Finn Allen flying high as Van Beek catches fire
FINN Allen scored his third 50 in five innings and Logan van Beek took a sensational catch as the Wellington Firebirds maintained their unbeaten record in the Twenty20 Super Smash, with a win over the Northern Knights yesterday.
The 21-year-old smashed 75 off just 39 balls, including a reversehit six off Mitchell Santner, before he was bowled by Brett Hampton, helping his side post 185-7 from their 20 overs at their Basin Reserve home.
The Firebirds were been sent in by the Knights and that looked like the wrong decision as they raced to 117-0 after 10.2 overs, but from that point on they only added 68.
Nevertheless, the 186-run target they set the visitors was an imposing one, and they defended it with ease, dismissing the Knights for 105 in 15.2 overs.
Allen’s opening partner Devon Conway played second fiddle for most of his innings, before he was stumped by Tim Seifert off the bowling of Joe Walker for 45 off 35, and Tom Blundell’s 22 off 20 was the nexthighest score.
Walker finished with 2-25 from his four overs, while Scott Kuggeleijn took 2-36.
At the end of the powerplay, the Knights were struggling at 36-3 and at the halfway stage they had only barely improved to 65-6.
Firebirds captain Michael Bracewell struck twice in his opening over to remove Anton Devcich and Santner, again in his second when Logan van Beek took a brilliant diving boundary catch to remove Hampton, and again in his third when Conway caught Kuggeleijn to leave the Knights 68-7 and give himself figures of 4-28 off three overs.
In the women’s competition, the Wellington Blaze reasserted themselves with an easy win over the Northern Spirit at the Basin Reserve.
When the two teams met in Mount Maunganui on New Year’s Day, the Spirit brought the defending champions’ 16-match winning streak to an end in a thriller that went down to the final ball. But this time around the Blaze were able to complete a comfortable win, chasing down their target of 101 with five wickets in hand and 18 balls to spare.
White Ferns off-spinner Leigh Kasperek took 4-16 to help the Blaze restrict the Spirit to 100-8.