Tom Bruce has added several more records to his name after the Central Stags captain celebrated his first triple century, and went on to reach 345, at Eden Park's Kennards Hire Community Oval, this afternoon.
That's the third highest score in the history of New Zealand Domestic first-class cricket, and the highest score since December 1952 when the late great Bert Sutcliffe produced his national record of 385, opening the batting for Otago.
Sutcliffe is the only person to have scored more runs than Bruce in a first-class innings in New Zealand (including Test cricket), and he did that twice - having also scored 355 in the Plunket Shield in December 1950, against Auckland.
Highest first-class scores in NZ men's domestic cricket.
β Andrew (@shortflyslip) March 6, 2025
385 B Sutcliffe O 1952/53
355 B Sutcliffe O 1949/50
345 TC Bruce CD 2024/25
338* RC Blunt O 1931/32
334 DG Brownlie ND 2014/15
327* DP Conway W 2019/20
316* MHW Papps W 2017/18
301* PG Fulton C 2002/03
After having resumed on the second morning on his overnight score of 212 not out, Bruce went past Peter Ingram's Central Stags landmark of 247 to become his team's new individual record-holder.
He also shared consecutive Central Stags record stands over the course of his innings - breaking Martin Crowe and Scott Briasco's fourth-wicket partnership record with Dane Cleaver (115) yesterday (the record stood at 276*; it's now 292), and then breaking the team's fifth-wicket record this afternoon, with Josh Clarkson who reached a career-best 166 not out.
345. The 3rd highest first-class score in NZ first-class cricket history. The only man to have scored more in an innings than the great left-hander Bert Sutcliffe. Thatβs pretty fine company, @TomBruce42 π«‘π―π―π―
β Central Stags π (@CentralStags) March 6, 2025
π©π©π© #TOMBRUCE
π©π©π© #PLUNKETSHIELD
π©π©π© #LOVETHESTAGS pic.twitter.com/tmY2moa8pN
The fifth-wicket mark had stood at 301 and was set by Ross Taylor and Jarrod Englefield in 2004/05. The record now stands at 303.
When Bruce eventually feathered an attempted sweep to the keeper off spinner Louis Delport at 670/5, a remarkable innings came to a close, and his Auckland Aces opponents ran after him to congratulate him on his innings before he left the field to a standing ovation from those few who witnessed it.
His knock spanned almost nine and a half hours, and came off only 401 balls in sunny conditions, on a flat surface, after he had lost the toss and been sent in.
Bruce declared at 700/5 in the middle session, a record team total for the Central Stags, and the fifth highest first-class total in all first-class games (including Tests) on New Zealand soil.
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In the other two live Plunket Shield clashes, the Otago Volts are 192/6 and trailing the Wellington Firebirds by 163 at the Cello Basin Reserve, and Northern Districts have an overall lead of 90 at 34/1 in their second innings against current leader Canterbury in Hamilton.
The Auckland Aces are 56/1 in reply to the Stags early in the last session in Auckland, with two days' play remaining.
