The Auckland Aces began the fourth round of The Ford Trophy headlining the points table, but ended it in fourth spot as things went dramatically off script at their home ground.
There was consolation in the form of Harrish (Harry) Kannan’s maiden century — the unorthodox, newly contracted 21-year-old batter from Victoria, Australia gutsing out a knock of 106 in just his fourth match. But other than that, it was the Central Stags in charge with bat and ball at Kennards Hire Community Oval.
Harry Kannan got a landmark century | MBUTCHER
The Stags collected their second bonus point of the summer, as did Canterbury further down the state highway in Hamilton - those two sides now level on 14 points heading into their top-of-the-table showdown on Wednesday.
The fifth-round encounters will be the last Ford Trophy matches this side of Christmas before teams turn their attention to the first-class Plunket Shield, and the Aces will be urgently seeking to reverse their loss of momentum, after two straight losses leading up to the halfway stage.
The Wellington Firebirds also leapfrogged them, courtesy of a four-wicket win at the Cello Basin Reserve that leaves the Otago Volts praying for victory after four defeats from four starts with patchy performances.
There were two centuries in Auckland on a day that also saw Northern Districts captain Robbie O’Donnell (above, PHOTOSPORT) reach his fourth one-day century in Hamilton, his first for ND as the sun blasted down on an early November scorcher.
The muggy heat made Brad Schmulian’s unbeaten 136* all the more impressive for the Stags, the opener batting the full 50 overs to underpin Central’s 337/5.
That was the equal highest team total this season (Canterbury had scored 337/8 earlier in the week).
A timely return to runs for BLACKCAPS ODI batter Will Young | MBUTCHER
Schmulian kept the runs ticking over, while a polished half century from BLACKCAP Will Young (50) helped build the platform at the top, before Dean Foxcroft chipped in with 39 and Tom Bruce took over to belt 63 off just 39 balls, with three sixes and four boundaries in a belligerent knock at the same place where he scored his first-class 345 last summer.
It was a well-timed injection of energy for Central as they looked for 300-plus on the board.
In between, the Aces were aghast as chances literally slipped through their fingers across the innings, and partnerships bloomed out of control.
Schmulian did well to hold his concentration for his new career PB, carrying his bat. It was his third century against Auckland in a row (he has four Ford Trophy hundreds in all) and his second at this ground. What is it about playing the Aces, for him?
“The rivalry's there from, I guess, when I left Auckland as a youngster”, he says — he was an Auckland A and age-group rep and prolific batter at club level, but never won an Auckland contract before the Stags picked him up, after a move to Hawke's Bay.
He rewarded Central with a New Zealand record double century on debut for them, in the first-class arena.
In The Ford Trophy, he now averages 75.00 against the Aces, with three hundreds and two fifties for a disproportionate 600 runs out of his overall 1,788 in 49 games.
“Yeah, I just enjoy playing games against them," he says.
Schmulian annoys Aucklanders | MBUTCHER
"They're obviously a competitive team and it’s always a good wicket to bat on out at Eden Park's outer oval.”
He walked off after three hours and 45 minutes on Saturday feeling pleasantly weary, to borrow a phrase.
“Physically, a few aches and pains, but it's probably just my age [he's a sprightly 35] rather than batting 50 overs. My mind was saying, 'swing the bat', but my body certainly wasn't allowing me to do so. But it's what you strive to do when you go and face the first over in a 50-over game - to just try and be not out and score as big a total as you can.
"It's always nice to get a PB [personal best] and I would have liked to have been a bit quicker, but I faded a bit physically towards the end.”
Luck really ran out on the Aces that afternoon.
Fat grey clouds blew in with cool breeze to make life in the field more tolerable for the Stags in the field, during the reply.
The Stags at one point had been 222/2, the Aces were 22/2 after the competition’s leading bowler, Josh Clarkson, had removed both opening batters withing the first three overs (including returning skipper Sean Solia in his first appearance this season - playing as a batter only, while Jock McKenzie, Simon Keene and Ryan Harrison helmed the attack).
Athletic Simon Keene bustles the ball through | MBUTCHER
Central had the luxury of bringing on BLACKCAP Blair Tickner in the 11th over and he immediately picked up two more wickets. From that point on, the Aces were under a fair weight of pressure, dealing with rip-snorters as Tickner dug the ball in and rammed it in the vicinity of their nostrils.
Kannan had come into bat at the end of the first over, and he stuck firm until the 42nd when he became the final wicket to fall in a 136-run loss. Like Schmulian, his batting style is anything but conventional, but he is effective.
Harry Kannan | MBUTCHER
The Stags couldn't seem to figure out how to deal to him. He swats and chisels the ball to find a way, hits the ball into unpredictable areas with a flourish, and ultimately struck nine boundaries and three sixes in his 122-ball 106.
He didn't raise his bat for his maiden fifty and fleetingly acknowledged his maiden hundred.
The Stags barely put a hoof wrong in this one, and the big allrounder Clarkson walked off with another haul of 4/43. Before this season, the formerly contracted BLACKCAP had taken only one four-for in List A cricket; now he’s taken 5/32, 4/42, 3/23 and 4/43 in consecutive matches this season.
Josh Clarkson, again | MBUTCHER
“He puts his heart and soul into it with the Stags, so it's brilliant to see him do that,” says Schmulian, “especially when you’re not sure if your total is enough, but he comes in and knocks over two key players straight away.
“And he's not the only one bowling well and batting well — across the team, we're performing well.”
The Stags now fly to Rangiora where things did not go to plan last season. The match-ups will be intense, and both teams have a top and middle order capable of dictating terms.
