Plunket Shield (NZ DOMESTIC)

[Meth]

Matches abandoned- Wellington v ND and Canterbury v CD- so, top 4 locked in, Wellington, Auckland, Otago, NZ.

Otago are in with a good shot at top spot though. They need to beat Auckland. They'll need to defend 287. We're in between innings.

 

[Meth]

Otago win a close one to finish top of the table

 

[Meth]

ok, so I actually got the finals format wrong which I am pleasantly surprised about.

Auckland play Wellington on Wednesday for a spot in the final against Otago, who finished top of the table.

Hopefully it's an Otago v Wellington final, as they've been the best all comp

 

[Meth]

Wellington through to play Otago. The two best teams, so it's fitting they face each other.

Wellington were set just 236 by Auckland who never really got going and we bowled out in the 47th over, having been 5-58 after 12.5 overs. Chief destroyer was Ollie Newton, who finish with 5-47 from his 10 overs. Jimmy Neesham's unbeaten 120 helped Wellington chase down the total and not without difficulty.

 

[Meth]

Wellington win an absorbing, see-sawing final.

After being 57/7 in the 15th over (thanks to the bowling of Ollie Newton and Hamish Bennett), Otago bounced back to post 234/8 in their 50. The stars were South African Michael Rippon (82 off 112 deliveries) and Namibian Christy Viljoen (87* off 107 balls- not bad for a #9 batsmen). The pair posted a 145 run partnership for the 8th wicket.

Wellington's start was similar as they slumped to 75/5 (with a tail that wasn't quite as long), but the pair of Malcolm Nofal (73 off 96) and Peter Younghusband (49 off 78) posted 118 for the 6th wicket to get them into striking distance and young wicketkeeper Lauchie Johns, in just his 12th game, got Wellington home with a crucial 24 of 20 balls.

Wellington win by 3 wickets with 8 balls to spare.

Man of the match would have to be Michael Rippon.

Man of the series would probably have to be Hamish Bennett, followed by James Neesham, Jacob Duffy, Andrew Fletcher, Hamish Rutherford and Christi Viljoen- all belonging to either Wellington or Otago.

 

[Meth]

Plunket Shield action back underway.

Day 1

Canterbury are 166/5 after Auckland sent them into bat. Cam Fletcher is unbeaten on 62 at stumps. Sean Solia took 3 wickets for 31 runs off 13 overs.

Further South, CD got more cricket in against Otago and are 278/4 with captain Greg Hay unbeaten on 130, partnering for 142 for the 3rd wicket with Tom Bruce (71)

ND only managed 15 overs in Hamilton and are 48/3 at stumps.

 

[Meth]

Auckland are now 228/7, 8 runs ahead of Canterbury's total- a pretty evenly poised match.

CD finished with a massive 511/6, with Hay dismissed for 226 and Noema Barnett scoring 108- the 2 of them scoring 205 for the 5th wicket. In response, Otago are 82/2

ND scored 251 with Joe Carter scoring 109. Ollie Newton took 4-58. Wellington are in good shape at 152/3

 

[Meth]

Auckland finish on top of Canterbury, winning by 4 wickets. Set the target of 257 to win with the better part of a day to do it, Auckland managed to score at a good enough clip despite the efforts of Theo van Woerkom, the young Cantabrian spinner who took 4-94 off his 22 overs. The success of the chase was primarily due to 126 run partnership for the 5th wicket between fringe Black Cap Mark Chapman (89) and young Finn Allen (56*).

Northern Districts set Wellington 241 to win, but then bowled them out for 142 for a 98 run win. Star of the show was Joe Walker, who managed career best figures of 5-25 off 11.3 overs.

CD's 511/6 was enough to secure them a win by an innings and 84 runs over Otago, who could only manage scores of 162 and 265 with the pick of the bowlers being South African Dean Foxcroft who finished with match figures of 7-65 off 40.3 overs.

So, CD now have a very handy lead in the standings.

TEAM M
1 Central Districts 3 3 0 0 0 0 55
2 Northern Districts 3 2 0 0 1 0 42
3 Wellington 3 1 1 0 1 0 32
4 Auckland 3 1 1 0 1 0 28
5 Canterbury 3 0 2 0 1 0 12
6 Otago 3 0 3 0 0 0 6

 

[JJ]

Auckland are now 228/7, 8 runs ahead of Canterbury's total- a pretty evenly poised match.

