Nicholls to the fore as Canterbury march on
Henry Nicholls’ white-ball form for Canterbury will be music to the ears of Black Caps coach Mike Hesson.
The left-hander hit 122 off 131 balls in Saturday’s Ford Trophy minor semifinal against Northern Districts at Whangarei’s Cobham Oval to help the red-and-blacks to a comprehensive 168-run win.
They will meet Auckland in the elimination final on Wednesday with the victor moving on to play Central Districts in the final at New Plymouth’s Pukekura Park this coming Saturday.
Nicholls’ third List A century comes just days out from New Zealand’s much anticipated fivematch one-day international series against England, beginning at Hamilton’s Seddon Park on Sunday.
After impressing during the home ODIs against the West Indies and Pakistan, Nicholls is a certainty to be named in the squad this week and will likely remain at six in the batting order.
He has been batting at three for Canterbury and is high on confidence having also scored 70 against Auckland last week. Nicholls was called into the New Zealand T20 side as standby for skipper Kane Williamson in last week’s T20 international against England in Wellington, but wasn’t required.
Canterbury one-day coach Brendon Donkers said Nicholls was cautious initially after the loss of two early wickets, but once set, he was able to control the tempo of the innings.
Nicholls and New Zealand team-mate Tom Latham combined for a 116-run third wicket stand, which laid the platform for their
Canterbury 287 all out (Henry Nicholls 122, Andrew Ellis 56, Tom Latham 34; Brent Arnel 4-45) beat Northern Districts 119 all out (Joe Walker 31; Matt Henry 3-21) by 168 runs.
Auckland 240 all out (Ben Horne 63, Tarun Nethula 51, Glenn Phillips 45; Doug Bracewell 3-60, Adam Milne 2-37) lost to Central Districts 191-3 (Jesse Ryder 53 not out, Ben Smith 46, George Worker 46) by seven wickets (D/L method).
Wednesday: Elimination final: Auckland v Canterbury at Colin Maiden Park, Auckland.
Saturday: Final: Central Districts v winner elimination final at Pukekura Park, New Plymouth. team’s impressive total of 287.
‘‘I noticed in the net we had the day before the match [Nicholls] was hitting the ball the best I’ve seen him hit it for a long time and it didn’t surprise me he came out and batted the way he did.
‘‘He’s a class act and he’s maturing all the time. He’s still learning his craft at international level. It just shows his ability when he comes back and plays domestic cricket.’’
Nicholls was dropped by Daryl Mitchell at gully on 21, but apart from that chance, offered nothing to the ND fielders. He hit 13 fours in his knock, bringing up his century off 113 balls.
Latham, who has Tom Blundell and Tim Seifert putting pressure on him for the wicketkeeperbatsman spot in the ODI side, looked in decent touch getting to 34 before he was caught at mid on off offspinner Joe Walker.
‘‘There’s a bit of stuff in the media about how his position in the side is under threat, but he looks as good as anyone I’ve seen [in domestic cricket],’’ Donkers said.
‘‘The quality of the keeper is you don’t notice them and they just go about their job and that’s what Tommy has done.’’
Donkers rated Canterbury’s bowling and fielding performance as the most clinical he’d seen in his time with the side. Quicks Matt Henry (3-21), Ed Nuttall (2-11) and Kyle Jamieson (2-8) were difficult to score off and picked up early wickets as ND were skittled for just 119 inside 31.2 overs. Offspinner Tim Johnston also chimed in with 2-42 from six.
Legspinner Todd Astle sat out another match with a minor side strain injury, but Donkers was hopeful he would be fit for the elimination final.
Opener Chad Bowes was also unavailable after copping a ball to the helmet during an internal match today and experiencing concussion symptoms. He will be reassessed today.
If defending champions Canterbury can get past Auckland in the elimination final they face the prospect of losing Latham, Nicholls, Henry and potentially Astle to the New Zealand ODI squad ahead of the final against CD.
CD sealed home advantage for the decider after overcoming the Aces by seven wickets on the Duckworth-Lewis method in the major semifinal.