ROUND THREE
Friday 5-Monday 8 December 2025
- Kennards Hire Community Oval, Auckland
- Auckland Aces defeated Wellington Firebirds by 162 runs
All live and completed scorecards
Bevon Jacobs' second first-class century and yet more wickets for left-arm spinner Rohit Gulati helped the Auckland Aces maintain their roaring start to the first-class season - amongst hot competition on a still tightly bunched table.
The Aces took the full 20 points in the latest round of the national Plunket Shield first-class championship after defeating the Wellington Firebirds at their Auckland home, and they needed to in order to stay ahead of the Stags.
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But the Stags and Northern Districts also secured outright victories to make for five teams separated by just 19 points ahead of the fourth round, the last before Christmas, coming up at the end of the week.
Northern's win leaves the Firebirds as the only team yet to taste victory, but they had little luck in the latest match after an injury to Jesse Tashkoff left him trying to save the match while batting on one leg.
Tim Robinson had earlier produced his third first-class century to try to help out as the Firebirds fought valiantly with the bat attempting to stave off a third consecutive defeat.
The Aces wrapped in up late in the last session, by 162 runs, when legspinner Adi Ashok took the final wicket with the Firebirds at 323, and fellow spinner Rohit Gulati took another six wickets across the match to maintain his tearaway lead as the competition’s top wicket-taker - his tally now 21 wickets from just three matches at a superb 18.61 average.
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Next best is the country’s top seamer, Central Stags allrounder Josh Clarkson with 13 wickets at 17.15 and Firebirds attack leader Liam Dudding who now also sits on 13 wickets, at a 20.46 average, and took his first bag for the Firebirds earlier in this match (having previously taken two for the Stags).
Auckland's dashing Bevon Jacobs is meanwhile now into the top three runscorers, proving he can be just as threatening in the red-ball arena as he is against the white ball, with 369 runs at 73.80 after his century against Wellington this week.
All images | PHOTOSPORT
It was another high-scoring cracker at the ground with three of the four innings topping 300 runs, as a heatwave swept over the North Island. That bodes well for the upcoming Super Smash season.
Auckland captain Sean Solia won the toss and batted on day one, no surprises there by Sandringham Road and his batters would allow him to declare in both innings.
The first innings reached 350/9 with Solia calling the batters in as soon as they had pocketed their fourth batting bonus. He's given them a sound platform with 68 at the top, combining with Bevon Jacobs (58) in an 80-run third wicket stand.
Cam Fletcher (79, above) and Lachie Stackpole (34) carried on the good work until Liam Dudding took the new ball and put the finishing touches on his maiden bag in the Wellington cap (after two for the Stags) with 5/7.
Peter Younghusband had meanwhile demanded as much respect as ever and chimed in with a brace, Auckland all out just five overs before stumps - which was nothing their bowlers were about to complain about.
The Firebirds survived that tricky little period and resumed on day two at 21/0, but Simon Keene (4/36) and big Ben Lister (1/43) did some serious damage the following morning as the two opening bowlers enjoyed themselves.
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By lunchtime the Firebirds were 128/5 and on the back foot again.
They would survive for just one more session in the first dig, walking in for tea with a first innings tally of 249 in 75.4 overs, Craig McLachlan having produced a vital unbeaten 89* after a 98-run sixth wicket fightback with Younghusband (61).
Conceding a first innings lead of 101 runs, the Firebirds needed a firey start to the second innings and they got it with big early wickets to pacemen Dudding, James Hartshorn and Michael Snedden - all three top order Aces back in the hutch for single figures at 26/3.
The hosts made it to stumps at 71/3 with Fletcher (85) and Stackpole (35) combining bountifully yet again and starting to haul the Aces back into it, before Jacobs came in the next day and smashed his century.
Jacobs scored his maiden Plunket Shield century at the same ground last summer in a match that is going to be better remembered for Central Stags Tom Bruce's epic knock of 345.
Jacobs scored 157 on that occasion and now added 125 to his half ton from the first innings. His century came off 118 balls, in 175 minutes (13x4, 3x6) with another three sixes after he had reached three figures.
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Batting was getting easier, if not more comfortable in the heat as the wicket flattened but there was also tantalising sauce for the spinners.
The Aces would put that to good use after declaring again at 384/9, setting the Firebirds a tough chase of 486.
The Firebirds resumed on the last day at 30/2, after both nightwatchmen - Michael Snedden and Liam Dudding - had been claimed the previous evening, Gulati taking his first of three wickets in the last innigs and Ashok going on to net two, ending proceedings with the last Wellington wicket at 323 in the 101st over of a tenacious afternoon.
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The Aces head away to Christchurch for their next match and it's another big one after having beaten the Stags and now the Firebirds so far this season.
SNAPSHOT
Points after three rounds:
47 Auckland Aces
37 Central Stags
32 Otago
28 Canterbury
28 Northern Districts
14 Wellington Firebirds
Centuries, bags, milestones in Round Three:
- Ajaz Patel (Central Stags) 400 first-class wickets (overall career)
- Toby Hart (Otago) maiden 6/73
- Liam Dudding (Wellington Firebirds) 5/67, third first-class bag, first for Wellington (previous for Central Stags)
- Dane Cleaver (Central Stags wicketkeeper) six catches in an innings, nine for the match
- Max Chu (Otago wicketkeeper) six catches in an innings, eight for the match, 19 for the season to date
- Curtis Heaphy (Central Stags) 119, fourth first-class century (third for Stags)
- Joe Carter (Northern Districts) 119 not out; 5,000 first-class career runs
- Bevon Jacobs (Auckland Aces) 125, second first-class century (both at Kennards)
- Chad Bowes (Canterbury) 100 first-class matches (all teams), Ajaz Patel’s 400th victim in the second innings
- Tim Robinson (Wellington Firebirds) 106, third first-class century
- Josh Clarkson (Central Stags) 4/33, first-class career best figures
- Yahya Zeb (Wellington Firebirds, first-class debut, ex-Auckland Cricket)
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Next round: Saturday 13-Tuesday 16 December 2025 at Dunedin's University of Otago Oval, Whangārei's Cobham Oval, and Hagley Oval in Christchurch
