STATISTICS: Milestones and statistics from round five of the Action cricket twenty20 and one-day competition.
Millie Cowan (Otago Sparks) and Hana Mauafu (Canterbury Magicians) made their debuts during this round of matches.
The Canterbury Magicians made it an unbeaten run through the round robin phase of the Action Cup T20 registering wins in both their matches against the Otago Sparks.
In the first match Kate Stiven, in her first match against the Magicians, finished with figures of 4 for 16 including the wickets of Janet Brehaut and Amy Satterthwaite, her team-mates in the Christchurch club competition. Only Suzie Bates has better figures for the Sparks.
In the second match Otago was dismissed for just 85, their fifth lowest total and second lowest against the Magicians. Kelly Anderson recorded her best bowling for the Magicians with 3 for 20 as did Rachel Candy with 2 for 10.
While the Wellington Blaze also recorded two wins over the Central Hinds both were extremely close affairs with the Blaze winning off the last ball in the first match and with just one ball to spare in the second match.
Sarah Taylor carried them home in the first match, batting through the innings to finish 63 not out, the highest score for the Blaze against the Hinds. Maneka Singh created problems for the batters at the other end as she finished with a career-best 4 for 26, the best figures for the Hinds against the Blaze.
In the second match it was Liz Perry, with a personal T20 best of 41 not out, who carried the Blaze through to the win. Earlier Sarah Taylor and Megan Wakefield had combined for their second half-century partnership of the round adding 59 for the second wicket after having added 82 together in the first match, a record for the second wicket for the Blaze against the Hinds.
Earlier Rachel Priest and Kerry-Anne Tomlinson had given the Hinds innings a confident start putting on a Central record 80 runs for the first wicket.
The first match between the Northern Spirit and the Auckland Hearts was rained out but in the second the Hearts West Indian import Stafanie Taylor proved her all-round worth as she scored 86 not out, the highest score for the Hearts. She then claimed 2 for 14 off her four over spell, the best bowling figures for the Hearts against the Spirit. Such was Taylor's dominance with the bat that she scored her 86 runs off 63 balls while the other Auckland batters scored 34 runs off 52
balls.
For the Northern Spirit Natalie Dodd became the first wicket-keeper to take four catches in an innings and equalled the all-time record for most wicket-keeping dismissals in an innings.
At the end of the round robin phase of the Action Cricket T20 the leading runscorers were Sarah Taylor (Wellington Blaze) 306, Frankie Mackay (Canterbury Magicians) 288, Stafanie Taylor (Auckland Hearts) 284, Rachel Priest (Central Hinds) 283 and Katie Martin (Otago Sparks) 276. Paula Gruber (Hearts) and Kelly Anderson and Rachel Candy (both Magicians) are the leading wicket-takers each with ten. Meg Kendal (Magicians) has made twelve dismissals (7 catches and 5 stumpings) to lead Rachel Priest with ten (4 catches and 6 stumpings). Rachel Candy leads the outfielders with five catches. The Canterbury and Auckland players will get a chance to add to their tallies in the final this weekend.
In the Action Cricket Cup there was very little action as two games were completely washed out and the Canterbury Magicians clinically disposed off the Otago Sparks by ten wickets. The Sparks were bowled out for 70 in 37 overs. It was the eighth occasion they have been dismissed for 70 or less. The Magicians then cruised to victory in 16 overs with Frankie Mackay producing a fine all round performance scoring 36 not out to follow on from taking 3 for 12 with the ball.
Prior to this weekend's final between the Canterbury Magicians and Auckland Hearts the leading runscorers in the Action Cricket Cup are the Magicians pair of Amy Satterthwaite (244 runs) and Frankie Mackay (227) well ahead of the next best, Liz Perry (Wellington Blaze) with 188 runs. As with the Action Cricket T20 Kelly Anderson and Rachel Candy lead the bowling with ten wickets each. Andrea Stockwell (Wellington Blaze) is the leading wicketkeeper with four catches and five stumpings while Erin Bermingham (Magicians) has most outfield catches with four.
