After a Domestic one-day season stacked with quality stats, Canterbury captain Henry Nicholls and Central Stags allrounder Josh Clarkson have emerged at the top of the respective batting and bowling charts after the completion of the men’s 2025/26 Ford Trophy.
Nicholls didn’t get to cap a fine season with the title itself, but he does get to ink his name into the Canterbury record-books on several fronts.
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Both Nicholls and his top order ally Tom Latham topped 500 runs for the campaign, a rare achievement with Nicholls finishing top among all team's batters with 588 runs at a 73.50 average from 10 innings.
Latham ran him a close second with 538 runs at 89.66 from eight innings.
The pair contributed six centuries between them, Nicholls’ fourth of the summer in yesterday's Grand Final becoming a new Canterbury record for most Ford Trophy hundreds in a season, equalling George Worker’s record for the Aces in the history of the national competition.
Latham also struck three half centuries while Central Stags trio Brad Schmulian (466 from 11 innings at 51.77; two centuries), Dean Foxcroft (435 from 11 innings at 43.50 in his first summer back with the Stags) and Will Young (414 from nine innings at 46.00, with centuries in both finals) occupy the next three rungs, and take home the trophy.
With no other batters passing 400 runs for the overall campaign, it tells the story of top order men leading the charge for the two standout teams that ended up contesting a high-scoring Grand Final on Sunday.
Notably, Stags young gun opener Curtis Heaphy (363 runs at 60.50) was the only other player to notch two hundreds, both against Canterbury in the crunch last week of action.
The Stags last won The Ford Trophy in 2023 on the back of an unbeaten Josh Clarkson century in that season’s Grand Final against Canterbury, at Napier.
As a big medium-fast bowler, 29-year-old occasional BLACKCAP Clarkson suffered a lengthy layoff from bowling earlier in his career after back injuries, stepping away from the bowling crease entirely for several seasons.
The last couple of seasons have seen his significant re-emergence with the ball, complimenting his established reputation as a big hitter with the bat.
After the retirement of longtime frontline Stags allrounder Doug Bracewell earlier this summer, Clarkson has stepped out of Bracewell’s shadow in the number six role, and finishes 2025/26 as The Ford Trophy’s top overall wicket-taker with 23 wickets from 12 matches at a tidy 19.47 average, including a maiden bag of 5/32 and two four-wicket hauls.
He also slots in at tenth in the season’s top overall runscorers’ list, while with the ball he sits above Wellington Firebirds paceman James Hartshorn who delivered a breakthrough season of his own with 20 wickets at 23.65 from 11 matches, his best 3/23 with a knack for making key breakthroughs.
Canterbury’s recently minted BLACKCAP Michael Rae, whose zenith was a sizzling 5/15 against the Firebirds earlier this month, captured 19 wickets for the season, just ahead of teammate Fraser Sheat’s 17.
Veteran Firebirds leggie Peter Younghusband was the most successful of the spinners with his 16 wickets, just ahead of Auckland Ace Adi Ashok and Stags captain Lennox who both turned in 15 for The Ford Trophy, along with Northern paceman Scott Kuggeleijn.
Firebird Tom Blundell (11 dismissals), Stag Dane Cleaver (11) and Ace Cam Fletcher (10) predictably dominated the stats behind the stumps.
Notable Ford Trophy statchat
- Overall record - equal most centuries in a season, Henry Nicholls, 4 (Canterbury)
- Canterbury record - most centuries in a season, Henry Nicholls, 4
- Record, Central Stags second wicket partnership, Will Young and Curtis Heaphy, 257 (Cello Basin Reserve, Grand Final)
- Third highest Central Stags margin of victory (by runs), 211 (Cello Basin Reserve, Elimination Final)
- Record, most catches in a Wellington Firebirds season, Peter Younghusband, 11
- Record, most List A one-day career dismissals for the Central Stags, Dane Cleaver, 121 (16 this season)
- All-time third most runs in a Canterbury Ford Trophy season, Henry Nicholls, 588
- All-time fifth most runs in a Canterbury Ford Trophy season, Tom Latham, 538
- All-time second most wickets in a Central Stags Ford Trophy season, Josh Clarkson, 23 (record is Andrew Mathieson’s 31 in 2014/15)
- All-time second highest Canterbury team total, 384/5 (v Auckland Aces, Kennards Hire Community Oval)
