2023/24
ROUND ONE
CENTRAL STAGS beat AUCKLAND ACES by an innings and 77 runs
Kennards Hire Community Oval, Auckland
20-22 October, 2023
First innings points:
Central Stags 7
Auckland Aces 3
Total points this round:
Central Stags 19
Auckland Aces 3
Milestones
Glenn Pocknall: Stags Head Coach debut
Cam Fletcher: Auckland Aces first-class debut
Greg Hay: 17th first-class debut century
Dane Cleaver: 200th first-class dismissal for Central Stags
Doug Bracewell: 400th first-class wicket
Doug Bracewell: 400 wickets and 4000 runs first-class career double
Veteran Central Stags captain Greg Hay tonned up on day one and Doug Bracewell achieved the elite 400 wickets-4000 runs first-class double as the Stags got their Plunket Shield defence off to a near perfect start. Hay entered the season as the oldest player in the country at 39, but showed experience is no match for youth as his 17th first-class century set up a 500+ total after having been sent in. The strong Stags attack then bowled the Aces out twice to collect the points in Auckland with a full day to spare.
DAY ONE
About the only thing that went right for hosts the Auckland Aces on the first day of the season was winning the toss. Captain Robbie O'Donnell inserted the Central Stags, the team the Aces had played in the final match of the previous season. On that occasion, the Stags stung the Aces on the last day, a dramatic and comprehensive victory ensuring that Central won the 2022/23 Plunket Shield championship.
Now they were back with an even stronger attack - including three Test bowlers in Blair Tickner, Ajaz Patel and Doug Bracewell who headed in on 398 first-class wickets.
Greg Hay | PHOTOSPORT
But the first job was to score runs, and Hay led the way for his team. With opening partner Jack Boyle, he put on 82 for the first wicket, before Danru Ferns got the breakthrough on the cusp of lunch.
Brad Schmulian | PHOTOSPORT
The Aces weren't on song with the ball and the partnerships kept coming. A 143-run stand with Brad Schmulian 86 took the Stags through the middle session without further loss, before golden arm O'Donnell (bowling medium pace) cracked the stand with a return catch.
Hay registered his century off 235 balls, in 321 minutes (13x4) and by stumps the Stags were 276/2 with Tom Bruce already into the 30s.
DAY TWO
The Aces had lost the first day and needed to bounce back hard on the second morning to stay in the game. The hosts hasd a delicious early breakthrough with Hay caught behind off Ben Lister, who would later re-injure his hamstring and take no further part in the match.
Ben Lister | PHOTOSPORT
But with the prolific New Zealand A captain Bruce easing into his work, the Stags kept piling on the runs. Bruce had fashioned a quick 51-run third wicket stand with Hay, and now punched up a 99-run stand with Josh Clarkson, both batsmen slamming sixes including a Clarkson bomb that soared into the Eden Park number one ground where rehearsals for the following day's rugby league international programme were underway.
Clarkson, too, got into the 80s as the Stags carried on to put a 500-plus total on the tins after having been sent in. Still, they will have been frustrated to have narrowly been denied a fourth batting point as Ferns, O'Donnell and Adi Ashok (4/141) hit their marks at a key period n the innings.
Adithya Ashok | PHOTOSPORT
Hay declared at 509/8 after a cameo from Ajaz Patel (including a sweet pull for six), putting the Aces in before tea - and quickly snaffling a wicket. Tickner (3/57) made sure the Aces would be five down by stumps, while Dane Cleaver took his 200th first-class dismissal in the Stags crest when George Worker was caught behind off Bracewell.
Cam Fletcher, making his first appearance for Auckland after his strong record with Canterbury, had looked threatening - the ball lost into the Sandringham Road backyards when he pumped Ajaz Patel back over his head. But his stay would be ended by the same bowler a few overs later as Bruce stuck an important catch.
DAY THREE
Sean Solia and Finn Allen resumed the Aces' innings at 139/5 with Solia having played an important role for his side - grafting 68* thus far. Allen, in his first appearance for his original side since his return from Wellington, provided the big hits but looked to apply himself as well, with the prospect of a follow-on already on the cards.
They offered several chances that the Stags failed to accept before the partnership was broken at 175/6. The last handful of wickets clattered quickly with Bracewell's dismissal of Allen (79) not only ending the innings at nine down, but delivering Bracewell's 400th first-class wicket and the rare 400 wickets/4000 runs career double. The second member of his family to achieve the feat (after his BLACKCAPS spinner uncle John), Bracewell joins just 15 other players in the history of New Zealand cricket to have knocked the milestone off.
The Stags will now head to their first home match in Nelson, where they cemented their championship win last summer, to play the Firebirds while the Auckland Aces stay put to host Northern Districts - both visitors coming off a first-round win.