The Wellington Firebirds are meanwhile on a heater of their own after recovering from their first-round away loss to the Stags to chalk up three wins on the bounce.
They have been more closely fought affairs which has cost them bonus points, but nevertheless Nick Kelly’s men have sounded a warning call that they’re here to win an elusive title that’s been dominated by Canterbury, the Aces and Stags in recent years.
The Firebirds are missing an important player in injured senior allrounder Logan van Beek, but they’ve adapted well, with opening bowler James Hartshorn (below, PGOTOSPORT) continuing to make the most of his pace opportunities.
He conceded just 3.36 runs per over in Wellington against the Volts and picked up another two wickets.
The hosts were asked to bowl first by Otago captain Luke Georgeson which is always a ballsy move at the Basin. Liam Dudding had a wicket in his second over, but Max Chu countered with a couple of (equally ballsy) sixes.
But the Firebirds’ combined attack held the upper hand through the middle, legspinner Peter Younghusband showing his mastery again, both with the ball and in the field where the renowned fielder was responsible for two catches.
The pressure told as six wickets clattered in the last 10 overs to leave the Volts with a sub-par total once again, of 227 in 49.5 overs.
Still a chance, naturally, and Jarrod McKay (2/47, above, PHOTOSPORT) and Matt Bacon (2/49) picked up some useful cheap early wickets between them.
But opener Callum McLachlan went on to reach 47 off just 38 balls and he set the stage for debutant Sam Mycock (37) and veteran Tom Blundell (64 not out, PHOTOSPORT, below) to grow a patient 64-run stand for the fifth wicket that gnawed away at the Volts’ hopes of a win.
Blundell saw it through with the Firebirds clinching their win in the 47th over, a nicely controlled chase albeit with no bonus on offer but enough to bump them up over the Aces into the top three, where they would like to stay.
Canterbury was having none of a Northern Districts home triumph in Hamilton, after O’Donnell’s first innings century.
O’Donnell, like all the captains who had won the toss that morning, had elected to bat, and his Seddon Park century at four was crucial for his side after they had lost three early wickets to be 46/3.
Support came from the experience of Henry Cooper with a taciturn 31 in their 91-run stand for the four wicket. O’Donnell was the aggressor, and if they’d kept going and managed to escalate at the 40-over mark, Northern might have got a total capable of threatening Canterbury’s power-packed top and middle order.
But as we say, Canterbury was having none of that. Cooper fell in the 40th when debutant Raunaq Kapur (3/30) got his second of the day, the tall spinner having earlier trapped Ben Pomare for his maiden victim.
Raunaq Kapur during a NZXI tour warm-up match last season | PHOTOSPORT
Kapur, 21, has an interesting background. He was born in India and has already represented New Zealand at the resuscitated Hong Kong International Sixes — he’s also made his List A debut for Hong Kong against Bangladesh, and played a T20i against Saudi Arabia last year.
A left-handed batter, at the bowling crease he has a whiff of Ish Sodhi about him.
As Matt Boyle safely pouched the catch, Cooper trudged off at 137/3 and Northern’s situation deteriorated to 210/8 by the time their 50 overs were up.
That wasn’t enough. Form horse Henry Nicholls got a start, Chad Bowes chiming in with a typically brisk 42, and Canterbury had their first 100 on the board by the 18th over.
Cue BLACKCAPS royalty Tom Latham (29) stabilising proceedings in the second wicket stand followed by a top score of 67 not out from Rhys Mariu to seal the deal, just four wickets down in 39.3 overs to secure another bonus point and ensure the Stags didn’t claim top spot outright.
Powerful Mariu | PHOTOSPORT
Canterbury goes about its business with machine-like efficiency and their latest six-wicket win strengthens their resolve to keep going for a rare Ford Trophy threepeat.
All of the teams live by the mantra that “you only need to make the top three”, but to be in the top three after the halfway mark of the regular season makes that goal an easier one.
The table is still fairly bunched at the top, so it’s all eyes on Round Five this Wednesday in Rangiora, Wellington and Mount Maunganui, with free admission to all games and free livestreams at NZC YouTube.
Round Five, 10.30am this Wednesday 12 November 2025
- The Stags head to Rangiora for another top-of-the-table match, this time a big one against defending champion Canterbury
- The Volts head to Mount Maunganui's Bay Oval desperate for a win against Northern Districts
- The Auckland Aces will try to jump back up the ladder against the red-hot Wellington Firebirds as they stay at home, at the Cello Basin Reserve
- STATCHAT SPOTLIGHT
- Top wicket-takers after four rounds: 16 Josh Clarkson (Central Stags); 9 James Hartshorn (Wellington Firebirds); 8 Jarrod McKay(Otago Volts), Jayden Lennox (Central Stags), Angus McKenzie (Canterbury), Simon Keene (Auckland Aces)
- Top run-scorers after four rounds: 291 Henry Nicholls (Canterbury); 218 Brad Schmulian (Central Stags), 208 Tim Robinson (Wellington Firebirds); 175 Robbie O'Donnell (Northern Districts)
- Highest team totals: 337/5 (Central Stags v Auckland Aces); 337/8 Canterbury v Auckland Aces; 316/9 (Auckland Aces v Canterbury, who won)
RESULTS
At Kennards Hire Community Oval, Eden Park, Auckland
Auckland Aces lost to Central Stags by 136 runs
Points: Central Stags 5, Auckland Aces 0
At Seddon Park, Hamilton
Northern Districts lost to Canterbury by 6 wickets
Points: Northern Districts 0, Canterbury 5
At Cello Basin Reserve, Wellington
Wellington Firebirds beat Otago Volts by 4 wickets
Points: Wellington Firebirds 4, Otago Volts 0
POINTS AT A GLANCE
