2024/25
ROUND ONE
CANTERBURY lost to NORTHERN DISTRICTS by 7 wickets
Hagley Oval, Christchurch
11-14 November 2024
POINTS IN THIS ROUND:
Northern Districts: 19 (20, minus a subsequent penalty deduction for overall slow over rate)
Central Stags: 19
Auckland Aces: 16
Canterbury: 8
Wellington Firebirds: 6
Otago Volts: 4
All images: PHOTOSPORT
SELECTED MILESTONES
Jesse Frew: first-class debut (Canterbury)
Robbie O'Donnell: first-class debut for Northern Districts (previously Auckland Aces)
Tom Latham: 50th first-class match for Canterbury
Chad Bowes: 10th first-class century (ninth for Canterbury)
Sandeep Patel: maiden first-class half century
Daryl Mitchell: 100 first-class wickets
Cole McConchie: 50 first-class wickets
SNAPSHOT:
It's been a long time since ND lifted the Plunket Shield, and last summer that drought continued as they agonisingly finished as the runner-up. New season, new resolve - and a near-perfect start has the northerners fired up for yet another crack.
DAY ONE
Chad Bowes's century was among the highlights of a busy opening day of the New Zealand first-class cricket season.
Bowes had already smashed the highest one-day Ford Trophy score of the 2024/25 summer, and now the hungry Canterbury opener added his 10th first-class hundred (ninth for Canterbury) with the top score of 107 in Canterbury's total of 361/9 declared, in 87 overs against Northern Districts.
With a handful of supporting acts including a half century from Matt Boyle, and handy late order knocks from allrounder Gus McKenzie (36) and paceman Sean Davey (an unbeaten 45*), Canterbury took the full four batting bonus points on offer from their first innings effort, and by stumps led by 350 runs.
Northern's openers would survive the tricky bit before stumps, set to resume at 11 for no loss on the second morning.
DAY TWO
Grit and partnerships from the middle order saw ND reduce the Canterbury first innings advantage to just 70.
The two sides were already locked in a high-scoring battle royale ahead of the penultimate day's play but by the close of play, ND had only two wickets left in hand.
Contributions of 32 from Robbie O'Donnell (the former Aces captain on ND first-class debut), a maiden 56 from Sandeep Patel, and 50 from allrounder Brett Hampton helped dig them out of the danger zone.
Young ND allrounder Kristian Clarke also added a knock of 31 to the four wickets he'd snaffled during Canterbury's innings, but his dismissal shortly before stumps (a 100th first-class wicket for BLACKCAP Daryl Mitchell) offered Canterbury the chance to attack the tail on "moving day" - Northern going in with their first innings at 291/8.
DAY THREE
On a day on which the Auckland Aces and Central Stags both took early wins with a day to spare, the work continued at Hagley Oval in the only opening-round match destined to progress into a fourth day.
But one team was very much in pole.
Northern Districts would reach stumps at 74/1 in their second innings, requiring just 129 further runs on the last day for a victory now, with nine wickets in hand.
Earlier, the strong Canterbury line-up found themselves disastrously bowled out for 193 in their second dig, captain McConchie top-scoring with just 43 - and all six ND bowlers in the wickets column as they set themselves a fairly straightforward 203-run chase.
DAY FOUR
Vastly experienced ND captain Jeet Raval, now the most senior player on the first-class Domestic scene following the retirement of Central's Greg Hay, resumed on the last morning unbeaten on 46 not out.
He carried on, leading the way to a first-up win for his side, top-scoring with 93 in the successful chase - with solid support from reliable ally Bharat Popli (74) in a 172-run second-wicket partnership.
While impressive, the victory would be tempered by a penalty for ND's overall sluggish over rate in the match. Initially awarded the full 20 points - the only team to do so; they were later deducted a point under the penalty system, meaning they would share the lead after the first round with the Stags who had meanwhile taken 19 in Napier against the Volts.