CD finished with a massive 511/6, with Hay dismissed for 226 and Noema Barnett scoring 108- the 2 of them scoring 205 for the 5th wicket. In response, Otago are 82/2

ND scored 251 with Joe Carter scoring 109. Ollie Newton took 4-58. Wellington are in good shape at 152/3

With a first class average >40 and at age 34 is Hay a contender for an opener's spot... he's no Aaron Finch

 

[Meth]

Round 4, Day 1- a great day for bowlers up and down the country.

Auckland are 142/3, having bowled Northern Districts out for 134. Daniel Ferns took 4-33 (11 overs), Matt McEwan 3-33 (13 overs) and Black Cap/accountant Will Somerville 2-21 (8.3 overs)

Wellington bowled out CD for 159- Hamish Bennett taking 5-39 (20 overs) and Jimmy Neesham 2-22 (8 overs). Wellington 54/0 in response.

Otago fared a little better, posting 206- Pom Andrew Hazeldine taking 5-33 (14.4 overs) and Kyle Jamieson 4-39 (17 overs). In response, Canterbury are 98/4

 

[Meth]

Auckland defeated ND- bowling them out for 134 and then posting 272 in their first innings, they then bowled ND for 262 in their 2nd innings, with Sommerville taking 3-87 to finish with match figures of 5-108. This left Auckland with 125 to get, which they did with 9 wickets in hand.

Canterbury also beat Otago by 9 wickets, chasing 15 runs in their 2nd innings. The win was set up by middle order batting, which took them from 4-67 to 6-336 in their first innings- wicket keeper Cam Fletcher scoring 108, Henry Shipley 76 and Kyle Jamieson 67.

CD and Wellington drew, somewhat fortuitously for CD as Wellington posted a good 1st innings score (429) after bowling CD out for 158. The highlights were a 98 from Michael Bracewell, 50 from Neesham and 42 from lower-order batsman and former Black Cap Jeetan Patel. Dean Foxcroft was the pick of the CD bowlers with 5-67. CD then battled away, posting 336-6 including a patient unbeaten 75 from Dane Cleaver (off 274 balls) and 76 off 258 balls from Kieran Noema-Barnett

 

[Meth]

This comp got underway without any fuss- probably completely lost among the Super Rugby launch.

Otago were thrashed by Auckland. A 1st Innings 337 (Matt Chapman 104, Glenn Phillips 60) was enough of a total for Auckland to win by an innings and 97 runs as Otago crashed out for 154 and 86. Standout bowling performance was from Matt McEwan as he ripped through Otago's top order in the second innings to take 5-23

CD and Canterbury was much closer. CD posted 261 (Tom Bruce 74, Matt Henry 5-75) and Canterbury 280 in reply (Cam Fletcher 60, Seth Rance 4-67). CD were then restricted to just 226 (George Worker 83, Cole McConchie 4-46) setting Canterbury a target of 208 to win. They did not reach this target without difficulty, losing 8 wickets in their chase (Ryan McCone 4-25), but Cam Fletcher steered them home.

Wellington and Northern Districts battled to a draw despite some sporting declarations looking to manufacture a result. The highlight of the match was 156 from South African Devon Conway in Wellington's first innings. Hamish Bennett impressed again 5-68, as ND were chasing 373 for the win. They were 312-9 at the close with tailender Zak Gibson facing 24 balls to hold on. His partner at the other end was Ish Sodhi, who managed 47. BJ Waitling also delivered a characteristically patient innings of note, with 77 off 144 balls.

 

[JJ]

This comp got underway without any fuss- probably completely lost among the Super Rugby launch.

Otago were thrashed by Auckland. A 1st Innings 337 (Matt Chapman 104, Glenn Phillips 60) was enough of a total for Auckland to win by an innings and 97 runs as Otago crashed out for 154 and 86. Standout bowling performance was from Matt McEwan as he ripped through Otago's top order in the second innings to take 5-23

CD and Canterbury was much closer. CD posted 261 (Tom Bruce 74, Matt Henry 5-75) and Canterbury 280 in reply (Cam Fletcher 60, Seth Rance 4-67). CD were then restricted to just 226 (George Worker 83, Cole McConchie 4-46) setting Canterbury a target of 208 to win. They did not reach this target without difficulty, losing 8 wickets in their chase (Ryan McCone 4-25), but Cam Fletcher steered them home.

