2024/25 HALLYBURTON JOHNSTONE SHIELD
Round 3
Saturday 30 November 2024
Fitzherbert Park, Palmerston North
CENTRAL HINDS lost to AUCKLAND HEARTS by two wickets on the last ball
Central Hinds : 0 points
Auckland Hearts : 4 points
All images: MBUTCHER
SELECTED MILESTONES
Anika Tauwhare : Auckland Hearts, List A debut (below)
Thamsyn Newton: List A career best score (84)
Brooke Halliday: 2,000 List A career runs
Bree Illing: List A career best bowling (4/39)
Molly Penfold: List A career best batting (37)
Hearts debutante Anika Tauwhare | MBUTCHER
Maybe it was the famous Manawatū wind, but a match studded with WHITE FERNS on both sides of the ledger turned into a scrappy, unpolished battle of attrition at Fitzherbert Park - and it went right down to the last ball of the game.
There was some fighting cricket. There were some lacklustre moments. And, plenty of stiff gusts of wind that seemed to make bowling an unpleasant task from one end.
There was a litany of dropped catches and misfields, for which the gusty conditions might also take a smidgen of the blame, too. Though not all of it.
Kerry Tomlinson | MBUTCHER
But at the end of the day, the Hinds will still be scratching their heads trying to figure out where it all went wrong, in a match they should have closed out easily, with the Hearts' recognised batters all back in the hutch.
The day began with Auckland Hearts captain Maddy Green electing to bowl, bringing in Anika Tauwhare for her first Domestic match.
The Hinds recovered from the quick loss of Georgia Atkinson - an early victim for Molly Penfold (3/41, above), who would have a day to remember - with a 91-run second wicket stand between Emma McLeod and Thamsyn Newton.
The youngster and the veteran combined well, both prepared to take on the pace bowlers and use the wind to their advantage as they carved into the ball.
Thamsyn Newton
Newton's previous one-day best was an unbeaten 67 last season, now she was on her way to a new best of 84, after more than two hours in the middle.
After an hour's toil, McLeod (35) became Tauwhare's maiden wicket at 103/2 in the 24th over, but Newton would glue the innings together until the Hinds were 182/3 in the 41st.
She had support from hometown star Hannah Rowe who narrowly missed out on a half ton of her own, but provided an important period of stability - after Penfold had found Mikaela Greig's edge, and Bree Illing skidded one through onto Flora Devonshire's poles.
Illing (above) was a tremendous foil for Penfold, and picked up her first one-day four-for for her efforts.
She got the key wicket of Rowe at 214/6 in the 46th over, and from there the Hinds limped home to 246/9, despite a handy unbeaten 36* off 24 balls from Kerry Tomlinson.
It was a total that felt 20 or 30 runs short of what it could have been, with Newton starved of the strike too often - and with a number of let-offs in the deep as the wind played its tricks on the fielders.
Rosemary Mair (3/65) and Rowe opened the attack after lunch, Mair's tone for the day set by the first over in which she took a wicket but also conceded four wides as she grappled with the wind.
Slight youngster Aniela Apperley came on at first change and looked like she might get blown off course. She struggled against the power duo of Lauren Down and Prue Catton, who pulled together a promising second-wicket stand of 61 runs before Mair and Rowe came back and stopped them in their tracks, two big wickets in consecutive overs.
Now at 75/3, the Hearts had two more experienced campaigners in charge, captain Green and fellow WHITE FERN Halliday looking for another good partnership.
With the top score of 47 for her side, Green made sure the Aucklanders stayed slightly ahead of where they needed to be, but lost the more aggressive Halliday at 98/4 - Apperley taking a good catch off leg-spinner Ocean Bartlett.
Crucially, it took more than an hour and a half for the Hinds to remove Green, who played it safe until Atkinson snaffled a sharp, low caught and bowled opportunity that never got more than an inch or two above sea level.
After Green's dismissal, the Hearts were left with a run-a-ball chase, and still some 60 further runs to find off the last 14 overs.
The Hearts' tail wasn't renowned for wagging, but Penfold (37 not out, off 45 balls, for a new batting PB) led a determined effort on this occasion, one that would have had hearts in mouths on both sides at numerous intervals.
Sister Josie Penfold chipped in with 29, and Amie Hucker, 21, as the Hinds' frustration grew.
Near misses, fumbles, wild shies, and almost-stumpings compounded their misery - the tailenders even running a four, until the Hearts needed three off the last two balls, then two off the last delivery.
It was Penfold's day. She chipped it just far enough, and the fumbled pick-up meant there was just time enough to glide in for the winning second run.
The result bumps the Hearts ahead of the Hinds on the points table, the Aucklanders now equal with ND on eight points, behind only the unbeaten defending champion Otago Sparks who meanwhile maintained a perfect start with three bonus point wins on the bounce.
