ROUND 5 of 10
CANTERBURY defated CENTRAL STAGS by 3 runs
3 November 2024
Mainpower Oval, Dunedin
Points: Canterbury 4, Central Stags 0
SELECTED MILESTONES
- Matt Rowe: List A and Canterbury debut
- Rhys Mariu: Career best List A score
- Michael Rippon: 2500 List A runs (all teams)
A last-ball result for Canterbury kept them in touch on the leaderboard, while the Stags were left licking their wounds from a tight defeat in Rangiora.
204 played 201/7 at Mainpower Oval where Stags captain Jayden Lennox won the toss and bowled, looking to rack up a second win for the season.
Canterbury meanwhile was coming off their first loss of the summer, keen to set things right as the competition headed into the last round before Christmas - the halfway mark of the regular season that will resume on 6 February 2025.
Despite some testing new-ball work from paceman Brett Randell, Chad Bowes got off to a cracking start for his side with the bat, doing the lion's share of the work as he raced to 30 off 27 balls.
Left-armer Ray Toole's introduction however brought the first dividends for the visitors, Bowes caught in the eighth over before Toole struck again with another big wicket in his following over, Henry Nicholls departing at 46/2.
Bar a couple of blip points, the Stags maintained good pressure for most of the innings, Toole going on to a haul of 4/29 off his 10 overs and none of the home line-up reaching a half century.
First drop Rhys Mariu top-scored with just 41 before he was bowled by spinner Lennox (2/35), while debutant Matt Rowe - who had been 12th man for the Stags in the last Plunket Shield game last season, before signing with Canterbury - wore one on the helmet before he became the last wicket to fall at the start of the last over, Canterbury dismissed for 204.
That should have been advantage Stags, especially after a good start at 98/0, but you can never write Canterbury off at their Rangiora fortress.
Lennox's top order had been in good form this season, all three of the top three having scored centuries in the early campaign - and the same men got another good start for their team on this occasion.
Openers Brad Schmulian (34) and Curtis Heaphy (56) were duly watchful as they got things humming, Heaphy eventually backing up an unbeaten 41* and maiden 142 in the last two rounds with another half century on this occasion.
But just after the halfway mark of the match, they both fell within the space of four balls, to Zak Foulkes and Fraser Sheat respectively.
Now it was over to first drop Boyle and Dane Cleaver to rebuild, on a ground that former Cantabrian Boyle knew well.
But in the 33rd over Cleaver became the maiden wicket of a former fellow Manawatū man as debutant Matt Rowe enticed an ungainly skied offering to the keeper.
Dangermen Tom Bruce and Josh Clarkson fell cheaply too, and Canterbury were back with a sniff.
Will Clark kept the momentum going for the visitors with his cameo of 23 runs. But given their sound start, the Stags will have been disappointed to wind up seven down and needing four runs from the final ball of the match with a tailender on strike.
Boyle (55) had reached his own half ton and batted through until the final over to give his side a good chance of getting the seven runs they needed from the last six deliveries, Brett Randell quickly turning the strike over to him.
But the demand of the moment proved too much as he clipped a catch off Gus McKenzie out to a delighted Henry Nicholls, with just two balls left and five runs still needed.
Blair Tickner heaved two runs off the next ball, but couldn't find the boundary for his final effort as Canterbury snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
The win kept them in second spot on the table, Fraser Sheat finishing with an economical 2/21 off his 10 overs including the big wickets of Heaphy and Clarkson.
