ROUND 2 of 10
CANTERBURY defeated OTAGO VOLTS by 240 runs - bonus point win
23 October 2024
Hagley Oval, Christchurch
Points: Canterbury 5, Otago Volts 0
SELECTED MILESTONES
- Chad Bowes: 100 List A matches (all teams)
- Chad Bowes, 205: Fastest List A 200 (by balls, 103) in the world
- Chad Bowes: Second man to reach a Ford Trophy 200
- Chad Bowes: Fifth fastest Ford Trophy century (53 balls)
- Chad Bowes: 2500 List A career runs
- Matt Bacon: Second List A five-wicket bag (5/50)
- Luke Georgeson: 1000 List A runs (all teams)
- Biggest winning margin in the history of The Ford Trophy, by runs (240)
An extraordinary morning in a top-of-the-table clash between the unbeaten southern neighbours saw Canterbury opener Chad Bowes smash just the second double century in Ford Trophy history - setting a new world record by reaching the mark in just 103 balls.
Bowes takes the world List A record off previous holders Travis Head (South Australia) and Narayan Jagadeesan (Tamil Nadu) who both reached a double century in 114 balls.
PHOTOSPORT
It was also Bowes's 100th overall List A game, not that he was aware of it when he set off to work at the start of the day, and he couldn't have had a better day for it: an October scorcher, and belter of a track at his home ground, Hagley Oval.
His striking was crisp, clean and furious. He was punitive particularly on the Otago Volts spinners who were in for a hard day at the office. That said, Bowes set the tone from the first over when he carved four boundaries off seamer Travis Muller, and two of his best were back-to-back off Andrew Hazeldine.
The Volts had sent Canterbury in and, had it not been for the Bowes ballistics (he hit 27 boundaries and seven sixes), it might have been a decent contest.
PHOTOSPORT
Apart from an unbeaten 49* from Zak Foulkes at better than run-a-ball, no one else on the home team got close to scoring 50, and a Matt Bacon bag of 5/50 was impressive in the circumstances.
Bowes scored the lion's share of Canterbury's 343/9, which comes in as Canterbury's eighth biggest all-time one-day total.
PHOTOSPORT
He had quickly lost his scoreless opening partner Henry Nicholls to a brilliant outfield catch by Muller, off Hazeldine.
By the 14th over, after a Bacon double strike, Canterbury was already three down but thanks to Bowes, they also already had their first 100 on the board and he kept them on track almost single-handedly with a special knock.
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The sound of his bat slamming into the hapless white Kookaburra must have been heard in the Port Hills. The sun was blazing, the temperature in the high 20s on a roguely warm October spring day, and Bowes was simply sizzling hot.
His first 50 came off 26 balls, his 100 off 53 balls, his 150 off 77 balls and 200 off 103 balls.
The Volts, fresh off a marvellous win of their own up north, simply capitulated in the chase.
They lost four wickets in the first five overs with Foulkes (2/13) and Sean Davey (3/23) providing some sizzle of their own, and by the 23rd over had just one wicket left in hand, after a Michael Rippon (3/9) double in one over.
Muller made sure they scrambled to three figures, but the team effort paled in comparison to one man's brilliance on the day.
Bowes said he felt "pretty cooked" after his 205 off 100 balls, which saw him join retired Central Stag Jamie How (222 in 2012/13, in Hamilton) as the only Ford Trophy double centurion.
"It might sink in over the next day or two," he said.
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"I probably haven't hit the ball that consistently well before, so it was nice to get most of them out of the middle and hit it around the park."
The Volts all out for 103 in 24.5 overs, the massive 240-run win was the biggest winning margin in Canterbury's and the overall Ford Trophy's history.
Canterbury's previous highest individual List A score was 178, held by Bowes' opening partner Henry Nicholls - who ironically made a duck in this match.