So it took Canterbury skipper Henry Nicholls just four days to get his first century of the Domestic season, top-scoring with 119 off 121 balls as Canterbury bounced back for a second-round Ford Trophy victory today at the Cello Basin Reserve.
Last season’s top run-scorer produced his fifth hundred in the space of 12 Ford Trophy matches (including 115 in last summer’s Grand Final, at the same ground) as Canterbury leapt onto the board with a big 209-run win over the Wellington Firebirds.
Nicholls underpinned his team’s 350/5 after new Firebirds captain James Hartshorn had sent him in — that total being Canterbury’s sixth largest in this format since competition began in 1971/72.
It wasn’t all despair for the Firebirds — now zero from 2. Their 24-year-old paceman Yahya Zeb took his career best 4/63, but Canterbury’s 21-year-old Cam Paul responded with 3/25 and 22-year-old Ronnie Kapur a career-best 3/19 while returning BLACKCAP Kyle Jamieson got through his seven overs with 0/34.
PHOTOSPORT
Firebirds first drop Gareth Severin was a lone hand of resistance, top-scoring for the Firebirds with a dogged 55 before they were rolled for 141 in the 33rd over, conceding a bonus point to Canterbury.
Meanwhile at Mt Maunganui’s Bay Oval, first-round winners Northern Districts suffered a bruising defeat at the hands of the unbeaten Auckland Aces who now go to the interim top of the table, pending the Volts-Stags match in Dunedin tomorrow.
Wicketkeeper Cam Fletcher put in his best performance with the gloves in this format for the Aces, making five dismissals (one stumping, four catches): it was just the sixth time an Auckland keeper had achieved five or more dismissals in a one-day innings.
Big paceman Angus Olliver (3/23) was one of the beneficiaries as the Aces restricted Northern Districts, fresh off their one-day day record total in the previous round in Nelson, to just 167 in 44.4 overs.
The Aces didn’t have it all their own way in the chase as Cooper Rowell and tall paceman Josh Brown broke through the middle order, and James Naylor had removed Dale Phillips early — Phillips coming off a first-round century.
But captain and fellow opener Sean Solia stayed at his post for nearly 31 overs to top-score with 54, steadying the course to a four-wicket bonus point victory achieved with 16.4 overs to spare.
Sean Solia | PHOTOSPORT
Tomorrow the Otago Volts will look to peg back the new gap at the top of the table when they host a fresh-look Central Stags squad at University of Otago Oval from 10.30am to conclude the second round.
ROUND TWO RESULTS
(remaining match tomorrow in Dunedin)
Canterbury defeated Wellington Firebirds by 209 runs - bonus point win
Auckland Aces defeated Northern Districts by 4 wickets - bonus point win