Taylor looks on as Stags saunter to win
Dane Cleaver was left stranded on 99 not out as the Central Stags opened their Ford Trophy campaign with a nine-wicket win, reducing the returning Ross Taylor’s role to that of a specialist fielder.
Listed to bat at four, Taylor was padded up and ready to go but an unbeaten 122-run partnership between Will Young and Cleaver saw the Stags cruise past the Otago Volts’ 157 at University Oval in Dunedin yesterday.
Following his retirement from international cricket last summer, Taylor has returned for his 20th consecutive season of cricket, turning out for Stags in the domestic 50-over format.
But the Black Caps great was relegated to the dressing room as Cleaver sent a reminder to the national selectors of just how devastating he can be at the top order in white ball cricket.
Cleaver, the Stags’ keeper, hit the winning runs with a thick edge down to the third man boundary to leave him on 99 not out from only 71 balls in a brutal knock that included 16 fours and three sixes.
The Volts were always going to struggle to defend 157 but a dominant Clever, who was in the Black Caps T20 set up as recently as July, took the game away from Otago in the first 10 overs, closing out the opening Ford Trophy match of the season on the first ball of the 23rd over.
Earlier in the day, Young, the Stags captain, inserted the Volts and it quickly paid dividends.
Llew Johnson, Dean Foxcroft and Dale Phillips contributed just six runs between them as the home side found itself reeling at 21-3 in the ninth over.
Promising keeper Max Chu top scored with a run-a-ball 45 and Josh Finnie’s 37 was more than useful but the lower order capitulated much like the top, with the last five wickets falling for just 38 runs.
Fringe Black Cap Blair Tickner and Brett Randell – on his Stags Ford Trophy debut after defecting from Northern Districts – each took three wickets as Ajaz Patel and Seth Rance chimed in with two apiece.