Magicians prove too dominant for Hearts, Kings gain first victory

The Canterbury Magicians proved too dominant for the Hearts, while the Kings gained their first victory in the Super Smash.

Canterbury Magicians vs Auckland Hearts:

The Canterbury Magicians have picked up their second victory of the Super Smash off the back of opener Kate Anderson’s 75* to take her side to a nine-wicket win.

Anderson was dominant throughout Canterbury’s chase of 139 as she built partnerships with her fellow opener Jodie Dean (27) and number three Maddie Penna (32*).

Racing to her eighth Super Smash half-century, coming from 39 balls it allowed the other two batters to build knocks around her. Having only faced six balls in the powerplay in the Magicians last fixture she faced 25 this time as the Magicians went to 41/0.

Earlier, it was the twenties from Izzy Gaze (22), Brooke Halliday (23), and Lauren Down (25*) that led the batting from the Hearts. 

Gaze got her side off to a quick start in the powerplay alongside Saachi Shahri (14) but they both fell in quick succession to Sarah Asmussen and Maddie Penna.

The Hearts likely would’ve felt that they fell a few runs short after Halliday and Maddy Green (17) had taken them to 83/3 in the 13th over when Cox ran Halliday out.

A late 16 from 11 balls by Bella Armstrong, who had come into the side for Josie Penfold did help up the run rate at the end of Auckland’s innings.

Missy Banks picked up two wickets with Armstrong and Green as her victims whilst Penna, Asmussen, and Kate Ebrahim all grabbed one wicket each.

There was some tight bowling by Bree Illing who went for 26 from her four overs but White Ferns bowlers Fran Jonas (0/38 from four) and Molly Penfold (1/31 from three) efforts weren’t enough for the visitors.

Canterbury now climbs to third in the table off the back of their victory whilst Auckland sit in fifth, six points ahead of the last-placed Central Hinds.

Canterbury Kings vs Auckland Aces:

A dominant batting display led by opener Chad Bowes and all-rounder Michael Rippon helped take the Kings to their first victory of the Super Smash season.

Despite some early success for the Auckland side as they grabbed Rhys Mariu (8) and Matt Boyle (1) inside the powerplay, they couldn’t counter the early momentum.

Cole McConchie fell for 19 to Adi Ashok just as he looked to get going and Harry Chamberlain (10) could only slightly add to the score before falling to debutant Lachlan Stackpole.

Bowes had raced to his 20th Super Smash half-century and was a key wicket for the Aces to get, which they did when Jock McKenzie bowled him for 59.

The Kings finished on 173 from their 20 overs with Rippon’s 44* and Zak Foulkes’ 15 got their side out of some trouble and could be classed as the reason behind the victory.

Three wickets went to Danru Ferns (3/27) and McKenzie (3/32).

Auckland got starts right throughout the innings but no one could go on and score more than 23 by themself. 

Youngster Michael Sclanders was the top scorer of the Aces innings with 23 from 22 and saw his side through the powerplay alongside Martin Guptill (2) after Micahel Rae had picked up Will O’Donnell for seven.

Fresh off his first half-century in the Super Smash in the Aces previous game, Bevon-John Jacobs could only make four before falling to Kyle Jamieson in the tenth over.

As the run rate started to climb, the wickets fell for the visitors with Sean Solia (21) and Cam Fletcher (19) departing as they tried to up the ante.

Foulkes and Rae both ended up with three wickets each as they ripped through the lower order of the Auckland side to keep them to 132/9 from their 20 overs.

The victory for the Kings leaves them in fifth place whilst the Aces sit in third.