T20 run chase gets Stags home
Central Stags chased down 73 from eight overs to sensationally beat Northern Districts with one over to spare on a dramatic final day of their Plunket Shield clash in Napier yesterday.
Black Caps spinner Ish Sodhi’s battling 50 was leading ND towards a draw on day four but when he fell for 57, the visitors were all out for 283 in their second innings and there was still enough time for the Stags to get 73 for victory at McLean Park.
Dane Cleaver, a double centurion in the Stags’ first innings of 482, switched to Twenty20 mode, blasting 38 from 18 balls, including three sixes and two fours, as the hosts knocked down their required run rate.
Cleaver’s dismissal in the sixth over meant a tense finish but Will Young (17 from 11) and Tom Bruce (13 from 8) finished the job, with the latter smashing a four then a six off Scott Kuggeleign’s bowling to wrap up an eight-wicket win with only six balls left.
The stunning result propelled CD to the top of the table, replacing Wellington, who suffered their first loss of the red-ball season in a crushing innings defeat to Canterbury early on day four.
Resuming on 78-4, trailing by 176 runs and needing to survive the entire final day, Wellington’s batting collapsed to 120 all out in their second innings at Rangiora.
Leo Carter’s unbeaten 226 and Ken McClure’s 152 propelled Canterbury into a winning position on day three and the hosts declared on 570-8.
Canterbury needed a further six wickets after nabbing four in Monday’s final session and the Firebirds offered little resistance.
Five Canterbury bowlers (Ed Nuttall, Fraser Sheat, Will Williams, Andrew Hazeldine and Theo van Woerkom) finished with two wickets each to cruise to victory by an innings and 134 runs.
Elsewhere, Otago survived by the skin of the teeth to draw with Auckland at Eden Park’s Outer Oval after Nathan Smith’s batting heroics in the final session.
Auckland declared early on Tuesday on 184-5 with a 379-run lead and Otago had to bat out the rest of the final day.
None of their top or middle order contributed significantly as wickets started to tumble with Auckland’s tails up and Lockie Ferguson and Louis Delport struck with three wickets each, but Smith then dug in with Otago’s tail.
At 183-8 with almost 30 overs left, Otago were in trouble but Smith’s 41 from 133 balls and a 10th-wicket stand with No 11 Michael Rae (5) rescued a draw as the final pair batted out 11.5 overs to stumps.
Auckland missed the chance to climb up to second with four rounds left and fell to fourth after CD’s spectacular win, while Wellington and Canterbury dropped to second and third respectively. Otago and ND occupy fifth and sixth.