Auckland’s Aces and Hearts victorious
Auckland’s Aces and Hearts were victorious in front of over 2000 people at New Plymouth’s Pukekura Park in Saturday’s BK Super Smash double-header match against the Central Hinds and Stags.
The results take the Hearts to the top of the table, while the Aces sit second after the Christmas Eve wash-out.
Batting first, the Stags came roaring out of the gate but were unable to maintain the early momentum. George Worker (24), Will Young (26) and Kieran Noema-Barnett (20) were the only Stags batsmen to make meaningful scores – their other seven team mates could only manage 34 between them.
Will Sommerville made the transition between red ball and white ball look easy, picking up 3-28.
The Stags were bundled out for 107 in the 18th over, a total that seemed light against a powerful batting line up – but the Aces also struggled to get into their rhythm with the bat.
It was Martin Guptill who led the charge with a determined innings, showing application and concentration to see the chase through while his partners fell all around him, to his frustration.
‘‘I was a wee bit rusty to start with, if I’m brutally honest, but it’s nice to spend some time in the middle and see the boys through to the end,’’ Guptill said.
‘‘It wasn’t the kind of wicket where you can just stand and hit through the ball. You had to give yourself a bit of time, and at the end of the day it didn’t matter how many sixes we hit, just as long as we see the game through,’’ he said.
In the 16th over, Guptill decided the time was right to make a big push. Hira (8no) and Guptill took 17 runs from Felix Murray, bringing up his 50 from 45 balls, then hit Seth Rance for three successive fours to win the match by five wickets and sit not out on 71.
Meanwhile, a 49-run partnership between Regina Lili’i and Holly Huddleston was the difference between the Auckland Hearts and Central Hinds in a low-scoring but enthralling match. The Hearts backed up a strong performance in the field to make the winning total in a tense finish with only four balls to spare, and return to the top of the BK Super Smash table.
‘‘We did very well in the field – we only had two extras, one was my very high bouncer,’’ said the Hearts’ Holly Huddleston. ‘‘These are really good wickets so we understood we would be hit for a couple of fours but we kept to our plans and kept it really simple.’’
Upcoming BK Super Smash matches
Today – Central Hinds v Wellington Blaze (12.45am) and Central Stags v Wellington Firebirds (4pm) at Pukekura Park, New Plymouth.