Aces grab win over Stags
The Auckland Aces joined the Wellington Firebirds in the winners’ circle at the end of the opening round of the Plunket Shield, striking late on the final day yesterday to deny the defending champion Central Stags.
At the tea interval on day four at Eden Park Outer Oval, the Stags needed 80 runs to win with five wickets and hand and wicketkeeper Dane Cleaver leading their charge, not out on 57.
Willem Ludick came and went for nine, with the target reduced to 65, but Cleaver and Ben Wheeler got it down under 50, and it was looking like the Aces’ declaration at 189-9 earlier in the day, when they led by 230, might have been too generous.
New recruit Kyle Jamieson made the vital breakthrough for the home side, trapping Cleaver LBW for 72 with 47 runs still needed, and fellow seamer Matt McEwan made light work of the Stags’ tail from there, finishing with 4-39 as the Aces won by 38 runs.
It was the Aces’ wicketkeeper, Ben Horne, who played the key role in batting them into a winning position, finishing not out on 55 as they added 55 runs to their overnight total, while receiving good support from offspinner Will Somerville, who made 42.
The Aces now have a trip to Dunedin to play the Otago Volts, while the Stags are on the road again, playing Northern Districts in Mount Maunganui.
With the Firebirds completing a win over the Volts inside three days at the Basin Reserve, there was only other match in progress yesterday, between Canterbury and Northern Districts at Hagley Oval.
Both sides had found conditions ripe for batting across the first three days in Christchurch and nothing changed on the final morning, where Northern added 106 runs in 18.1 overs for the loss of a single wicket before rain brought proceedings to a halt.
Black Caps allrounder Mitchell Santner was the man dismissed, caught on 96 hooking a short ball outside off stump from Andrew Hazeldine.
Northern had made it to 498-6 in reply to Canterbury’s 390 when the rain arrived, with Daryl Mitchell not out on 170, his highest first-class score.