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Victories for Canterbury and Wellington led the way across the Plunket Shield in round four.
Canterbury vs Otago Volts:
Special knocks from Otago’s Max Chu and Luke Georgeson in the second innings weren’t enough as Zak Foulkes’ first-innings five-wicket bag and contributions across the board in Canterbury’s chase were enough to get them home.
Being sent into bat, Otago did manage to get off to a solid start, making their way through to 62/3 when Dean Foxcroft fell to Zak Foulkes for his second wicket of the day.
From there, Foulkes partnered with young pace bowler Cam Paul, ripped through the middle order of Otago as they fell quickly to 78/8 when Foulkes grabbed his fourth wicket of the innings.
Five wickets fell to Foulkes as he finished with 5/47 from his 12 overs, whilst Paul grabbed 3/19 from his five overs. Luke Georgeson’s 25 helped push Otago to 117.
Otago found wickets early on but was pegged back by Rhys Mariu’s continued excellence with the bat as he made his way to an eventual score of 87 from 117.
Skipper Cole McConchie and opener Chad Bowes, both returning to the side, could only make 13 and 16, respectively, while Matt Boyle made his way to 18 before chipping behind keeper Chu.
Middle-order contributions by Mitch Hay (81) and Michael Rippon (45) slowly swung Canterbury into a substantial lead, and Foulkes’ quickfire 35 from 33 pushed them to the 331-run mark in 96 overs.
Georgeson, Travis Muller, and Jarrod McKay all grabbed three wickets each.
With the top order again failing in Otago’s second innings, apart from Leo Carter’s 57 from 50, it was up to Georgeson and Chu to try and salvage the game for the visitors.
The pair did just that, even if it ended in a loss for the Volts.
Chu and Georgeson’s record seventh-wicket stand for Otago, a partnership that came to an end at 265 and lasted over seven hours in the middle together.
Canterbury tried to break the stand and finally was able to do so when Chu fell to Fraser Sheat for 130, his highest first-class score.
A quick 56 from 67 by Jacob Duffy to grab a third first-class 50 allowed Otago to make their way to 515 and Canterbury a target of over 300 runs for victory.
Georgeson ended up finishing not out on 159*, and it resulted in him getting the highest first-class score at number eight by an Otago batter.
Canterbury’s chase on day four was shaped around the fifties by Mariu, McConchie, and Hay, whilst Bowes and Rippon both put 40s on the score to push their side to victory.
A strong 94-run stand between Bowes and Mariu allowed Canterbury to get their chase off strong, and even though Otago thought they might be able to get back into the game when they had the hosts 143/3, they weren’t.
Foxcroft picked up two wickets, whilst Muller, McKay, and Phillips all got one in Canterbury’s five-wicket win.
Auckland Aces vs Wellington Firebirds:
Efforts from the Wellington spinners throughout the match with Peter Younghusband’s eight-wicket haul and ten in the match, along with Michael Bracewell’s five-wicket haul, were of great assistance in their side's win.
Auckland’s first innings were led around captain Sean Solia’s not-out innings of 170 as he became the fifth player to carry his bat through a first-class inning for Auckland.
Partnered with Will O’Donnell, the pair put on a 91-run second wicket stand to get Auckland off to a good start after losing Siddhesh Dixit early.
Youghusband ripped through Auckland’s middle order and had them sitting at 234/8 and looking like a potential to be all out for under 250.
However, Solia and Darnu Ferns managed to push on for a 95-run ninth wicket stand, Solia making this way through an eventual score of 170* and Ferns pushing through for 33. Auckland were all out for 329.
Wellington had their innings centred around Nick Kelly’s third hundred of the season and, alongside Muhammad Abbas (46) and some late hitting from Peter Younghusband (45*), were of good assistance for their side.
Adi Ashok grabbed 4/65 as Auckland had the Firebirds out for 329, the same score that they’d made.
Solia and O’Donnell once again stood up with the bat for their side, both making fifties and, alongside Simon Keene’s 30, were the only scores to make double figures.
Bracewell spun the magic this time with the ball as he got his third five-wicket first-class haul, and Younghusband’s two wickets allowed him to grab ten for the match.
The Aces were bundled out for 186, and Wellington needed 187 for victory on a track that was offering support to the spinners.
A solid 88-run opening stand between Tim Robinson and Nick Greenwood got Wellington into a good position, but the spin of Ashok and Louis Delport had the visitors going from 88/0 to 120/4.
The middle-order collapse allowed Auckland to potentially spin their way to a late victory, but Muhammas Abbas’ 29* and Callum McLachlan’s 17* saw them through to the required target and the first win of the season.
Northern Districts vs Central Stags:
A maiden hundred and a five-wicket haul from Will Clark were the highlights for the Stags in a drawn match at Bay Oval, whilst Jeet Raval’s near-world record hundred helped Northern scrape at the draw.
Northern’s first innings was led around two players in, Bharat Popli (61) and Sandeep Patel (45), as they scraped their way to 204.
Having lost both openers and number four Robbie O’Donnell early, Patel and Popli combined to put on an 86-run stand for the fourth wicket, only to be broken when Ray Toole had Patel caught.
Clark, however, had other ideas for Central as he went on to claim his first five-wicket bag as the first change bowler. Assisted by debutant Jack Harris (2/37), the pair restricted the hosts to just 204.
Central managed to get their innings off to a good start with Jack Boyle and Curtis Heaphy’s 72-run opening stand.
Having started to build a stand alongside Brad Schmulian, who was playing his 50th first-class game, Heaphy’s wicket to Matt Fisher soon had Northern right back in the game.
Fisher had Central captain Tom Bruce out for a golden duck and Dane Cleaver for nine as the visitors were now sitting not-so-pretty at 138/4.
Clark and Schmulian mitigated the quick loss of wickets throughout their 205-run stand for the fifth wicket. Clark would go on to make his maiden first-class century before falling to Neil Wagner, and Schmulian grabbed his seventh before also falling victim to Wagner.
The Stags were eventually out for 391, with Fisher’s four wickets the highlight of the innings for the hosts.
Henry Cooper and Raval played the game of patience right throughout their batting innings as rather than looking to force the game into victory, they were looking for a draw.
Over the entirety of Northern’s second batting innings, there were 54 maidens bowled in the 173 overs.
Raval would go on to make the slowest century in New Zealand first-class century by minutes, taking 551 minutes to bring up his 22nd first-class century and come within just six minutes of getting the world record by minutes.
Support from O’Donnell and Brett Hampton, both with the forties and Wagner’s late 59* from 95 balls, allowed the game to be drawn and hands shook at tea on day four.
Central used ten bowlers throughout their innings, with regular wicket-keeper Dane Cleaver even being substituted as keeper to roll the arm over for his first-ever bowl in first-class cricket, which ended in a maiden.
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