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An exceptional bowling performance and tremendous recoveries with the bat have lighted up the action across the Ford Trophy. Auckland Aces vs Northern Districts - Kennards Hire Community Oval, Auckland
Having won the toss and decided to bat first, Auckland had a great start with the ball as Darnu Ferns and Ben Lister picked up the wickets of Katene Clarke for four and Henry Cooper for a duck respectively.
The opening Auckland bowlers were able to apply pressure as they restricted the visitors to only 27 runs from the first ten overs.
Tim Seifert and Joe Carter started to rebuild Northern’s innings through a 35-run stand for the third wicket. Seifert showed his power as he hit three fours and two sixes before being removed by Auckland captain Sean Solia for 33.
Jeet Raval was only able to add two runs to the score before Jock McKenzie, who was on debut, trapped him LBW.
Carter and Brett Hampton then led a solid fightback with the bat as they were able to get Auckland out of trouble at 76/4.
Hampton especially took to the Auckland bowlers through the backend of the partnership, as he and Carter put on a mammoth 156-run stand for the fifth wicket.
Carter brought up his highest List A score of 106 with this knock being his third List A ton before he fell to McKenzie in the 43rd over with Northern sitting around the 230 run mark.
Hampton, however, had the idea of trying to push Northern past the 300-run mark and did just that. He finished his innings not out on 126, his first-ever List-A century.
Pete Drysdale added 13 runs to the total and Tim Pringle finished on 15*.
Northern also made their highest-ever List A score against Auckland with the previous best being 306, they made 319.
Solia and George Worker saw off the first six overs and were going at around the required run rate, but when Matt Fisher struck with his first victim of the day, it would leave Auckland in some trouble.
Worker and Cole Briggs were able to see Auckland through the rest of the powerplay unscathed. Just like Northern, Auckland lost wickets to fall to four down with just 90 runs on the board.
Worker went for 29 and was out to Matt Fisher, caught and bowled. Robbie O’Donnell was also caught and bowled for one, this time by Kris Clarke. Briggs went soon after for 30 and was bowled by Pringle.
The key wickets fell not long after with Will O’Donnell being dismissed by Fisher for 22 and Ryan Harrison out for 15, also to Fisher.
The game was slipping away from Auckland’s hand, even though McKenzie and Cam Fletcher tried their best to rescue it.
Northern were able to keep taking wickets as McKenzie was bowled by Kris Clarke for ten. Fisher then had his maiden five-wicket List-A bag when he had Fletcher out for 29.
Ferns (22) and Louis Delport (26) did try and give it a little bit of a whack near the end, but both fell to Pringle. Lister finished on 1*.
Auckland were bowled out for 215 from 44.4 overs with Fisher getting figures of 5/46 and Pringle getting 3/33. Northern were comfortably victorious with a 104-run win.
Wellington Firebirds vs Central Stags - Basin Reserve, Wellington The Stags had a strong start with the ball as Blair Tickner trapped Nick Greenwood LBW for two and Bevan Small bowled Troy Johnson for one.
Nick Kelly and Gareth Severin saw off the rest of the powerplay without a further loss for the home side.
The Stags once again struck in quick succession as Ray Toole had Kelly for ten and Josh Clarkson had two wickets in two balls with the wickets of Serverin (22) and Callum McLachlan (0).
Nathan Smith and Muhammad Abbas tried to get Wellington out of the hole at 42/5 but once again another wicket fell as Toole grabbed his second of the day, Smith out for 14.
With the home side now sitting at 67/6 and steering down a possible score under 100 runs.
However, Netherlands international Logan van Beek combined with Abbas for a record 7th wicket partnership worth 159 runs.
Abbas was able to bring him his first List A 50 for Wellington with it coming in 69 balls.
van Beek made his maiden List-A hundred from 89 balls with seven fours and five sixes. His knock was the highest-ever score for someone batting at number eight as well.
Central did manage to break the stand between the two in the 44th over when Ajaz Patel got Abbas for 65.
In the second to last over, Central also grabbed van Beek for a very well-made 136 from just 99 balls with 11 fours and eight sixes.
Adam Milne finished on 5* and Peter Younghusband made 11* from three balls.
Wellington posted 281/8 from the rain-reduced 47 overs with the target reduced to 274 via the DLS method.
Central got their innings off to a good start as Jack Boyle and Curtis Heaphy saw them through to the 20th over until rain arrived without a wicket lost.
Unfortunately, because the first 20 overs had not been bowled the game ended in a no result with the Stags on 90/0 and were ahead of the DLS requirement by 16 runs. Boyle was on 33* and Heaphy on 45*.
Canterbury vs Otago Volts - MainPower Oval, Rangiora
Otago lost a wicket on the second ball of the innings when Luke Georgeson edged off to Mitch Hay for a duck with Will O’Rourke getting his first wicket of the day.
Dean Foxcroft and Jacob Cumming soon were walking back to the sheds for six and 12 respectively with O’Rourke getting both of the wickets to have the Volts three wickets down when rain struck.
The first ball after the rain delay, Dale Phillips found himself edging off to Hay for ten with O’Rourke leaving Otago at 29/4.
The wickets kept coming for O'Rourke as he picked up his fifth wicket of Thorn Parkes for 13 and then his sixth wicket came as Max Chu was out for a duck.
With O’Rourke grabbing the first six wickets, he was the first player to ever do this in New Zealand List A cricket.
Zak Foulkes soon chimed in on the action with the wickets of Llew Johnson for 19 and Travis Muller for a duck.
Ben Lockrose and Andrew Hazeldine then were able to score a few runs down the lower order and push Otago’s score up.
Lockrose went for 31 with Angus McKenzie getting the wicket. Chad Bowes then ran out Jacob Duffy for four. Hazeldine finished on 41* and Otago made 135 in 29.2 overs.
With the rain interruptions, it did mean the game was reduced to 44 overs per side and Canterbury’s target to 133.
Canterbury had a fast start to chase down the total as Chad Bowes and Henry Nicholls put on an 88-run opening stand in 10.4 overs. Duffy bowled Bowes for 39 and then Lockrose had Mitch Hay for five.
Leo Cater 13* and Nicholls 49* saw Canterbury chase down the target in just 19.2 overs.
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