Central do the double; multiple changes for Seddon Park battle
The Central Hinds and Stags have both picked up victories over the Wellington sides whilst there are several changes for tomorrow’s battle in Hamilton.
The Central Hinds and Stags have both picked up victories over the Wellington sides whilst there are several changes for tomorrow’s battle in Hamilton.
Central Hinds vs Wellington Blaze:
The Central Hinds have won just their third Super Smash match against the Blaze, ever. A five run win was led by internationals Bryony Smith and Grace Scrivens with ball and bat at the Basin Reserve.
Smith (56) and Scrivens (30) led the way at the top of the order for the Hinds who set the Blaze 155 to win in Wellington, but Scrivens took 2/23 from her four to help the Hinds home.
A career best 30 from 22 by Emma McLeod was of good use for the Hinds after they’d gone from 76/0 to 95/3 with Scrivens, Smith, and the ever powerful Flora Devonshire (5) all back in the sheds.
Rosemary Mair’s late splurge with the bat included four boundaries to take the Hinds past the 150-run mark and secured them at least one point to take home.
The wickets were shared amongst the Blaze bowlers with Ellyse Perry, Maitlan Brown, Jess Kerr, Xara Jetly, and Nicole Baird all picking up one each.
Perry in her final match for the Blaze before she travels back to Australia, was the Blaze’s most expensive going for 39 from her four overs.
In her 100th Super Smash match, Rebecca Burns had led the fightback with the bat for the Blaze after they’d slipped to 32/3 by the five over mark. Jess Ogden had the major wicket of Perry for 14 in the fourth over whilst Georgia Plimmer (0) fell to Hannah Rowe in the opening over.
Blaze captain Kerr was the third wicket to fall for five when Devonshire had her sending one straight to Mair on the final ball of the fifth over.
Scrivens backed her efforts with the bat by bowling a maiden in the 12th over which included the wicket of Brown and started to really turn the game for her side.
Whilst Burns tried her best to ensure that she could see her side home, she fell in the 16th over to Scrivens and the game had really swung in the Hinds’ favour.
Despite a late push by Jess McFadyen (28* from 15) and Jetly (21* from 16), it wasn’t enough as the Hinds had them restricted to 149 and shot them to the top of the Super Smash ladder.
Wellington Firebirds vs Central Stags:
The Central Stags have picked up their second win of the Super Smash with a tense two-run win over the Firebirds today.
Contributions from returning captain Tom Bruce (55*), Dane Cleaver (67), and Dean Foxcroft (44) were behind the Stags’ total of 197/3 from their 20 overs which were followed up by Brett Randell and Angus Schaw’s spells with the ball.
On his return to the Stags side for the first time in four years, Mason Hughes struck a couple of early boundaries before falling to Ben Sears in the third over for ten.
From here it was all about Foxcroft and Cleaver’s stand as they pushed for the Stags and allowed them to be set up for a good total.
The second wicket stand of 87 had ensured that captain Bruce could come in and find the boundary early on once Foxcroft departed in the 12th over.
Bruce played a calm innings on his return with eight fours and a six whilst Cleaver carried on his momentum too with the pair a 54-run stand for the third wicket. Sam Cassidy’s 12* from 11 helped see the side through to their total with a six off the final over.
Sears, Michael Snedden, and Yahya Zeb were the wicket takers for the Firebirds whilst Logan van Beek was their most economical, going at eight an over.
Schaw struck the first ball of the chase when he had Tim Robinson caught by Hughes and Rachin Ravindra could only make one before falling to Brett Randell in the third over.
The 84-run third wicket stand was what got the Firebirds into the game with Blackcap test wicket-keeper Tom Blundell putting on a 29-ball half-century on the way to 63. He was dismissed just after the midway point of the innings by Foxcroft, just as the hosts had started to take the game away from the Stags.
Jesse Tashkoff (16) and Gareth Severin (8) could only put limited contributions on the board with Randell and Toby Findlay picking them up respectively.
The key wicket of Abbas went to Schaw when he came down the crease but mistimed and found the ball in Cleaver’s gloves for a smartly executed stumping.
It had looked like the Stags might take the game with a comfortable margin, but van Beek had other ideas with the bat.
He struck two sixes and five fours on the way to 38* from 19 with a 40-run stand for the eighth wicket nearly seeing the Firebirds through to a stunning victory.
Findlay held his nerve after a couple of van Beek boundaries and wides in the final over after they’d needed 22 for the win from it.
The Stags pacer ensured that he wouldn’t see them through to a loss with a mistimed shot by van Beek meaning only a single could be made from the final ball.
Wellington now sit in fourth place whilst the Stags have shot into the top three with their win.
Northern Brave vs Canterbury team news:
The Northern Brave Men have made a couple of changes after their tie against the Volts with captain Robbie O’Donnell ruled out due to the injury he suffered before the previous game with Ben Pomare continuing as captain.
Former Volt, Ollie White has been playing in the Bay of Plenty region for the past season and has earned his first call up to the Northern side, having captained the A side on multiple occasions.
White, an all-rounder, will likely slot into Northern’s middle order as a lower order hitter and spinner. Fellow all-rounder Fergus Lellman has also earned a recall to the T20 side.
Canterbury have had two forced changes with Chad Bowes out with injury and Michael Rae with the Blackcaps side in India.
Bowes has been replaced in the side by all-rounder Lachie Harper who’s had a good start to the season in the Christchurch club competition with 531 runs and 15 wickets.
All-rounder Michael Rippon has replaced Rae in the side’s XII with Sean Davey and Fraser Sheat likely to lead the pace bowling attack alongside Cam Paul.
In the women’s fixture the Brave women have gone unchanged following their victory against the Sparks at Bay Oval.
The Canterbury Magicians have made two changes with Nat Cox dropping out following her retirement announcement and Abigail Hotton replacing Libby Stead.
