2022/23 HALLYBURTON JOHNSTONE SHIELD
Round 6
Monday, 6 February 2023
Cello Basin Reserve, Wellington
WELLINGTON BLAZE beat AUCKLAND HEARTS by 77 runs
Selected milestones
Wellington Blaze highest List A total in matches v Auckland Hearts
Kate Irwin - List A debut and Auckland Hearts debut, maiden wicket
Rebecca Burns - List A high score (74)
Kate Chandler - Maiden List A half century
Leigh Kasperek - 3000 List A runs
Saachi Shahri - List A high score (92)
Nicole Baird - List A best bowling (3/45)
Xara Jetly - List A best bowling (4/37)
All images: PHOTOSPORT
Waitangi Day 2023 was one to celebrate for Wellington Blaze as they snatched the lead in the one-day Hallyburton Johnstone Shield with a high-scoring win against their visitors, the Auckland Hearts.
The result left the Hearts and Blaze at the opposite ends of the table after six of the 10 rounds, with Blaze also preparing for a Dream11 Super Smash Grand Final after locking in the T20 top slot this summer.
Sent in by Hearts captain Prue Catton, Blaze had no qualms at their home ground in the eye of the capital as they set about building an impressive total.
Their 303/5 in 50 overs was the Blaze's highest tally against Auckland, and their seventh highest one-day total of all time.
It was founded by strong partnerships at the top, with tall, power-packed opener Rebecca Burns going on to her best List A score.
She shared a half-century stand with fellow opener Jess McFadyen before Amie Hucker broke through, then poured on 94 runs for the second wicket with Caitlin King (35) en route to her knock of 74 off 66 balls.
Burns struck 11 boundaries and was giving Catton headaches until, at 149/3 halfway through the capital innings, Catton herself took a straightforward catch to dismiss the disappointed dangerwoman off Bella Armstrong.
But Wellington was well set, and the runs just kept coming with with the impressive young Kate Chandler reaching her first one-day half ton (51 off 71) in a 120-run fourth wicket stand with top scorer Leigh Kasperek whose 87 came off just 76 balls before she, too, was stopped short of going on to a three-figure performance.
Holly Huddleston had been impressive at the top but was able to bowl just three lean overs before leaving the field injured, the workload picked up by her teammates, Hucker and Armstrong both finishing with a brace and Kate Irwin having bowled 10 on debut for her maiden wicket in Caitlin King.
A serious chase awaited the Hearts after lunch, and they gave it a good crack thanks to a career-best, run-a-ball 92 at the top from Saachi Shahri.
Shahri lost Kate Irwin's sister Emma Irwin at 43/1 in the seventh to Nicole Baird, but ensured the Hearts would not lose another wicket until deep in the 32rd over when she became Jess McFadyen's second stumping victim, this time off Xara Jetly.
Veteran Katie Perkins (65) had been at her side and the pair had shaped a fat 139-run stand for the second wicket to take the Hearts to 132/2. But after the stand was broken, Perkins lost a string of partners in quick succession as the Blaze spinners began to burn a hole in the innings with the ball.
Jetly quickly spun her way to 4-37 and Nicole Baird 3-45 as the Hearts lost their momentum, and with the injured Huddleston unable to bat.
The captains shook hands when the Hearts were nine down in the 44th over, the Hearts having thrown away their powerful start to limp home to just 244 in the big chase.
