Canterbury among the early pacesetters
Auckland Hearts, Wellington Blaze and Canterbury Magicians have all made a perfect start to their respective Hallyburton Johnstone Shield women’s one-day cricket campaigns, winning both of their matches on the opening weekend.
White Ferns all-rounder Anna Pet‘erson provided the star turn with both bat and ball in the Auckland’s comfortable eight-wicket romp over Otago Sparks at Melville Park in Auckland on Sunday.
The result was Auckland’s second win against Otago in as many days, having won by five wickets in their season opener on Saturday. Peterson was Auckland’s chief wicket-taker and top run scorer in Sunday’s game, taking 4-13 to restrict Otago to just
105 before contributing an unbeaten
59 as Auckland reached the 106-run target in just 18.3 overs.
Otago lost their final eight wickets for just 35 runs.
Wellington set the tone early in their 80-run victory over Central Hinds at Donnelly Park in Levin, having beaten Central by 154 runs the previous day thanks to a fivewicket haul from legspinner Deanna Doughty.
Opener Rachel Priest set Wellington on their way with a quick fire 50 from 35, with Fran Wilson (41) and Liz Perry (32 not out) adding meaningful contributions in the middle order as the Blaze went on to amass a competitive
total of 219. After losing their opening three wickets for just 10 runs, Hannah Rowe (43) and Kerry Tomlinson (42) dug in to give Central a glimmer of hope when they combined for a staunch 84-run partnership, but the key duo were eventually undone by Irish international Eimear Richardson, who finished the match with 3-21.
After beating Northern Spirit by just seven runs the previous day, Canterbury were able to breathe a little easier in Sunday’s four-wicket win at Hagley Oval in Christchurch.
Natalie Dodd (62) and Bernadine Bezuidenhout (50) gave Northern a solid foundation to work with, reaching 207-9, but failure to stop Canterbury’s Frances Mackay proved costly, the opener hitting 57 not out during a gritty 178 minute stand to anchor their response, with Amy Satterthwaite chipping in with 48.