Domestic Daily - Aaaah, The Ford Trophy
The Ford Trophy is underway folks! The Plunket Shield is the bread and butter, but this Ford Trophy will be very interesting as it will give many a player an opportunity to make their case for the upcoming World Cup. There's a few spots up for grabs and we've already seen after the first round a few guys make their intentions known.
Game Sitch
- Otago vs Northern Districts - The Volts set the Knights a rather hefty total of 335 with Aaron Redmond again amongst some runs with 63 at the top with Michael Bracewell top scoring with 98. Nathan McCullum and Sam Wells both got 40 odds, pretty much the perfect innings from your top 5. ND's spinners were the only bowlers to do anything of note with Ish Sodhi picking up 2/56 off 10 and Jono Boult finishing with 3/66 off 9. ND were then rolled for 113 with Jacob Duffy (3/31 off 6) and Sam Wells (3/15 off 5) the chief destroyers.
- Central Districts vs Canterbury - Well Jamie How dined out at Pukekura Park hitting 177 off 99 balls to help the Stags set a huge (at the not so huge Puke Park) 405. Doug Bracewell hit 78 off 34 to nudge the total up some more, while Andy Ellis was the pick of Canterbury's bowlers with 5/97 off 10. Canterbury could only manage 188 with Adam Milne in fine form picking up 4/48 off 8 overs.
- Auckland vs Wellington - It was another fine effort with the bat first up as the Aces clubbed 365 thanks to a Martin Guptill 111 off 109 balls. Rob Nicol (69), Craig Cachopa (70) and Colin Munro (79) all chipped in as well with Cachopa and Munro going much better than a run a ball. This game followed script with Wellington all out for 192 with Grant Elliot's 77 off 69 the only real score that I care about - Luke Woodcock also got 50. Mitch McClenaghan and Michael Bates picked up 3 wickets a piece.
That Man Deserves A Mean Feed
- Michael Bracewell goes good, he probably chows down the protein shakes so I'll give his liver a break and make him the bestest fruit bowl he'll ever have. Sorry mate, can't give you any meat as you fell short of the hundy.
- The bowling attack for the Volts however can treat themselves to an all you can eat Chinese buffet.
- Jamie How, you won't get a World Cup spot but you'll get a seafood platter full of goodies from the ocean.
- The Auckland Aces top 5 batsmen could probably enjoy their pick of Mt Eden's finest dining places, or Grant Elliot could shout them some Hell's Pizza.
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Observations From The Observatory
- Before I get on to World Cup watch, you may have guessed that I greatly appreciate Craig Cachopa as a batsman. He averages 49 in first class cricket, he's 22, keep ya eyes peeled.
- Jacob Duffy is another name to keep tabs on, the medium pacer for the Volts is probably just behind Matt Quinn in the young swinger rankings but he's good. In his two Plunket Shield games before today's game he took 8 wickets.
- Right, World Cup watch. Well Martin Guptill ticked a box going bang, good from you Guppy. Interestingly, they other key performance was also in this match with Grant Elliot the only Firebird to go alright. Both these two are definitely playing for a spot and got off to good starts. Nathan McCullum also got 48, which will help his cause.
- With Matt Henry having and off day, big Mitch and Milne impressed to add more confusion to the make up of the seam attack. The race seems to be between these three lads for one or two spots, but my mate Doug put his hat in to the mix.
- Doug Bracewell didn't really appear in the picture for the World Cup, but as a Black Cap Test squad member, he did exactly what you'd want returning to domestic cricket. 78 off 34 and 2 wickets - could Doug emerge as a bit of a sneaky contender??