ROUND ONE OF EIGHT
AUCKLAND ACES lost to OTAGO VOLTS by 168 runs
Kennards Hire Community Oval, Auckland
18-21 October, 2022
Toss: Aces who bowled
First innings bonus points:
Aces 4 bowling (maximum achieved), 0 batting
Volts 2 batting (completed), 4 bowling (maximum achieved)
Total points this round: Aces 4, Otago Volts 18
Selected Milestones
Thorn Parkes - maiden first-class half century
Jacob Duffy - 10th first-class bag (9th for Otago Volts)
DAY THREE
Beware the Southern Man, for he may claim the first victory of the summer.
The Otago Volts kept up the pressure on their hosts all day at Kennards as they closed in on a quick-smart victory against the defending champions in round one.
Having taken a 122-run first innings lead after dismissing the Aces for 139, the Volts responded by putting a past 200-plus score on the board in the tricky conditions for the second time in the match.
A maiden half century to youngster Thorn Parkes was the top score in the second dig, and again Jacob Duffy played a key role with the bat down the order, contributing a quick 31* off 21 balls (3x4, 3x6), unbeaten after Sean Solia took the last wicket in the 73rd over.
Michael Rae at 11 had himself contributed 17 - the last pair posting a free-spirited 10th-wicket stand in 37 balls and just 25 minutes - to set the Aces a steep target of 342 with a day and a half remaining.
By tea, the Aces will have already felt a few flutters in the belly at 62/4.
The rescue man George Worker was in the middle, having floated up to five, and had got a start with Ben Horne.
But Horne would be trapped by Rae for no further addition soon after the break, and Worker's stay was reduced to little more than an hour this time around, after the industrious first changer Travis Muller found the edge: caught by Jacob Cumming on 40.
Muller (3-28) had already got rid of the O'Donnell brothers while Rae and Duffy (3-71) had both picked up a cheap early wicket. When Duffy struck again at the lower order - picking up two more, off consecutive overs, the writing was on the wall for the Aucklanders.
They would not see out the last session, dismissed for 173 to open their defence with a stinging 168-run loss.
The Aces will now have an extra day to contemplate their next home match, against the Central Stags next week.
DAY TWO
A flurry of wickets to close the previous day, and another to start the morning had the Otago Volts dancing a jig at Kennards - and the Aces on the back foot at 56/5.
Michael Rae had bowled aggressively on the previous evening without reward, but on the brisk new morning he began the chaos with the big wicket of Robbie O'Donnell.
The captain was caught behind - Thorn Parkes with the gloves, then Travis Muller found the edge of Sean Solia's bat next over, and had his second when Ben Horne was caught cheaply just a handful of overs after that. Bang, bang, bang.
Muller would eventually make it three when he added Ryan Harrison at 126/7.
Harrison had joined George Worker - the erstwhile left-handed opener now batting at six in the Aces' stacked line-up, and Worker's experience and ability to graft was a boon in the troubling circumstances.
Worker would hold the fort for more than two hours, sharing a 70-run stand with Harrison and becoming the sole batsman to pass 50, but the tension never really lifted for the home side.
Meanwhile, Jacob Duffy, the previous evening's hero, was still sitting on his pot of three, and keen to get back in amongst the wickets. He attacked the tail with Muller (below), and ended up racing him for a bag after they each picked up a fourth wicket.
Muller (4-41) stopped the last genuine batsman Worker on 52, but it was Duffy who got the bag with the final wicket - for superb figures of 5-27 off 17.1 overs as the Aces were dismissed for 139.
By stumps, the Otago Volts had an overall lead of 213 with only three wickets down. Sean Solia had again inflicted some damage up top with two big early wickets - Hamish Rutherford and Dale Phillips gone at 16/2, and Simon Keene taking the third in Jacob Cumming.
But an unbroken 44*-run stand between Dean Foxcroft and Thorn Parkes steadied the ship before stumps, by which time the Volts were 91/3.
DAY ONE
Last season's first-class champion the Auckland Aces got their new season underway at home with a toss win for skipper Robbie O'Donnell - who promptly sent in Hamish Rutherford's Otago Volts.
The Volts' squad was notable for the return of class batsman Dean Foxcroft, the South African back in New Zealand at last after two seasons of a pandemic-interrupted first-class career.
Unfortunately for Rutherford, Foxcroft and the visitors, a clump of early wickets saw both the eminent batsmen back in the hutch in the first session, the Volts three down by lunch with Sean Solia having claimed both Rutherford and his fellow opener, young Jacob Cumming.
Dale Phillips and Thorn Parkes (below) - the latter in just his second appearance, set about steadying the southerners' ship with a partnership of 97 for the fourth wicket.
Parkes's previous best in his sole appearance last season had been 4 not out, and he relished the chance to get going and contribute a maiden first-class fifty - reaching 54 before miscuing Will Somerville to give the tall spinner his second wicket of the day.
Somerville had already accounted for Phillips on 45, and it was the wicket of the day thanks to a brilliant piece of fielding.
Phillips attempted to scoop the spinner, only to be caught in stunning fashion by Will O'Donnell who had showed great anticipation, scurrying behind the keeper and then diving at full stretch to the opposite side of the pitch to nail a one-handed speccy.
WHAT.A.GRAB. An absolute screamer at first slip by William O'Donnell off Will Somerville to remove the dangerous Dale Phillips for 45. #PlunketShield pic.twitter.com/lHrxiWUgYB
— Auckland Cricket (@aucklandcricket) October 18, 2022
Parkes and Phillips fell in the space of three overs, and the loss of the two set batsmen led to another costly wobble in the Volts' innings.
A score of 153/5 morphed into 175/7 in the space of 10 overs with the double departure of Michael Rippon and Travis Muller.
Jake Gibson was then left ruing a sharp second run, diving at full stretch only to find himself run out off Solia at 201/8: pinpoint work from Ryan Harrison in the field, finished off by keeper Ben Horne.
It was the fifth wicket in a tumultuous session, the Volts going to tea at 203/8 after 65 overs.
Two hours of resilience from keeper-batsman Max Chu - and a helpful string of contributions from the tail - saw the visitors reach 261 before their final wicket fell in the 88th over, late in the last session.
Chu was left undefeated on 34* and he had enjoyed Jacob Duffy's support for more than an hour as they put on 55 for the penultimate wicket, nabbing their side a second batting bonus.
In the short period before stumps, Duffy quickly had the Aces on the hop in reply.
He trapped Will O'Donnell first ball of the innings, then dismissed first drop Cole Briggs in his third over to have the hosts 2/2.
That wasn't enough for Duffy in a brutal opening spell that saw him bowl nightwatchman Somerville for a golden duck with his very next ball: 3/2.
Aces captain Robbie O'Donnell averted the hat-trick, and survived some demon deliveries from Michael Rae in his last over before the mercy of stumps.
The Aces will resume at 9/3 (6 overs) on the second morning.
