Time for some 50-over cricket

Normal service has resumed for the Central Stags.

The Plunket Shield holders go into the first of two breaks in the four-day schedule with a handy 10-point lead atop the standings, after two rounds. Outright wins over Canterbury and Auckland leave the Stags well poised to begin a repeat of their rather astonishing 2017/18.

Not only did they win the Plunket Shield, but they were the beaten finalists in both the 50-over and Twenty20 competitions.

Both are about to hold sway for the next wee while, starting with the Ford Trophy 50-over competition on Wednesday.

The Stags meet Otago in Nelson, with Wellington hosting Canterbury and Auckland and Northern Districts meeting at Eden Park’s Outer Oval.

That competition will be done and dusted by December 1, with the Plunket Shield resuming for two more rounds on December 6.

It’s then the Burger King Super Smash T20 comp from December 22 right through until the return of fourday cricket on February 21.

The Stags and Firebirds signed off on the red-ball stuff in the best fashions, with Central beating Auckland by 151 runs and a day to spare. Wellington were just as quick and even more emphatic, as they beat Otago by and innings and 101 runs.

The one round-two game that didn’t quite get to an outright finish came at Hagley Park, where Northern Districts fell one wicket short of beating Canterbury.

Canterbury finished on 221-9, a long way short of the 385 Northern Districts had set to win.

Northern are third in the competition, two points behind second-placed Wellington, after not being able to break the 10th-wicket partnership of Theo van Woerkom and Fraser Sheat despite getting a handful overs at them.