Challenge Match - Zone 4 recheduled match from 2021/22 season
[Holder] Canterbury Country drew with [Zone 4 Challenger] Southland
Canterbury Country retained the Cup on the first innings
Mainpower Oval, Rangiora
Friday 11 to Sunday 13 November 2022
DAY THREE
The Hawke Cup will be spending Christmas in Rangiora.
With the first innings battle stretching into the final day, Southland did not give up without a fight.
Resuming at 50/1, opener Jared MacKenzie added just a handful of runs to his overnight score, the start of a big triple strike from Will Smith who ripped out 3-13 in just eight overs.
Suddenly Southland was reeling at 79/4, then Sam Chamberlain trapped Ben Lockrose as well.
First drop Hamish Skelt was still at his post, a long way behind on the first innings, and now faced a monumental task trying to stave off Canterbury Country with their tails up.
Skelt batted for almost three hours for the top score of 46, but kept losing partners until he himself departed at 112/7.
The gate open, Canterbury Country bowled Southland out for 161, whereupon the captains shook hands with the first innings enough to settle it.
Canterbury Country will now host the first challenge of the 2022/23 regular schedule in January, with the Challenger to be confirmed.
DAY TWO
Overnight batsman Tim Gruijters continued piling on the runs for Canterbury Country who reached 421 in the first innings.
Having resumed on 21*, the former Dutch international carried on to a half century at five, batting for more than three hours in total for his 77 runs.
Overnight partner Matt Laffey had meanwhile become Blake Buttar-Scurr's fourth victim as he continued to enjoy his Southland Hawke Cup debut, but like Laffey, Canterbury Country debutant Akhil Pant and Blake Coburn chipped in with support as the hosts strung together a few extra partnerships around Gruijters.
Kurt Thompson (3-23) finished off the innings with a flurry after lunch, and by stumps the challengers were 50/1 in reply (29/1 overs), looking to knock off a further 371 runs on the last day.
Opener Jared McKenzie was unbeaten on 30* while Zak Foulkes had continued making his presence felt with the early wicket of fellow opener Jack Mockford.
DAY ONE
Canterbury Country entered its first defence at home in Rangiora against Zone 4's Southland in the final 'catch-up' Challenge held over from the 2021/22 summer - and promptly got off to a cracking start.
Southland captain Brendan Domigan had won the toss and bowled, but by the day's end, the hosts were in a strong position at 302/4 after 99 fairly fruitless overs of toil for the visitors.
Canterbury allrounder Zak Foulkes had batted for almost the entire day, opening the batting and reaching a handsome score of 161 in 88.5 of those overs.
He negated the early loss of Rhys Mariu (caught off Hawke Cup debutant and opening bowler Blake Buttar-Scurr at 20/1) and another Canterbury rep in Harry Chamberlain who also departed for just four runs, bowled by Jason Osborne.
But Foulkes combined with Jesse Frew (91 in four hours) in an outstanding 223-run partnership for the third wicket that ensured Canterbury Country would reach an imposing position by stumps, even though they had both fallen in the space of a few overs in the last session.
The young Frew was a second wicket for Buttar-Scurr (3-50 overnight), then he added the big wicket of Foulkes to end an impressive six-hour occupation of the crease.
Tim Guijters would be set to resume on the second morning on 21* with Matt Laffey on 10*.
Canterbury Country Squad
Sam Chamberlain (captain), Harry Chamberlain, Blake Coburn, Alister Collins (wicketkeeper), Zak Foulkes, Jesse Frew, Tim Gruijters, Matt Laffey, Rhys Mariu, Akhil Pant (Hawke Cup debut), Will Smith
12th: Callum Cameron
Southland Squad (below)
Brendan Domigan (captain), Blake Buttar-Scurr (Hawke Cup debut), Nick Brown (wicketkeeper, Hawke Cup debut), Kieran Lloyd, Ben Lockrose, Jared McKenzie, Jack Mockford, Jason Osborne, Keegan Russell, Hamish Skelt, Kurt Thompson
12th: Liam McFaul
