Bowlers Rule Round Nine and Ten of HBJ Shield

Some impressive bowling has seen a shakeup in the HBJ table with Otago to host Wellington in the final.

Round Nine:

Central Hinds vs Northern Districts:

Marama Downes struck in the third over for the visitors with the wicket of Georgia Atkinson to get the Hinds innings off to a bad start.

Emma McLeod and Nat Dodd did get the innings back on the right track but then when McLeod went to Kayley Knight this spelled a quick downfall for the Hinds. 

They went from 44/1 to 60/4 with McLeod out for 12, Rowe out for 0 and Thamsyn Newton for 13. Downes had Newton whilst Knight got the others.

Flora Devonshire and Dodd were able to hold up for just over 12 overs until a collapse once again happened for the home team.

Knight went right through the Hinds batters with Dodd’s 51 and Devonshire’s 31 being the top scores. Kate Gaging made 8, Ocean Bartlett (4), and Anna Gaging (1) all falling to Knight.

Claudia Green finished on 10* and Ashtuti made 11 but retired not out.

Northern struggled right from the start of their innings with Yaz Kareem being trapped LBW to Hannah Rowe for a first-ball duck.

They quickly slipped to 32/5 with Caitlin Gurrey (5), Jess Watkin (3), Sam Barriball (0), and Natasha Wakelin all falling inside the first ten overs.

Nensi Patel added eight runs and Northern captain Eimear Richardson made 11.

Falling to 65/7, Northern was steering down a massive loss until Holly Topp and Jesse Prasad added 47 runs for the eighth wicket. 

With Anna Gaging getting Topp for 29, the game was pretty much over with Downes making a four-ball duck and Knight getting four.

Jesse Prasad finished on 31* with the Central Hinds taking a 31-run win. 

Wellington Blaze vs Canterbury Magicians:

The Magicians picked up early wickets to reduce the Blaze to 37/5 inside the first 12 overs.

Jess Simmons had the wickets of Jess McFayden (0), Caitlin King (5), and Georgia Plimmer (5). Gabby Sullivan bowled Rebecca Burns for five and Sarah Asmussen had Blaze captain Leigh Kasperek out for six.

Just as the Blaze were rebuilding their innings through Kate Chandler and Jess Kerr, the wickets fell again for the home side as they slipped to 68/9.

Simmons struck with the wicket of Jess Kerr for eight whilst Sullivan had Nicole Baird and Hannah Francis both out for ducks.

Some late hitting by Natasha Codyre got the Blaze to 105/10. Codyre was bowled by Mackay for 24 whilst Xara Jetly finished on 12*.

The Magicians didn’t get off to a good start with Xara Jetly trapping Harriet Graham LBW for 11 and then getting Kate Anderson to edge behind to McFayden for one.

Like the Blaze, they also had a collapse falling to 45/6. 

Kasperek was the reason behind this collapse as she took figures of 5/22. Izzy Sharp and Jacinta Savage both made ducks and Mackay made 13. Some fightback was put in by Missy Banks (24) and Laura Hughes (13) but the stand between them of 34 runs was broken by Kasperek. 

Codyre had the wickets of Hughes and Sullivan (0) whilst Kerr finished the game with the wicket of Asmussen for three to give the Blaze a 19-run victory.

Otago Sparks vs Auckland Hearts:

The Sparks were able to pick up the early wicket of Cate Pedersen with Emma Black striking for the home team.

Auckland then lost three quick wickets around the ten-over mark with Maddy Green (11), Saachi Shahri (23), and Prue Catton (5) all falling for the Hearts.

Brooke Halliday and Izzy Gaze both played solid knocks in the middle order for Auckland but the fall of Halliday for 33 and Gaze for 29 led to the near end of Auckland’s innings.

Black and Hayley Jensen were able to finish off the Auckland innings with the wickets of Josie Penfold (0), Molly Penfold (1), Fran Jonas (0), and Rishika Jaswal run out for one. Bree Illing ended on 7* with Auckland posting 125.

