Wellington Blaze captain Leigh Kasperek ripped through the Auckland Hearts in the last round of Hallyburton Johnstone Shield one-dayers for the calendar year to bag a scorching haul of 5/16.
That's the sixth best List A one-day performance in her team's strong history, and it set up a crushing nine-wicket win as the defending champions snatched the national one-day lead off their opponents at Eden Park's Kennards Hire Community Oval this afternoon.
Meanwhile, Northern Districts was the other big mover in the last one-day round ahead of the Dream11 Super Smash competition window, while the Central Hinds and Otago Sparks were frustrated by an Invercargill washout that left them stuck in the middle of the table.
Caitlin Gurrey's 86 - at the same ground where the powerful top order batter scored the all-time Hallyburton Johnstone Shield record innings of 183 (last season, against the Central Hinds) - set up ND's 60-run in their day/nighter against the Canterbury Magicians at Bay Oval.
ND reached 260/8 after electing to bat, before bowling out the Magicans for 200 under lights. Seamer Marama Downes finished off the job with two wickets in the 44th over to net her List A career best of 4/34.
The only consolation for the Magicians - last season's runner-up, who now find themselves 13 points off the lead, with just four rounds (worth a maximum of 20 points) remaining in the back end of the season, was watching Frankie MacKay become just the second woman in New Zealand List A history to chalk up her 5000th run for a team.
Frankie Mackay | PHOTOSPORT
The only other woman to have achieved the milestone is Mackay's retired longtime teammate, Amy Satterthwaite whose national List A domestic record stands at 5,147 runs.
All teams now switch into T20 mode as the first Dream11 Super Smash doubleheader contest, between the Auckland Aces and Hearts and the Canterbury Kings and Magicians at Auckland's Kennards Hire Community Oval, approaches on Tuesday, 19 December.
See the full Dream11 Super Smash schedule here
The Hallyburton Johnstone Shield will resume following the completion of the Dream11 Super Smash Finals, with round seven of 10 on 3 February 2024. The top two qualifiers will proceed to the Final on 25 February.
Hallyburton Johnstone Shield points snapshot after six of 10 rounds:
(5 points available per match if a bonus point win)
Wellington Blaze 19 (10 points from this weekend)
Northern Districts 16 (9 points from this weekend)
Auckland Hearts 16 (0 points from this weekend)
Otago Sparks 12 (2 points from this weekend)
Central Hinds 12 (6 points from this weekend)
Canterbury Magicians 6 (0 points from this weekend)
