Magicians captain: Put boundaries back
Even after scoring 97, with the aid of 16 fours, Frankie Mackay still wants to see the boundaries in women’s cricket moved back.
The Canterbury Magicians captain was three short of her first T20 hundred yesterday, but, when asked after her innings about how the pitch was playing, she pivoted to say she remained frustrated by the position of the boundary rope.
‘‘I’m still going to say it, I’d like to see the boundaries a little bit bigger. I think it takes an element out of the game having people able to come in and run twos. You don’t see too much of that at the moment.
‘‘You see a lot of ones and fours, which is exciting for the game, but if we’re looking at really producing quality players I think we need them a wee bit bigger and it might make the bowlers a wee bit happier too.’’
The boundaries have been a jarring sight this season after New Zealand Cricket moved to staging double headers of both the women’s and men’s Super Smash games on TV.
The women’s boundary rope has to be placed well inside the men’s, with officials, coaches and photographers walking around outside the rope, but inside the men’s boundary.
International Cricket Council rules state a women’s T20 boundary ‘‘shall be longer than 59.43 meters, and no shorter than 50.29m, from the centre of the pitch’’.
The men’s boundaries ‘‘shall be longer than 82.29m, and no shorter than 59.43m, from the centre of the pitch’’.
At Hagley Oval, one of New Zealand’s bigger domestic cricket grounds, yesterday, there was a significant gap between the two boundaries because the full boundary reaches to about 75m.
White Fern Hannah Rowe cleared both the men’s and women’s boundaries with two of her sixes, but her innings of 45 off 35 balls was not enough for the Central Hinds to chase down Canterbury’s total of 168-5, losing by 64 runs.
Mackay’s innings, which saw 64 of her runs scored in boundaries, boosted her T20 Super Smash record this season to 356 runs at an average of 89 and strike rate of 110. He previous best career high score was 64 before Sunday’s knock.
In the women’s 50-over competition she’s been even more prolific. In just six innings she’s scored three centuries and a top score of 140 in compiling 452 runs at 90.40.
The other match looked destined to be rained off before the skies finally cleared at University Oval in Dunedin, allowing the Auckland Hearts to chase a final-qualifying win in a six-over match against the Otago Sparks.
They scored 50-5 from their six overs thanks to 20 off 11 balls from Hearts skipper Maddy Green, while Otago bowler Ella Brown took 2-7 from her one over.
But Otago spoiled the party, with English international Alice Davidson-Richards scoring an unbeaten 25 off 18 balls to see her side home by nine wickets.
That result helped the Magicians qualify for next Sunday’s final against the Wellington Blaze, which will be played at the pre-determined venue of Eden Park Outer Oval in Auckland after the men’s Super Smash game between the Auckland Aces and Otago Volts. At a glance
Canterbury Magicians 168-5 off 20 overs (Frankie Mackay 97, Eimear Bermingham 36, Kate Ebrahim 20; Hannah Rowe 2-28) beat Central Hinds 104-9 off 20 overs (Rowe 45; Gabby Sullivan 3-30, Bermingham 2-10) by 64 runs. Auckland Hearts 50-5 off six overs (Maddy Green 20; Ella Brown 2-7, Kate Heffernan 2-13) lost to Otago Sparks 51-1 off six overs (Alice Davidson-Richards 25no) by nine wickets. Final standings: Wellington Blaze 28, Canterbury Magicians 26, Auckland Hearts 24, Otago Sparks 20, Northern Spirit 18, Central Hinds 4 Final: Wellington v Canterbury at Eden Park Outer Oval next Sunday at 4pm