Domestic Cricket Guide - Ford Trophy #5
#StreetSweeperz
Ford Trophy leaders Canterbury (27 points) couldn't stretch their lead between them and the chasing pack as rain forced their game against Central Districts to be abandoned in the first innings. That's all good though as they've booked a finals ticket already. That chasing pack consists of CD (2nd with 18 points) and Auckland (17 points) with Auckland making light work of Wellington's 199, chasing it down in 39 overs which leaves the Firebirds (8 points) battling with Northern Districts (9 points) for the wooden spoon.
Otago have enjoyed a bit of a resurgence, they grabbed a win over ND in similar fashion to Auckland as they chased down ND's 181 in the 28th over. Otago are still in the mix with 13 points, especially with 4 point gap between them and ND, remember Otago just need to finish in 4th to qualify for the finals.
Tomorrow is the last round before we get some finals cricket, with ND hosting Canterbury at the Mount, Otago hosting Wellington in Invercargill and Auckland hosting CD. Here's some notes on what went down over the weekend.
Sizzle, You're On Fire
Lachie Ferguson
With Ed Nuttall absent for Canterbury, Lachie Ferguson took 3/46 off 9.1 overs to join Nuttall as the leading wicket-taker with 15 wickets. Ferguson has taken a wicket in all of his six games so far, with his worst haul being 1/70 against Wellington on January 6th and he flipped that script this time around picking up Michael Papps (4), Luke Woodcock (47) and Dane Hutchinson (35). Again, Ferguson is proving to be expensive however when you're taking wickets like he is, that's gravy.
Brad Cachopa
Auckland got their chase off to a good start with both openers passing the 50-run mark, led by Brad Cachopa's 85 off 118 balls. The Auckland wicket-keeper is enjoying a whale of a time this season; ranked 3rd highest run-scorer on 328, averaging 46.85 with a century and two 50s.
Neil Broom
Who's the leading run-scorer though? Mr Broom, who continues to make domestic bowlers look silly hitting 69 off 76 balls. In six innings' Broom has two hundreds and two 50s which is highly efficient and you'd have to assume that Broom will be crucial to Otago's run home.
Broom's 382 runs so far in this Ford Trophy campaign have come at a strike-rate of 91.82 and he's hit a staggering 40 4s.
Regular readers will note that it's largely the same blokes in this 'Sizzle, You're On Fire' category. Some would view this as a negative, that other players aren't really standing up to this level however I'm loving it, especially as guys like Ferguson, Nuttall, Cachopa and Broom aren't household names for the BLACKCAP-loving public.
Kudos
Michael Pollard
Wellington's only score of note was 51 off 78 balls from opener Michael Pollard, good work mate.
Anurag Verma
Wellington's only bowling performace of note was Anurag Verma's 3/48 off 7 overs, which saw him take all of Auckland's 3 wickets. Verma has taken 2/62 and 3/48 in his last two outings, so it will be interesting to see if he can keep this run going tomorrow.
Michael Guptill-Bunce
With Glenn Phillips away on Under-19 duty and Jeet Raval struggling for runs, Auckland have settled on a Cachopa/Michael Guptill-Bunce opening pair. Guptill-Bunce hit 66 off 75 balls in combination with Cachopa's innings which continues a low key impressive run for Guppy-B as he's hit two half-centuries in four innings.
Colin de Grandhomme
4/37 off 10 overs is exceptional from Colin de Grandhomme, coming off of 3/42 a game earlier, it's just a pity that CDG only has 79 runs from seven innings and an average of 13.16.
Kyle Jamieson
Last time we were here I pointed out Kyle Jamieson as a bowler to watch and the lanky medium-pacer took 2/23 in 4 overs before rain stopped play, taking the key wickets of George Worker and Jesse Ryder.
Volts bowlers
Neil Wagner is part of The Stable for the BLACKCAPS and I've got Jacob Duffy as a future BLACKCAP, so it's safe to say that the Otago Volts have a decent new-ball duo. Wagner took 2/40 off 10 overs and Duffy took 3/39 off 8.1 overs against ND with help from all rounder Sam Wells' 3/25 off 10 overs.
Not only is there a nice combo up front, Otago can then turn to Mark Craig, Jimmy Neesham, Anaru Kitchen and the OG Bradley Scott who have all been around the scene for a while now.
Against ND, no bowler conceded more than 4.78 (Duffy) runs per over and I'm intrigued to see what this experienced attack can do.
Michael Bracewell
So far it has been a relatively lean Ford Trophy for Michael Bracewell, with only 167 runs coming from his six innings'. Bracewell hit one of his two half-centuries against ND though and did so in glorious fashion, smacking 60 off 49 balls with 48 of those runs coming in boundaries.
Hmm..
Hamish Rutherford hit a cheeky 47 off 39 to guide Otago home against ND as his weird Ford Trophy campaign continues. Rutherford has only scored less that 28 runs once (8 vs ND on Jan 10) however he also hasn't passed 50 yet in six innings and he's averaging 40. Rutherford isn't opening either, instead coming it at No.4 which I personally believe is better suited to his style and I'll be interested in seeing if he can start to convert these starts into bigguns'.
Brad Cachopa is the only wicket-keeper in the top-10 run-scorers, which has me pondering how Cachopa features in BLACKCAPS coach Mike Hesson's thinking. Possibly a limited overs option once Luke Ronchi departs?
Shawn Hicks is a promising all rounder for Auckland, he is however struggling for runs: 4, 2, 18, 33, 19, 4 and 8 so far.
The Knights will struggle to win games in which their senior contingent consisting of Daniel Flynn (34), Dean Brownlie (44), Anton Devcich (12), BJ Watling (6), Daryl Mitchell (9) and Ish Sodhi (1/54 off 6.4 overs) aren't leading the way.