ROUND 8 of 10
CENTRAL STAGS beat CANTERBURY by seven wickets
- bonus point win -
14 February 2025
McLean Park, Napier
Points: Central Stags 5, Canterbury 0
All images: PHOTOSPORT
SELECTED MILESTONES
- Toby Findlay: List A debut
The Central Stags kept on winning, taking early control of a Dream11 Super Smash Grand Final rematch with Canterbury - this time in the one-day Ford Trophy - after left-armer Ray Toole proved almost unplayable, bowling 42 consecutive deliveries without conceding a run.
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Canterbury has headed into this match as the competition leader, but once again the Stags proved their nemesis.
A couple of weeks earlier they had lost the Dream11 Super Smash Grand Final to Central, and a couple of years earlier they had lost The Ford Trophy Final to the same team, at this same Napier stadium.
The Stags were coming off two important wins in the resumption of the one-dayers, having scrabbled up from the lower reaches of the table into the top three. They needed to keep winning to stay there, and set about their business after captain Jayden Lennox elected to bowl on a fine Hawke's Bay summer morning.
The team had lost Blair Tickner, a late scratching through injury, yet losing the leader of their pace attack didn't seem to throw them in the slightest.
Youngster Toby Findlay came in on debut - having impressed with his composure in the Dream11 Super Smash final - and would come in at first change after the opening combo of Brett Randell and Ray Toole.
Randell (2/39) was fresh off consecutive five-wicket bags and outdid Rhys Mariu in the first over with a beauty. But arguably Toole, with a remarkable 3/7 off 8.3 overs, made the biggest statement at the top.
Scott Janett drove his first, fullish delivery away for two, and that so incensed Toole that he refused to concede any more runs until the last few balls of his eight-over opening spell.
By the time Findlay came in to bowl his first delivery in List A one-day cricket, Canterbury had cracked under the sustained pressure to be 33/4 in the 13th.
Captain Cole McConchie was coming off a long awaited maiden one-day century, and had a big recovery to make again now, for the red and black visitors.
He built a watchful stand of 118 for the fifth wicket with Michael Rippon (51), a captain's knock of 67 that tested the hosts' patience deep into the innings - until the 40th over when Lennox beat Rippon and disrupt his bails.
Now Canterbury was 147/5, still not out of the woods, but with a chance at least to build some momentum at the back of the innings. That was snuffed out by Josh Clarkson.
The first ball of his 43rd over produced a smart run-out, Jack Boyle pouncing and diving as Cole McConchie scrambled for a tight single, run out by a whisker.
Next ball, Clarkson had Kyle Jamieson for a golden duck, caught and bowled after he popped up a simple catch.
Wickets kept falling regularly through the tail until Canterbury found themselves bowled out for 176 in the 48th, Toole wrapping up his three-ball second spell with the last wicket.
A sub-200 total at McLean was unlikely to perturb the hosts after a good run of collective form, but they treated Canterbury's attack with respect in the chase - a measured calm as they went about their work.
Brad Schmulian and Dane Cleaver opened brightly, but they were both gone inside the first nine overs.
Fraser Sheat struck with his first ball of the match, after Cleaver popped up a high catch for Mitch Hay who had to run a mile backwards to claim it.
Hay had his second catch soon after when Jamieson cut Schmulian in half, but first drop Jack Boyle slowed the tempo and settled in to anchor the remainder of the match.
There was a hiccup for the hosts when, at 74/2, when they had looked to be comfortable, cruising above the required rate with wickets in hand.
Ish Sodhi stuck out his left arm to make a stinging reflex caught and bowled look regulation.
Quality grab from Ish Sodhi for @CanterburyCrick in the Ford Trophy! Follow Ford Trophy action with LIVE scoring and streams | https://t.co/4qZCjtggLA #FordTrophy #CricketNation pic.twitter.com/mLextswHut
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) February 14, 2025
It was the huge wicket of Tom Bruce, a hige bonus, and Canterbury's shoulders picked up.
But it would be the last wicket to fall.
Boyle, formally an opener, just kept trucking against his old teammates in an opener's textbook fashion.
He had polished young Curtis Heaphy with him for company and, as they approached the 35-over mark in sound shape, they opened the throttle to ensure they got the target ticked off in time for a bonus point to boot.
When Boyle lofted the winning boundary in just the 40th over, they had thrown together an unbeaten stand of 106*, and Boyle had reached 88 not out off 98 deliveries for his time.
The Stags had held onto third on the table while an Aces win in Auckland had bumped Canterbury down to second.
Moreover, the top of the table had tightened up, as the five remaining contenders for the Finals set their eyes on the three qualification spots, with just two more rounds to sort it out.
