Callups hit Stags hard for key clash
MARK GEENTY
Central Districts insists it has no issue with in-form pair Greg Hay and Ajaz Patel being dragged from their top-of-the table Plunket Shield match, even if it could derail their title hopes and chase for $75,000 in prizemoney.
Opener Hay, the competition’s leading runscorer with 686 runs at an average of 68.6, and left-arm spinner Patel, the top wicket-taker with 35 at 22.85, will both miss the round eight match against the Firebirds in Wellington starting tomorrow.
Instead they were late callups to provide England with match practice in a two-dayer in Hamilton, starting today, after Mitchell Santner (knee) and George Worker (hamstring) were both sidelined with injury.
Fellow Stags Seth Rance and Doug Bracewell are also in Hamilton, and with Worker out too they’ll be well understrength, particularly in the bowling ranks.
Wellington, who lead the Stags by 11 points with three rounds left and could kick clear with victory at the Basin Reserve, are also missing two key men to the New Zealand XI: wicketkeeper Tom Blundell and allrounder Logan van Beek (33 wickets at 15.3).
With the England matches not having first-class status, and with the Plunket Shield at a critical stage, eyebrows would rightly be raised in Stags land.
More so when Patel was summoned at late notice for Ish Sodhi who was originally named to play the two two-day fixtures. When Santner was ruled out of the test side and Todd Astle called in, it appeared the national selectors didn’t want England to face a legspinner so they sent Sodhi back to Plunket Shield this weekend.
But Central Districts Cricket Association chief executive Pete de Wet said the Hay and Patel callups fitted with their ‘‘high performance strategy’’ which they aligned with New Zealand Cricket 18 months ago. They agreed not to pursue players from outside their region, and would support any callups for higher honours.
‘‘The fact it’s not a first-class match [in Hamilton] is not ideal. However it is an opportunity for our players to be tested by international quality players,’’ de Wet said.
‘‘Ajaz hasn’t had a go at this level for a while and it’s a great opportunity and just reward for a guy who’s done exceptionally well in the last couple of seasons.’’
De Wet said the Stags dealt with losing players to NZA and international cricket regularly. ‘‘We have this situation in all the formats we play in and it’s just unfortunate we’re at a pretty critical time in the competition.
‘‘I back the depth of our squad to go out and potentially get a result in Wellington. And we’ve still got two more games after that.’’
The Stags lost both white-ball finals this season, to the Knights in the Twenty20 Super Smash and Auckland Aces in the Ford Trophy.
New Zealand selector Gavin Larsen said the NZ XI had been a lengthy process and he’d had positive dealings with all the major associations.
‘‘It’s a great opportunity to expose our fringe Black Caps to some quality international opposition.’’