.png)
Rain caused plenty of issues across round three of the Plunket Shield, with only one side getting an outright win.
Central Stags vs Wellington Firebirds
The Central Stags have bounced back from their crushing defeat to Canterbury by taking a nine-wicket win over the Wellington Firebirds in Napier.
Led by the bowlers throughout the match and a very long tail following Josh Clarkson’s hamstring injury on day one, the Stags showed their strength throughout.
Tim Robinson led the charge on day one for the visitors with a classy 92 from 126 at the top of the order following his return from the recently completed series against Sri Lanka.
Whilst he didn’t find much support from his players as they slipped to 97/5 inside the first session, he did manage to control the partnerships and score runs freely.
Lower order contributions by spinner Peter Younghusband (23), Liam Dudding (29) and Michael Snedden’s 41* pushed Wellington into a position to declare late on day one after they got the first two batting bonus points.
All the bowlers toiled away for the Stags, with spinner Jayden Lennox being the pick of the bowlers with 3/53.
Central’s innings had contributions throughout it, and this was started by Jack Boyle’s 72 at the top of the order.
Whilst the rest of the top order couldn’t find much success, with James Hartshorn and Logan van Beek taking wickets throughout, it was enough to allow wicket-keeper Dane Cleaver and pacer Brett Randell time to form a stand.
The regular number nine in the side was pushed up to number six with the injury to Clarkson and played well alongside Cleaver to contribute 43 runs to the tally.
Cleaver carried on the form that he has been producing so far in the Plunket Shield, with his 89 from 181, allowing the Stags to get through to 302 when they were dismissed.
The pick of the Wellington bowlers was van Beek, as he finished with figures of 4/50 from his 21 overs.
Nick Greenwood (65) and Nick Kelly (85) were the only two batters of Wellington’s second innings to get going, with the rest of the batters, bar Dudding, to get into double digits.
Sitting at 131/3 going into the final day, the Firebirds only managed to push through to 217, with Blair Tickner taking four wickets and Randell three.
Whilst they did lose Boyle early for one in the chase, a 158-run second wicket stand between Curtis Heaphy (75*) and Brad Schmulian (71*) got the Stags home to a nine-wicket win.
Auckland Aces vs Canterbury
In a fixture that was ultimately ruined by continuous rain, there were some key moments throughout from the batters of both sides.
Led by Mark Chapman’s score of 276, the third-highest first-class score ever for Auckland, they pushed through to 567/9.
Newly contracted Mumbai Indian, Bevon-John Jacobs again showed his talent with 80, and this backed up number three Will O’Donnell’s 60.
Some lower-order support by Adi Ashok of 44 helped Chapman move into third on the all-time list.
Michael Rippon’s four-wicket haul was key for Canterbury in ensuring they could restrict the Aces as much as they could.
Rhys Mariu carried on his fine form with the bat as he and Scott Janett shared an opening stand for Canterbury of 219, Janett falling just short of a maiden century, dismissed by Jordan Sussex for 93.
Alongside Henry Nicholls, who struck a solid hundred, Mariu made his way to 185 before falling to Danru Ferns.
Matt Boyle could only muster six, and both Mitch Hay (24*) and Michael Rippon (20*) saw the side to stumps, and the game was drawn.
Northern Districts vs Otago Volts
Otago came to Hamilton without an outright win from their previous two games, whilst Northern were looking to carry on their winning start to the Plunket Shield season.
The end result was a draw due to rain causing interruptions throughout and bad light not allowing Northern to get the final 23 runs that they required after the multiple rain breaks.
Otago had their batting innings led by former captain Dean Foxcroft, who struck 71 in the first innings and 61 in the second.
Foxcroft was ably supported by Luke Georgeson (41) in Otago’s opening innings on day one as the pair backed up opener Jacob Cumming’s 54.
They made their way through to 301/9 before declaring late on day one.
Scott Johnston finished with four wickets for the hosts, and Neil Wagner grabbed two.
Having lost both openers cheaply at the end of day one and then further losing three quick wickets at the start of day two, the hosts fell to 69/5.
With a quick-fire hundred by Brett Hampton (121) and then support by night watchman Kris Clarke (59) and Ben Pomare’s 82* from 68 balls, Northern put themselves in the lead.
Georgeson, Travis Muller, and Jarrod McKay all picked up three wickets.
In their second innings, it was Thorn Parkes’ 68 at the top of the order that laid the foundations for Otago, and then Foxcroft’s 61 allowed them to push through to 231, and Northern needed 167 for the win.
Henry Cooper’s 18 and Jeet Raval’s 43 saw Northern needing 77 runs, and then Raval fell to Foxcroft.
Unfortunately for Northern, the weather wasn’t on their side, even with Bharat Popli’s 43* and Robbie O’Donnell’s 33* not enough as the rain ended proceedings.
コメント