Ford Trophy and HBJ Shield Recap, Weekend 25-26 November

Hallyburton Johnstone Shield, Rounds 3-4 @ Northern Districts, 25 & 26 Nov 2023

The Spotlight Reporting Blaze cruised to a comfortable win over Northern Districts on Saturday, due in large part to a magnificent century by WHITE FERN Georgia Plimmer. She obliterated her previous highest score of 38, hitting 11 fours and a six and taking the Blaze to a total well over 300.  She received great support from skipper Leigh Kasperek who hit 89 from 98 balls – her 19th List A half-century.  Their third wicket partnership 222 was the highest ever for the Blaze.

Despite having a mountain to climb, Northern made solid early progress and were 87-2 in the 17th over.  However, the asking rate proved too much, and they only added another 84 runs before Wellington secured a bonus point victory . Seventeen-year-old leggie Kate Chandler took four wickets and former-Central Hinds medium pacer Monique Rees three.  The winning margin was two runs fewer that Georgia Plimmer had scored on her own.

Short scoreboard

Wellington Blaze 316-4 in 50 overs (Georgia Plimmer 147, Leigh Kasperek 89, Rebecca Burns 20) beat Northern Districts 171 in 41.4 overs (Kate Chandler 4-16, Monique Rees 3-29) by 145 runs.

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On Sunday Northern batted first and lost just five wickets in amassing 245 runs.  Four players passed 40 with the top-scorer being captain and 2014-18 Wellington Blaze player Eimear Richardson who made 57 from just 63 balls.  

In reply Blaze openers Jess McFadyen and Rebecca Burns brought up 60 in the 11th over but the runouts of both Burns and Saturday’s century-maker Georgia Plimmer in quick succession were notable setbacks. Captain Leigh Kasperek looked good for a while, as did Kate Chandler, but the side was all out short of 200, giving Northern a bonus point win.

Short scoreboard

Northern Districts 245-5 in 50 overs (Tash Codyre 2-45 ) beat the Wellington Blaze 188 in 45.1 overs (Kate Chandler 40, Jess McFadyen 35, Rebecca Burns 32, Leigh Kasperek 25) by 67 runs.

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Table after four rounds

Auckland Hearts 16

Otago Sparks 10

Wellington Blaze  9

Northern Districts  7

Central Hinds  6

Canterbury  6

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Ford Trophy, Round 1 @ Canterbury, 25 Nov 2023

The Firebirds started their Ford Trophy campaign well enough on Saturday, reducing Canterbury to 94-7 at the half-way point of their innings at Hagley Oval. However an eighth wicket stand of 117 in 22 overs between wicket-keeper Mitch Hay (75) and left-handed number 9 Angus McKenzie (58) saw the home side through to a competitive score. This was despite fine bowling by Adam Milne who took 5-24 in just his second Ford Trophy appearance for the Firebirds.

Tim Robinson and Gareth Severin took the Firebirds’ total to 91-1 in the 15th over, and they were 117-3 in the 21st. They then lost their last seven wickets for 40 runs and suffered a heavy first up defeat. Pick of the Canterbury bowlers were 18-year-old medium-pacer Cameron Paul on debut, who took 3-17 and unorthodox slow-left-armer Michael Rippon with 3-31.

Short scoreboard

Canterbury 220 in 49.2 overs (Adam Milne 5-24, Peter Younghusband 2-40, Logan van Beek 2-51) beat the Wellington Firebirds 157 in 32 overs (Tim Robinson 51, Gareth Severin 35, Troy Johnson 26) by 63 runs.

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