Aces rule but rue star’s short season

The Auckland Aces have finally got on the board in the Twenty20 Super Smash, beating the Central Stags by 17 runs, thanks largely to a pair of fine innings from Mark Chapman and Rob O’Donnell.

Chapman made 73 off 34 balls on his return from a hamstring injury while O’Donnell added 61 off 34, as they set the Stags a target of 200 runs that proved well beyond them in the end at Eden Park Outer Oval yesterday.

Martin Guptill also chipped in with a spectacular one-handed catch while left-arm spinner Louis Delport made a crucial double strike early once the Aces took the field.

Sean Solia got them off to a fast start with the bat, making 21 off 13, while fellow opener Guptill managed 29 off 31, an innings that will have only added to doubts about his place in the Black Caps’ T20 batting lineup.

Chapman took over after that, hitting nine fours and three sixes in an innings that would have left the Aces wondering how their campaign might have gone had his firepower been available throughout.

It was a strong return from injury nonetheless, and he found solid support from O’Donnell.

The Aces finished up on 199-6 at the end of their 20 overs, with Doug Bracewell taking 2-22 and Blair Tickner taking 2-32 for the Stags, who were looking to move past the Wellington Firebirds at the top of the table with a win.

The Stags didn’t get off to the start they would have wanted, as Delport struck twice in the fourth over, first bowling Dane Cleaver for 11 off 10, then getting George Worker out for 11 off 11 as Guptill took a spectacular diving catch at long-on.

When Black Cap Ross Taylor was run out for two in the last over of the powerplay, the Stags were 39-2 and the asking rate had climbed from 10 an over to 11.

It would climb to 12 as Tom Bruce and Will Young went about the repair job and at the halfway stage they were 80-3, needing 120 off the final 10 overs.

Young fell for 37 off 28 in the 14th over when he was caught at deep square leg sweeping Will Somerville, and with six overs left, they still needed 82.

Bruce was sent on his way the following over, caught by Ben Lister off Ross ter Braak for 52 off 35, and from there the writing was on the wall.

Bracewell hit three sixes on his way to making an unbeaten 32 off 14, but it wasn’t to be.

Delport took with 2-28 from his four overs and ter Braak took 2-31 from his as the Stags finished on 182-7.

They still sit second, level on points with the Firebirds and the Canterbury Kings while the Aces remain last and out of finals contention.

Earlier, in the women’s game, the Central Hinds handed the Auckland Hearts a shock defeat, winning by nine wickets.

It was only their second win of the season, following on from last Monday’s triumph over the Otago Sparks, but it was enough to lift them over the southerners on net run rate and into fifth on the table.

Hinds opener Jess Watkin lived a charmed life, but made the most of being dropped on several occasions as she powered her way to an unbeaten 68 off 48 to lead their chase of 121, which she sealed with a six.

Natalie Dodd was also not out, stranded on 49 off 45, as they reached the target with the bulk of their wickets in hand and 21 balls to spare.

The Hearts were in trouble early as they slipped to 14-3 in the fourth over, but Katie Perkins, who made 34 off 37, and Holly Huddleston were able to right things and help them through to 120-5.

White Ferns seamer Hannah Rowe took 2-26 from her four overs while Ashtuti Kumar took 1-23 from her four as the Hinds kept their hosts in check.

The Hinds lost opener Emily Cunningham for one, but captain Watkins and Dodd then put together an unbroken 109-run partnership.

There were a number of occasions where the Hearts could have sent Watkin packing, but they turned in a fielding effort that was inexcusable for a team that would have gone top of the table with a win.

The third-placed Hearts will now have to wait and see how the first-placed Wellington Blaze fare over the next two days, when they host the Sparks and the second-placed Magicians, to see what damage yesterday’s loss has done to their hopes of finishing first and advancing straight to the grand final.