Wellington and Northern Districts battled to a draw despite some sporting declarations looking to manufacture a result. The highlight of the match was 156 from South African Devon Conway in Wellington's first innings. Hamish Bennett impressed again 5-68, as ND were chasing 373 for the win. They were 312-9 at the close with tailender Zak Gibson facing 24 balls to hold on. His partner at the other end was Ish Sodhi, who managed 47. BJ Waitling also delivered a characteristically patient innings of note, with 77 off 144 balls.

Future NZ'er Devon Conway?

Think I read somewhere he's here for good?

 

[Meth]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/crick...-to-becoming-the-next-south-african-black-cap

It's in his sights.

 

[JJ]

Could be a replacement when Taylor decides he's had enough..

 

[Meth]

Canterbury beat Wellington by 9 wickets, knocking off the target of 128 in just 23 overs. Wellington never recovered from Canterbury's first innings of 424/8d lead by 162 by captain Cole McConchie. Matt Henry took 9-110 over 2 innings to knock them over.

It was a similar story as Central Districts posted 584/8d with centuries from Worker (110), Hay (158) and Young (150). Otago, in response, scored 244 and 335 to lose by an innings and 5 runs.

Auckland and Northern Districts drew. Auckland posted 468/9d with centuries to Guptill (120) and Phillips 138*. Sodhi took 6/127. Northern Districts posted a stoic 376, despite the efforts of Lockie Ferguson and Will Somerville. With some rain, this proved to be enough. The feature of the innings was probably a determined 66 from Scott Kuggeleijn.

 

[Meth]

Canterbury won a game that was reduced to an innings shootout due to rain disruption. Having posted 328 anchored by an unbeaten 130 by Stephen Murdoch, Canterbury were faced with an immediate 0/0 declaration by Auckland and added another 22 runs to the total before declaring themselves. This left Auckland with a target of 351, which they fell 80 short of. Things were looking optimistic with Solia (71) and Phillips (76) combining for 132 for the 3rd wicket. However, very little resistance followed with Todd Astle taking 5-69 off his 22 overs.

CD won a thriller over ND. CD 4th innings target was 174 runs and they limited there, losing 9 wickets in the process. Doug Bracewell guided them home with the bat and withstood Ish Sodhi (5-77). This was a match dominated by the bowlers, so Greg Hay's two half-centuries are probably notable.

Otago beat Wellington with a very good chase of 307 to win by 3 wickets. Wellington were bowled out for 284 in the first innings (Woodcock 80, Fletcher 50*, Bacon 6-73) and then Otago managed to gain for themselves a lead of 1 run with Hamish Bennett taking 4-98. Wellington declared at 307/9 once Blundell reached 100 with Bacon taking 4 wickets for a 10-wicket match haul. Much like their first innings, 308 was reached by Otago with all of the batsmen pitching in, rather than an individual showing any brilliance. Probably most notable was 20 year old Nathan Smith who scored 47* to get Otago home.

 

[Meth]

Plunket Shield

1 Central Districts 7 5 1 0 1 0 100
2 Canterbury 7 4 2 0 1 0 85
3 Auckland 7 3 2 0 2 0 74
4 Northern Districts 7 2 2 0 3 0 56
5 Wellington 7 1 3 0 3 0 54
6 Otago 7 1 6 0 0 0 33

 

[African Monkey]

Central Districts go back to back. Must say their captain Greg Hay has had one bizarre career. If he didn't randomly disappear for 4 years during his prime he surely would have been a Black Cap at some stage. Still, he continues to score heavily at this level.

 

[Meth]

Yes, with everything that was going on, I lost track of this-

They did so while losing heavily to Northern Districts in this last round. Despite having a handy first innings lead (87 runs) earned mostly by Doug Bracewell's bowling (4-46), they allowed ND to amass a second innings total of of 463 (Brownlie 104). Left with a target of 377, they could only manage 234 (Noema-Barnett 101, Bracewell 57*) and were undone by Santner and Sodhi.

Otago and Auckland battled to a draw and Wellington and Canterbury was cancelled without a ball being bowled for obvious reasons.