Young stands tall for Stags
Central Stags batsman Will Young was at least looking determined not to gift-wrap Canterbury a Plunket Shield title.
The Stags’ skipper was shouldering much of the responsibility for keeping his team in the fight against the series leaders after scoring his fourth first class century on day two of their Plunket Shield cricket clash at Nelson’s Saxton Oval.
Having started the penultimate round of the competition nine points clear of Auckland, and with a wary eye also on Auckland’s progress against Otago in Dunedin, Canterbury were clearly still well in control of their own destiny after reducing the Stags to 247-6 at stumps.
But Young was still showing plenty of grit to end the day unbeaten on 102 having pulled seamer Andy Ellis for four to reach three figures off 188 balls just before stumps. He’d also registered 3000 first class runs when he’d reached 51.
Canterbury had resumed the day at 297-6 and piled on a further 91 runs before finally being dismissed for 388 off 114 overs. Cam Fletcher carried his overnight score of 10 through to 41 before he edged seamer Blair Tickner through to wicketkeeper Dane Cleaver as the morning’s main provider.
Left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel captured the final wicket of Logan van Beek to finish with 3-110 off 30 overs, with pace bowler Adam Milne taking 3-36.
In reply, openers Greg Hay and Mitch Renwick had carried the Stags safely through to 33-0 at lunch. But both were gone within three overs of the resumption and with no addition to the total as seamers Ed Nuttall and Ellis each made early incisions.
George Worker and Young launched the Stags’ recovery, Worker assuming the dominant role with some typically positive stroke-play in his 50th first class appearance for Central.
He raced to his 19th first class half century of just 69 balls, including 12 fours, but was gone on the stroke of tea when Ken McClure held a low chance at slip off Ellis to end their mammoth 122-run stand at 155-3. He’d faced 96 balls and finished with 15 boundaries.
Young had earlier been given a life on 33, Peter Fulton missing a sharp one-handed chance at slip in legspinner Todd Astle’s first over, before bringing up his 23rd first class 50 shortly after the break.
Jesse Ryder (2) and Tom Bruce (8) both went cheaply as the Stags slumped to 186-5. Young had also survived a close run out oppor- tunity on 65 to eventually see the day through, Dane Cleaver bowled by Nuttall for 24 with the day’s last delivery. Young had faced 195 balls and hit 12 fours and two sixes.
In Mt Maunganui, Northern Districts slowly but surely grabbed a first-innings lead over Wellington.
Spin played a big part on day one of the match, with Ish Sodhi (2-49) and Joe Walker (5-46) bowling 53.1 overs between them for ND.
It was the same on day two, as Wellington sought to defend their meagre first-innings total of 151.
They bowled 54 overs of it themselves, as they completed 97 in the day, with rookie legspinner Peter Younghusband, veteran offspinner Luke Woodcock, and even Tom Blundell, a wicketkeeper by trade and an offspinner by night, all appearing at the crease.
Younghusband was the pick of them, finishing the day with new career-best figures of 4-84, while Woodcock claimed 1-55, and Blundell 1-15, with Daryl Mitchell the unlucky batsman who became his first first-class scalp.
At the close of play, ND had gone from 11-1 to 252-8, for a lead of 101, on the back of a team effort, where only opener Henry Cooper, dismissed on Tuesday for a duck, and wicketkeeper Tim Seifert (3) failed to reach double figures.
In the other game of the round, Auckland claimed a small first innings lead against Otago, scoring 304 all out in reply to Otago’s 282 in the first innings.
For the second week running, Mitchell McClenaghan and Raja Sandhu shared in a big partnership down the order, combining for 73 runs for the ninth wicket as Auckland edged into the lead.
Last week they scored more than 100 for the last wicket, and had looked like going close again yesterday.
Colin Munro scored an 85-ball 102 for Auckland to lead the way, while Michael Rae claimed 4-82 with the ball for Otago.
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