2023/24
ROUND SIX
A maiden first-class century to 20-year-old Curtis Heaphy in his home town of Palmerston North was the Central Stags’ highlight as they manouevred into a strong position halfway through their clash with current Plunket Shield leader, the Wellington Firebirds.
Heaphy will resume unbeaten on 109* tomorrow morning (Day Three), alongside Brad Schmulian who raced to a fast fifty in support, 52 not out at stumps off just 72 balls.
It spells trouble for the Firebirds who were earlier bowled out for 295 on the second afternoon, Stags paceman Liam Dudding wrapping things up with 4/67 and the rest of the Stags’ frontline attack each picking up a brace to compensate for the loss of left-arm Ray Toole strikeman to injury early in the match.
MBUTCHER
The Stags will resume at 262/2 in their first innings, needing just a further 34 runs to overtake the Firebirds’ tally and with six of the possible eight first innings points already in the bag while the Firebirds have just two, having been bowled out just fve runs shy of a third batting bonus.
Opener Nick Greenwood (54) and keeper-batter Callum McLachlan (51) were the top scorers for the visitors with no one able to kick on before Ajaz Patel (2/51 in his 100th first-class match) broke the key partnership and Dudding mopped up the tail.
Earlier this afternoon, Stags captain Greg Hay suffered a fist in his lengthy cricket acareer when a swallow flew in front of him as he was facing a delivery from Logan van Beek, leading to the batsman’s (but not the bird’s) demise.
Invercargill umpire Peter Pasco is on first-class debut in the match.
Meanwhile in the fast-moving match in seamer-friendly conditions at Molyneux Park, Canterbury’s frustrating first-class summer looks set to continue, with hosts the Otago Volts requiring just a further 101 runs for an outright victory, and two whole days remaining.
The Volts haven’t had a red-ball win all season, but will resume at 36 for no loss in their second innings tomorrow morning in Alexandra.
PHOTOSPORT
Allrounder Luke Georgeson — who made such a dramatic impact for the Volts at the back end of their Ford Trophy campaign with two bags and a maiden century, got the ball rolling on day one with a maiden Plunket Shield bag of 5/60 as Canterbury was rolled for 144.
The Volts replied with 188, dangerous paceman Sean Davey the Canterbury star with 5/41, his fourth bag on this format.
PHOTOSPORT
Both teams took the maximum four bowling bonuses and zero for batting, and Canterbury’s second innings wasn’t particularly productive, either — dismissed for 180, with captain Cole McConchie suffering a rare king pair: a golden (first-ball) duck in both innings.
Georgeson (2/23) had got him both times, but the Volts paceman would settle for just the two second innings wickets as senior pro Jacob Duffy took command of the attack with 4/36.
Canterbury’s last four wickets fell in the last session before Otago openers Jacob Cumming and Dale Phillips (25 not out) took the hosts through to stumps without trouble.
Jeet Raval’s Northern Districts have moved into a strong position midway through their four-day match in Hamilton as they seek to reclaim the championship lead from the Firebirds in this round.
Their opponent the Auckland Aces had ended yesterday’s first day in a reasonable position.
Paceman Danru Ferns claimed a career-best 6/62 at Seddon Park with only first drop Bharat Popli (43) and senior batsman Joe Carter (124 — his ninth first-class century, and seventh for ND) putting up a fight before he claimed both their wickets as part of his second bag at first-class level.
PHOTOSPORT
Off Ben Lister, keeper Cam Fletcher had taken a brilliant, diving, leg-side one-hander to dismiss Northern captain Raval for no score among his three catches, while Aces captain Robbie O’Donnell was also on fire in the slips with a further three catches in support of his bowlers Jock McKenzie and Ferns.
They’d all helped to bowl out their hosts for 247 on the first afternoon and pocket the full set of four bowling bonuses, while ND took only one batting point from the four available to them.
But by the end of the second day, the boot was on the other foot. Northern holds a 215-run overall advantage with eight wickets in hand, a strong position to dictate terms on the penultimate day tomorrow.
The Aces got themselves into this predicament thanks to a lacklustre first innings with the bat, dismissed for 158 in just 51.5 overs — a first innings shortfall of 89.
Kristian Clarke (3/76), Matt Fisher (3/23) and Brett Hampton (3/18) had all made an impact with the ball, Northern ultimately taking five first-innings points overall and the Aces, just four.
Left-armer Lister made two early breakthrough in the Northern second innings but the Aucklanders will need to keep that up tomorrow morning with Raval (unbeaten on 60*) and Joe Carter (34 not out) set to resume a 90-run stand for the third wicket with an overall lead already of 215, and eight wickets in hand.
PHOTOSPORT
All the free admission Plunket Shield matches are scheduled to resume at 10.30am, with livescores at www.nzc.nz and free livestreaming on NZC's YouTube channel. NOTE: Due to a technical problem, there is no livestream from Palmerston North in this round.
