Auckland Hearts captain Maddy Green has elected to bat first against defending champion the Otago Sparks, on an overcast but warm morning at Dunedin's University of Otago Oval.
The Sparks suffered a late scratching with WHITE FERNS allrounder Hayley Jensen out of the Final with a sore hip, joining Suzie Bates and Bella James in the injury tent.
But they head in as the runaway top qualifier with depth in the squad, having dropped just one match from the 10 regular season rounds.
The Sparks are also the defending champion in this format, while the Hearts have won six matches from their season to date - and are looking to time their late run to perfection.
All images: PHOTOSPORT
It's the southerners' second national final this summer, after a heartbreaking loss to Wellington Blaze in a low-scoring Dream11 Super Smash Grand Final a month ago - but in the 50-over format they have looked the team to beat throughout 2024/25, and now enjoy a second successive opportunity to play a Final in front of their loyal home crowd.
Both teams are sporting a sprinkling of WHITE FERNS performers, and Maddy Green's Auckland Hearts are out to recapture the title they last won in 2019/20, which at the time was the fourth time in six seasons that the Aucklanders had reigned supreme.
That 2019/20 Final was a famous one - producing the Hearts' record one-day total and a high-scoring runfest in which Robertson - who was skipper for Northern Districts at the time, in their first Final, under her maiden name Felicity Leydon-Davis, scored a century in vain in the huge chase.
This summer, the Sparks and Hearts captains have both been in sparkling form. Experienced WHITE FERN Green has led her exciting young team from the front, scoring two centuries and three half centuries to position herself as the competition's leading run-scorer with 572 runs at a 63.56 average from the 10 rounds of the regular season.
Another vastly experienced practitioner, former WHITE FERN Robertson is also among the top five run-scorers, and is coming off a century in last weekend's penultimate round - at this same ground. Her star spinner Eden Carson is the competition's top wicket-taker (equal with Central Hinds leg-spinner Ocean Bartlett, ahead of today) with 20 victims at a mean 15.85 average.
Newly called up to the WHITE FERNS, young Hearts attacking bowler Bree Illing is not far behind with 19 wickets, and with a vicious in-swinging yorker in her armory.
The big match is being covered by a free, multicamera livestream with expert live commentary on NZC YouTube, NZC.nz and on TVNZ+ at https://www.tvnz.co.nz/sport. The match is also broadcast with live commentary on the Sport Nation NZ app at sportnation.nz/listen
Saturday, 1 March 2025
2024/25 Hallyburton Johnstone Shield Final
Match Referee: Trudy Anderson
Umpires: Kim Cotton and Kannan Jagannathan
