McFadyen lbw for 31. Thamsyn Newton was sent in to expand on Kasperek’s 58-run partnership with the out batter.
Gabby Sullivan was brought on for a change in bowlers and didn't disappoint. She saw the end of Leigh Kasperek who eventually finished on 27 runs after Laura Hughes snatched the ball after it had hit the Welly saviour’s bat. After ending up 81–4 (21.2), Caitlin King was sent out to the middle in order to once more settle the side and build the score back up again.
More wickets fell before they had the chance to re-rebuild however, Newton impressively caught and bowled by Canterbury debutant, former ND Kate Anderson for 26. Wellington 99–5 after 27, and a win looking further in the distance than it did to begin with.
Kate Chandler and Caitlin King shared a 6th wicket 50-run partnership and looked to put the Blaze back into contention with a decent total. Sullivan and Anderson had other ideas about the partnership however and soon saw the end of them. Similarly, the two Welly batters attempted to send it flying; instead, they sent it to Lea Tahuhu. Wellington 160–7, with debutant Nicole Baird settling into the game.
Sullivan struck again, first removing Chandler at 39.1, then Xara Jetly a ball later by whipping the bails off the stumps and sending her back to the sheds for a golden duck. 2 deliveries later she’d dish out the same treatment to Maneka Singh (0 off 2) and left Baird and Doughty to see out those final 4 overs.
They found 18 runs out on the field in those overs and brought the Blaze to 178–9 after a shaky start. It would take a massive bowling effort to defend a total like this.
Canterbury’s innings:
Canterbury began their venture towards the 179 target without their captain, leaving them effectively a batter down.
The Magicians got an early spooking, losing keeper/opener Laura Hughes (0 off 8) in the beginning of the second over to Nicole Baird, sending the ball flying after making contact with the top of the stumps.
Emma Kench (16 off 41) and Kate Anderson (17 off 35) put on a great recovery display after losing a batter so early on. Their 37-run partnership was key to the Canterbury total, in fact, it was 72% of the tally. They were also the only batters to break into double figures. Those numbers alone should tell you what was to come next.
While Wellington didn’t have the greatest day out with the bat, their efforts in reducing the Cantabs to 51 all out in under 20 overs was one to celebrate.
Anderson fell in the 14th, Jetly partnering with her wicketkeeper to produce a caught behind. The next 7 batters came through and contributed a whole 10 runs to the total. 4 of the 7 were out for ducks!
Gamechanger Caitlin King came on to bowl her first over — the 19th of the innings — and changed the game drastically. She trapped Tahuhu and Savage lbw in her first two deliveries, Issy Sharp was run out on her 4th, then bowled Sullivan with her 5th. Canterbury went from 50–4 to 51–8, throwing any chance of a win out of the window. This 3–1 is now King’s best List A figures.
With the batting side being a wicket down, Doughty only had one job to do — get Missy Banks. She was trapped lbw on the second ball and gave Wellington the win by 127 runs. There are wins to take from this for the Magicians. Their bowling was superb, Missy Banks and Lea Tahuhu had great impact early on — both applying the brakes on the Wellington runs, and the latter removing dangerous players before they made any impact.
Gabby Sullivan also performed incredibly well towards the back end of the Welly innings, making an instant impact in the wickets charts and sweeping up the remaining tailenders to prevent any further runs.
Toss not held. Central Hinds vs Auckland Hearts, Match abandoned
Central Hinds vs Auckland Hearts at Pukekura Park, New Plymouth
Central Hinds squad: Jess Watkin, Nat Dodd (C, WK), Hannah Rowe, Rosemary Mair, Melissa Hansen, Georgia Atkinson, Claudia Green, Kate Gaging, Cate Pedersen, Monique Rees, Kerry Tomlinson
Auckland Hearts squad: Bella Armstrong, Skye Bowden, Sydney Bultitude, Sarah Carnachan (WK), Lauren Down ©, Holly Huddleston, Fran Jonas, Amberley Parr-Thompson, Katie Perkins, Josie Penfold, Molly Penfold, Saachi Shahri, Emma Irwin
Unfortunately for the folks in New Plymouth, this match never got going. After a rain-affected match yesterday, resulting in reduced overs, the Pukekura Park has been shown the full force of the weather. What looked to be an exciting clash will now be played in next year’s edition of the competition, with hopefully no weather delays. Both teams take 2 points from the round, and head separate ways into Round 3.
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