Ravindra an inspiration for Firebirds
Rachin Ravindra’s maiden domestic century stole the show from two Black Caps in yesterday’s Ford Trophy action.
The 20-year-old Wellington Firebirds opening batsman scored 130 off 109 balls against Auckland at Lincoln, near Christchurch.
Big scores were posted across the grounds, with Wellington leading the way with their Ravindra-inspired 344-5, but Black Cap Colin Munro answered with 119 off just 87 balls to set the platform for Auckland to make an unlikely successful chase.
Munro struck eight fours and seven sixes at Lincoln No 3, and combined with fellow limitedovers Black Cap Martin Guptill (76 off 67) to put on an opening stand of 155 in just 20.4 overs.
Glenn Phillips (40) and Craig Cachopa (41) pushed Auckland to within sight of a win, but three wickets in the space of eight balls, including two-in-two from Ollie Newton, had Auckland reeling as they required 44 off six overs with four wickets in hand.
Cachopa holed out off Newton’s bowling with 31 still needed off 21 balls, with his side eventually falling six runs short, with Ravindra also picking up two wickets.
Earlier, Ravindra hit 18 fours and one six with an array of shots around the ground.
He was aided by fellow opener Andrew Fletcher, who scored 75 off 104. Their 222-run opening stand was the highest for Wellington in a 50-over match, beating the previous record of 205 set almost 25 years ago.
Canterbury put on 292-5 against Otago at Hagley Oval thanks to contributions from Chad Bowes (76), Cole McConchie (60 not out), Stephen Murdoch (55) and Ken McClure (43). Canterbury then took three quick wickets to put Otago’s chase on the back foot at 38-3 in the 10th over.
Otago’s batsmen kept battling away but they eventually waved the white flag by losing their last three wickets in three overs. Josh Finnie did not bat.
Andrew Hazeldine snared 3-14 from his four overs, including three of Otago’s top four.
Central Districts’ total of 270 in the final match of the day always looked light for victory against Northern Districts.
Dane Cleaver put together a nice 83, and George Worker added 54, but it was all fits and starts from the rest.
Daryl Mitchell and Anurag Verma both took three wickets, but it was the restrictive spells of Zak Gibson, Brett Hampton and Ish Sodhi – who went at a combined 4.04 runs per over from their 23 overs – which made as much of a difference.
Northern started well in their chase as both openers Tim Seifert (65 off 89) and Kristian Clarke (55 off 39) scored half centuries in a stand of 90.
Mitchell (62 not out) and Joe Carter (39) took Northern through the tricky middle stages. Carter fell with five overs to go, but Mitchell helped close out the win with eight balls to spare.