2024/25 HALLYBURTON JOHNSTONE SHIELD
Round 1
Saturday 16 November 2024
Mainpower Oval, Rangiora
CANTERBURY MAGICIANS lost to OTAGO SPARKS by 170 runs (DLS)
Bonus point win
Otago Sparks : 5 points
Canterbury Magicians : 0 points
All images: PHOTOSPORT
SELECTED MILESTONES
Frankie Mackay - all-time leading Hallyburton Johnstone Shield run-scorer when she reached 3*
Frankie Mackay - most runs for a single NZ Domestic team (men's or women's)
🐐 A special moment on Day 1 of the season for Frankie Mackay as she becomes NZ's leading runscorer for a single Domestic team - in men's or women's List A, going past @AmySatterthwait's 5,147, also for @CanterburyCrick Magicians#HBJSHIELD #cricketnation pic.twitter.com/X27ipuo2jG
— #NZIII (@MargotButcher) November 16, 2024
Emma Irwin: List A debut for Canterbury Magicians (previously Auckland Hearts)
Anna Browning : Otago Sparks List A debut (previously Auckland Hearts)
Louisa Kotkamp: career best List A figures (4/17)
It was always going to be a special day for the Canterbury Magicians as the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield season opened, with team all-round legend Frankie Mackay needing just three runs to knock off some more serious national records.
But it was not to be a special result, if you're a Magicians supporter.
The defending champion Otago Sparks were opening their season away to the Magicians in Rangiora, traditionally a Canterbury fortress.
Kate Ebrahim is back | PHOTOSPORT
The Sparks sneered at such conventions as they brought their A game to a gloomy, overcast day in Canterbury country, hitting their straps with both bat and ball in the first of two bonus-point wins for the weekend that had them straight back on top of the table.
The Magicians had sprung a surprise in their squad with former Central Hind and Canterbury Magician, and then Otago Spark, Kate Ebrahim returning to their side, after a year away from the competition.
The match was reduced to a 36-over contest by a sweep of rain, but that was enough for the Sparks to put a total of almost 200 on the board (198/6).
Powerful striker Bella James got them off to a strong start after they'd been sent in, with her first half century for the summer reaching 63.
She stayed in control for almost 28 overs, dominating the first two stands which both reached 60 runs. And by then, the Sparks were in a good spot at 120/2.
Sara Asmussen had picked up an early wicket, but it was Mackay who eventually got the dangerwoman out and went on to pick up 3/27 after Laura Hughes had cycled through her bowling options to little avail.
First drop Caitlin Blakely's unbeaten 49 anchored the rest of the innings and the Magicians would need almost a run a ball in their chase if they were to get the points.
But as we said, the Sparks were having none of that. They humiliated the hosts by ensuring the top score from the Magicians was a mere 11 runs - captain Hughes the only Cantabrian to reach double figures.
Routed for just 60 in 27.1 overs, the Sparks didn't let them get a look in.
Emma Black and Hayley Jensen set the tone at the top to have the Magicians 14/3, with Mackay's milestone moment a brief joyful note for her teammates before she departed on 7, off Black.
The head-turning performance came from youngster Louisa Kotkamp (above), the 19-year-old blasting out the middle order for a return of 4/17.
It was just her second List A appearance, having debuted earlier this year, and there were shades of teammate Emma Black in her style and performance.
The Sparks put on a bowling clinic as they made a perfect start to the defence of their title - they went on to win by 170 runs, which sits in their top four wins all-time, by run margin.
