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Wellington had a dominant performance with the ball against the Hearts whilst Martin Guptill showed everyone why he is a great of the game.
Auckland Hearts vs Wellington Blaze
The Auckland Hearts won the toss and chose to bat at Martin Guptill Oval, a decision you would feel that they would soon regret.
Wellington had a strong start with the ball with the first over by Natasha Codyre going for two runs and then Jess Kerr backing that up with a maiden. With the pressure building on the Hearts, Anna Browning found herself run out for one.
Kerr was then able to back up her first over with another maiden to leave the Hearts in a tight situation at 10/1 after four overs. Xara Jetly was able to strike on her second ball as she bowled Saachi Shahri for seven, the pressure having been built by Kerr in the previous over. With Jetly’s over going for a maiden, the Hearts were now in serious trouble at 10/2 after five overs.
Maddy Green finally took Kerr for a run in the last over of the powerplay and Izzy Gaze also managed to grab a further three runs in the over. Jelty was able to back up her first over with another solid over, only conceding two runs.
Runs were hard to come by for the Hearts batters with some excellent work between all the Blaze bowlers, Amelia Kerr introduced herself into the attack in the eighth over but couldn’t strike. Izzy Gaze found herself walking back in the ninth over with Jetly getting the ball off her bowling and throwing it to keeper Jess McFadyen to execute the run out of Gaze for 6 from 17.
It took the Hearts until the tenth over to finally find the boundary with Prue Catton able to get a four off Amelia Kerr’s bowling.
Catton and her captain, Green built a solid stand for the fourth wicket with a 34-run partnership in just under seven overs. Catton tried her best to up the Auckland run rate and showed some intent throughout her innings until she fell victim to a stumping off Nicole Baird’s bowling for 20 from 18.
Bella Armstrong played a little late cameo with Green as they added a quick partnership of 28 runs in 4.1 overs. Green fell with 1.1 overs left in the innings for 36, trying to go for a big shot.
Armstrong (14) and Skye Bowden (2) were both dismissed by Leigh Kasperek in the last over, with Georgia Plimmer taking a great catch in the deep to have Bowden out and restrict Auckland to 93/7.
McFadyen got her side off to a fast start with the bat as nine runs were taken from the opening over. The usually powerful Rebecca Burns was quiet through the powerplay and even saw off a maiden over from Bree Illing. Burns was out to Molly Penfold on the last ball of the powerplay for seven from 19.
Amelia Kerr joined McFadyen in the middle and they shared a solid 30-run start to take the Blaze up to 67/2 when McFadyen was out to Josie Penfold, caught by her sister Molly Penfold.
The Auckland bowlers of Illing (0/13 from four) and Fran Jonas (1/13 from four) were able to keep it tight during McFayden and Kerr’s partnership.
With McFadyen’s wicket in the thirteenth over, Auckland capitalised on this as they soon had Kerr out for 12 in the next over, and then two overs later also had Kaspere out for two. Jonas and Bowden had the wicket respectively.
Bowden then took the wicket of Jess Kerr for 10 in the eighteenth over, but it was too little too late with Kate Chandler hitting the winning runs in the second to last over which gave Wellington a 5-wicket win.
Auckland Aces vs Wellington Firebirds
On a day that was all about Martin Guptill, he delivered for his side, the Auckland Aces!
Finn Allen got Auckland off to a blazing start with the bat as he smashed a 23-ball fifty, his first T20 50 for the Aces. His 73-run stand with Guptill was made in seven overs and included a massive 22-run over by Allen off fellow Blackcaps player, Ben Sears. Allen then fell to Peter Younghusband as he nicked off to Callum McLachlan.
Guptill showed a more conservative route in the game and at one stage was on a run-a-ball 31. With wickets falling around him, including the loss of Mark Chapman for 9 and Robbie O’Donnell who was run out first ball to leave the Aces at 98/3 after 11 overs.
To make matters worse, they also lost Sean Solia for a three-ball duck in the next over.
Cam Fletcher came to the middle and combined with Guptill for a 33-run partnership in 4.4 overs, but Guptill was the more aggressive of the two and brought up his 55th T20 50 with a six off Younghusband.
Fletcher departed not long after for twelve with Ben Sears getting a second wicket of the day.
Ryan Harrison came and went, only adding three runs to the total with Logan van Beek getting the wicket.
Guptill then showed his skills, along with Danru Ferns in the last two overs as they took 35 runs off Smith and Adam Milne to propel the Aces to 192/6 with Guptill finishing on 85* and Ferns on 17*.
Tim Robinson carried on getting Wellington off to a fast start, as he has done all season long.
However, the loss of Nick Greenwood in the third over for one put the anchors on the Wellington innings and then with Robinson falling in the next over for 21 it left the Firebirds at 31/2.
Mo Abbas and Nick Kelly then lifted the momentum for one over with Lockie Ferguson being taken for 12 runs in the final over of the powerplay. Auckland went to spin in the first over after the powerplay and this worked a treat for them as Kelly was caught by Ben Lister off Louis Delport’s first over for seven. Delport then had the big wicket of Michael Bracewell, in his return back to domestic cricket for 10.
Wellington was going to need a big innings from either Abbas or wicket-keeper, Callum McLachlan. Unfortunately, they were soon in serious trouble at 74/5, when Delport trapped McLachlan LBW for seven.
Abbas and Nathan Smith tried their best to resecurt the Wellington innings with a 37-run stand in 5.3 overs before Smith fell to Ferns for 25 and Wellington’s chance at winning the game was all but over.
When Abbas fell one over later for 32 from 38, it was only the bowlers left for Auckland to have to bowl to.
Milne fell for a three-ball duck to Ferns and then Ben Lister picked up van Beek (8) and Sears (0) to finish with four wickets.
It was truly a dominant performance by Auckland to honour Martin Guptill.
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