McConchie stars as Canterbury smash CD
Skipper Cole McConchie needed a tickleup to get going, but responded to lead Canterbury to a Super Smash win over the hosts in New Plymouth.
McConchie was struck in the ribs by a short delivery from Black Caps and Central Stags paceman Blair Tickner as the visitors batted first at Pukekura Park.
Yet it didn’t stop him from delivering a captain’s knock, rescuing the visitors’ innings after a slow start as they triumphed by 33 runs under the DLS method after a late break for bad light in Central’s run-chase.
McConchie also had his bat handle broken by a Tickner delivery, but by that stage he’d made handy work of the short boundaries. Joined by fellow spin-bowling allrounder Michael Rippon when the Kings were 53 for 4 in the ninth over, the pair put on an unbroken 132-run partnership off 66 balls for the fifth wicket.
Rippon posted his highest score – 58 not out off 33 balls – in the Super Smash competition, while the captain made 79 off 47, including eight sixes.
Under-fire Black Caps batter Henry Nicholls may have clicked over 1000 T20 domestic runs, and survived an lbw shout in the eighth over when he was on 19, but his undoing was care of fellow New Zealand test team-mate Ajaz Patel. Nicholls top-edged a delivery from Bevan Small, forcing Patel to turn and run. He almost went too far but corrected and took an exceptional reverse-cup catch to remove Nicholls for 23.
Nicholls has faced plenty of scrutiny of late. In November, during the domestic one-day competition, he was accused, but ultimately cleared of, ball tampering, and his international selection came into question after he was selected over in-form Rachin Ravindra for the recent two-test series in Bangladesh, in which Nicholls failed to fire. He’ll be seeking selection for the upcoming ODI series against Pakistan, but a question mark remains if he will be selected for any home test series this summer.
Dropped catches plagued the Kings in the field, including two in the 11th over, but their breakthrough came in the 14th over when Zak Foulkes clean bowled Central’s top-scorer Cleaver for 47 off 36, and his partner Josh Clarkson followed soon after for 26 as the required run-rate grew too steep for the hosts.
Meanwhile, in the earlier match at the same venue, Central Hinds jumped to the top of the standings after punishing Canterbury Magicians for sloppy fielding in a rain-affected match.
Hinds opener Hollie Armitage top scored for her team with 26 off 27 after she was dropped three times – errors that came back to haunt the Magicians when they fell six runs short after being set a revised target of 61 runs from eight overs via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.
Jodie Dean was the guilty party on two occasions, while a backpedalling Frankie Mackay was unable to make a difficult catch stick.
Gabby Sullivan showed her teammates how it’s done with a superb take on the boundary, removing Armitage at the fourth time of asking.
The Magicians were sluggish in their reply and only found the boundary once on a sodden wicket as the Hinds defended what initially appeared to be a paltry total, after they finished on 79-3 off 12 overs before DLS came into play.
Pakistan international Fatima Sana finished with 34 not out off 25 to cap a strong all-round performance after taking 2-11 with the ball.
But their star import lacked any form of support. Kate Anderson (11) was the only other Magicians batter to reach double figures.
Ashtuti Kumar took two wickets for the Hinds, including the key scalp of White Ferns veteran Lea Tahuhu.
The resurgent Hinds remain unbeaten after three wins and one no-result. They only won once last season.