Stags prance with two tons
Will Young and Greg Hay both hit centuries for the Central Stags yesterday in the Plunket Shield.
The Stags put up an imposing total of 379-4 by the end of the first day of their four-day match against the Auckland Aces at Eden Park Outer Oval.
Opener Hay got Central going with a first wicket partnership of
116 with George Worker, before the occasional Black Caps opener was removed by Matt McEwan for
47.
Soon enough, Young joined Hay at the crease and they combined for a 123-run partnership, well and truly putting the heat on the hosts who hope to move into Plunket Shield contention.
Hay would eventually fall for
101, trying to hook Sean Solia only to feather one to keeper Ben Horne.
He hit 12 fours during his 208 ball stay.
Young brought up his fifth first class century soon after Hay’s departure, from just 106 balls having hit 16 fours and a single six.
The lone highlight for the Aces was McEwan pulling level with Logan van Beek at the top of the wicket-taking tally in the Plunket Shield with 30, although Wellington’s game against Otago starts Saturday.
In Whangarei, it was a stopstart day for Canterbury and Northern Districts as rain made an appearance.
Canterbury won the toss and elected to bat after a ground delay, and they only played for 13.4 overs before the rain returned and pulled the players off.
By then Canterbury were 42-3 with just Michael Pollard holding things together. He would end up with 46 not out by the end of the day, with the teams coming from the field twice more thanks to the weather.
Canterbury were 115-5 from just
41-4 overs. Zak Gibson was the pick of the bowlers with 4-48 from
13.4 overs.