Illing had early success for the Hearts with the early wickets of Saffron Wilson (7), Caitlin Blakely (4), and Felicity Robertson (1). Jonas had the wickets of Suzie Bates (20) and Bella James (7) as the Sparks fell to 51/5 in just 12 overs.

With a win needed to edge Otago closer to a semifinal spot, Polly Inglis (40) and Olivia Gain (36*) stood up and got the Sparks to victory. Inglis was out to Josie Penfold with five more runs needed to win, but Jensen (3*) saw the side over the line to a four-wicket win.

Round Ten:

Central Hinds vs Northern Districts:

Northern didn’t get off to the best start with the bat as they lost Nensi Patel in the first over.

Yaz Kareem was able to provide stability to the batting lineup with the wickets of Caitlin Gurrey (17) and Jess Watkin (2) falling around her.

Following a 54-run stand between Kareem and Sam Barriball, Emma McLeod was able to strike for the home team and have Kareem out for 40.

Barriball’s 39 and Shriya Naidu’s 21* managed Northern to be able to scrape through to 171/10 with Hannah Rowe (4/17) and Anna Gaging (4/43) both doing the damage with the ball.

The Hinds got off to a solid start as they nearly saw off the powerplay without loss. However, the wicket of Georgia Atkinson on the final ball of the powerplay allowed Northern to capitalise with four quick wickets.

Patel had Atkinson for 24 and McLeod for two whilst Kayley Knight had Nat Dodd for 18 and Flora Devonshire for a duck.

Thamsyn Newton (67*) and Hannah Rowe (53*) saw the Hinds to a comfortable six-wicket win.

Otago Sparks vs Auckland Hearts:

Otago’s bowlers were able to strike, but it did take until the 15th over to get the Hearts two down.

Saachi Shahri fell early for ten, but Cate Pedersen (38) and Maddy Green (12) saw them through to the 15th over without any further loss.

When Green was out to Carson it caused a wobble in the batting with the loss of Prue Catton for four and Pedersen.

The wickets kept on coming for the home team and no real partnerships of note being able to be built.

Black did the majority of the damage as she took four wickets with Izzy Gaze (26), Fran Jonas (7), and Amie Hucker (0) all falling to her.

Eden Carson had Anna Browning for eight whilst Suzie Bates had Molly Penfold (12) and Rishika Jaswal went to Molly Loe for eight.

The Hearts posted 144/10 from 40.1 overs.

Bates was to be the anchor in the chase for the Sparks as she made 63 at the top of the order.

Saffron Wilson (4) and Bella James (13) fell early to Penfold, but Bates and Caitlin Blakely (29) saw the Sparks to within grasp of the total.

Felicity Robertson’s 22* and Polly Inglis’ 8* got the Sparks over the line and the five points, which in the end meant they grabbed the final hosting rights.

Wellington Blaze vs Canterbury Magicians:

The Blaze struggled with the bat for the second time in a row.

They were in real trouble at 43/4 after 13 overs with early wickets to Missy Banks and Sarah Asmussen.

No one from the home team was able to stand up with the bat apart from youngster Cate Chandler who led the efforts with a valiant 59 at number six.

She was provided support by Caitlin King (20), Georgia Plimmer (18), and Nicole Baird (12) as the only players to score over eight runs.

The Blaze managed to get to just 155.

Frankie Mackay (4/14) and Missy Banks (3/41) were the two players who did the damage with the ball.

Whilst Canterbury may not have been within a shot of making the final, they still wanted to end their season on a high.

Kate Anderson led this effort with the bat making her way to 71. For the Magicians they found themselves with low scores from the two openers with Harriet Graham making 16 before falling to Baird whilst Mackay made a duck and was out LBW to Xara Jetly.

Jodie Dean (13) and Jacinta Savage (34*) provided support for Anderson. Both Dean and Anderson fell to Leigh Kasperek.

Nat Cox (17* from seven balls) and Savage saw the Magicians through to a six-wicket win.