Domestic Cricket Guide - Ford Trophy Final
I'm neutral, but #TeamRyder for life.
Rain in Christchurch yesterday ruined the Elimination Final between Canterbury and Otago as Canterbury were gifted the win as they finished ahead of Otago on the ladder after the game was called off after 26 of 37 overs. This ruined my pick for the final which is a bummer and here we are with Canterbury deservedly getting a spot in the final as they were the best team throughout the Ford Trophy.
Canterbury vs Central Districts for the glory/a few quiet brews, it's a repeat of the epic encounter from the weekend in which Jesse Ryder and Ben Wheeler carried the Stags to a comeback win. We're still waiting for the final teams to be confirmed so I'll try my best to predict how the Stags and Canterbury will line up.
Canterbury will be without Henry Nicholls and Tom Latham who are on BLACKCAPS duty and were replaced by Leo Carter and Ken McClure for yesterday's game. There's no reason to expect too many changes to Canterbury's team from the Elimination Final and if the same team is rolled out, Canterbuy will boast a very well balanced team with Roneel Hira and Todd Astle both offering legit spin threats while also batting in the top five.
CD will be without Doug Bracewell who got the BLACKCAPS call up for Mitchell McClenaghan and I'd roll with the Stags bringing in Bevan Small as a like-for-like replacement. The other curious selection decision will be whether Ajaz Patel or Marty Kain is picked as the main spinner. Patel has featured more recently so I'm leaning towards him.
The two best bowlers in the Ford Trophy will be on display and regular readers will note that Ed Nuttall and Seth Rance have enjoyed plenty of air-time as they've consistently produced the goods. Nuttall has 18 wickets from 8 innings with an average of 16.22 and economy rate of 4.74 runs an over which isn't too much better than Rance's 17 wickets from 7 innings at 14.41 and 4.27 runs an over.
Nuttall and Rance have been the best bowlers throughout the Ford Trophy and as this game is on telly on Saturday, it will be the perfect opportunity to see Nuttall especially, in action. Both Canterbury and CD boast impressive bowling attacks and aren't all about Nuttall and Rance, this will make things interesting as we might see another bowler enjoy the spotlight in the big dance.
Canterbury will call on young seamer Kyle Jamieson to support Nuttall with the new-ball and he's coming off an impressive 3/59 in that loss to CD. Logan van Beek and Andrew Ellis will also feature heavily, they are right-arm medium pacers who will work in conjunction with spinners Hira and Astle. After being dropped from the BLACKCAPS, Astle has a great opportunity to stamp his mark on kiwi cricket with fine a finals performance to go with his 12 wickets in 6 innings and impressive leg-spinning Ford Trophy average of 19.58.
Rance and Ben Wheeler will get the new-ball for CD and they'll be eager to get early wickets as their bowling attack doesn't quite have the same quality of depth as Canterbury. As I said, I expect Bevan Small to come into the attack and he will join Blair Tickner as young right-arm medium pacers to keep an eye on in this final. Tickner has 5 wickets in 4 innings' while Small has 8 wickets in 6 innings' and their job will be to maintain any pressure or advantage that Rance and Wheeler earn.
Patel/Kain and Worker will then offer some spin while Jesse Ryder should also get a few overs of his dibbly-dobblers. Ryder has been barely used with the ball in the Ford Trophy - probably a sign of the Stags' quality bowling attack - which has me intrigued about how he will be used as a bowling option in the final. Ryder has bowled in three games, more specifically he's bowled in his last two games so he could be warming into his work for the final.
Ryder is also the best batsmen from either team and will serve as the 'must-watch' player in this final. I've waxed lyrical about Ryder's exploits with the bat throughout the season so he's the easy pick as a batsman to watch out for - who else is there?
I'm going with Will Young for CD, who has had a fairly quiet Ford Trophy despite his obvious talent. In 6/8 innings' Young has scored more than 10 runs, with only one 50+ score so he's clearly been struggling to make the most of any start he gets and with a lot of attention from Canterbury likely to be on Ryder and George Worker, Young will need to play a steady hand if CD are to go close to winning.
Canterbury's best batsmen in the Ford Trohpy has been Tom Latham; he won't be there and their second best is Andrew Ellis ... who has one 50+ score to his name, which when compared to Ryder's five 50+ scores doesn't make for good reading. I can't look past Peter Fulton as Canterbury's key batsman, especially with the Cantabs light on experience in their top-order.
Trying to predict this final is tricky as CD have the better batting unit, while I'm leaning towards Canterbury's bowling attack. Both Nuttall and Jamieson went for more than 5 runs an over in their last outing against CD and even though they will again be bowling at Ryder, Wheeler, Worker etc, I can't see Nuttall especially being that expensive. Ah, but this final will be played at Pukekura Park in New Plymouth, which isn't a very big ground and runs could flow very easily.
I like the Stags, partly because I'm #TeamRyder and mainly because I just think that they have more match-winning talent. What's holding me back from going all in on the Stags is that Canterbury boast more players who have been in finals games before and have seen it all (Fulton, Astle, Hira, Ellis) and if there's any bowler who can tie down Ryder, it's the best bowler in the competition: Mr Nuttall.
Hey, let's just go with domestic cricket being the winner yeah!?