Northern Districts vs Canterbury (ND win by 21 runs)

Notables

ND 138

Kyle Jamieson - 4/32 off 9 overs @ 3.56rpo, Ed Nuttall - 3/44 off 9.5 overs @ 4.47rpo, Andrew Ellis - 2/33 off 6 overs @ 5.50rpo.

Canterbury 112

Tim Southee - 5/39 off 12 overs @ 3.25rpo, Ish Sodhi - 4/39 off 8 overs @ 4.88rpo.

ND 181

Daryl Mitchell - 44.

Todd Astle - 3/20 off 5.1 overs, Andrew Ellis - 2/26 off 20 overs @ 1.30rpo, Kyle Jamieson - 2/44 off 17 overs @ 2.59rpo, Ed Nuttall - 2/51 off 14 overs @ 3.64rpo.

Canterbury 186 (chasing 208)

Michael Davidson - 45.

Ish Sodhi - 3/66 off 19 overs @ 3.47rpo, Scott Kuggeleijn - 2/34 off 16 overs @ 2.13rpo, Joel Baker - 2/15 off 5.1 overs @ 2.90rpo, Tim Southee - 2/44 off 19 overs @ 2.32rpo.

Notes

Seamers paradise in the Tron which also gave some assistance to an almighty leg-spinning battle. Both Tim Southee and Ish Sodhi will feature in the Blackcaps Context below and they took most of ND's wickets so that takes care of that. The one bowling performance that really did intrigue me was that of Ed Nuttall from Canterbury as he's had a slow start to the season in only taking 2 wickets this season, which still gave him a call up to the NZ 'A' team to face Pakistan.

Nuttall took 5 wickets in this game - albeit on a green deck - and now carries a bit of form into the game against Pakistan, a bit of confidence before taking on an impressive batting line up.
Kyle Jamieson on the other hand, didn't get the NZ 'A' call up despite stacking up far more wickets than Nuttall early this season. Jamieson had taken 7 wickets prior to this game and now has a wicket in all six innings in which he's bowled so far this season, taking at least 2 wickets in four of those innings. Jamieson's height offers something different to any other kiwi domestic bowler, so as long as he's stacking up these wickets he'll be someone to keep close tabs on.

Michael Davidson opened with Peter Fulton for Canterbury and his 45 was the top-score in this game, so who's Michael Davidson? The 24-year-old has played eight First-Class games and has a half-century with an average of 24.40, interestingly, in those eight games/16 innings' he has just four scores below 10.

Otago Volts vs Central Districts Stags (Draw)

Notables

Otago 402

Josh Finnie - 98, Anaru Kitchen - 133, Derek de Boorder - 45.

Doug Bracewell - 3/58 off 19 overs @ 3.05rpo, Ajaz Patel - 3/134 off 40 overs @ 3.35rpo, Blair Tickner - 2/69 off 24 overs @ 2.87rpo.

CD 216

Tom Bruce - 83, Dane Cleaver - 50, Doug Bracewell - 42.

Neil Wagner - 3/38 off 20 overs @ 1.90rpo, Jimmy Neesham - 2/39 off 11 overs @ 3.54rpo, Josh Finnie - 2/42 off 11.4 overs @ 3.60rpo.

Otago 213/7dec

Hamish Rutherford - 110, Brad Wilson - 41.

Doug Bracewell - 2/42 off 10.3 overs @ 4rpo, Ajaz Patel - 3/94 off 13 overs @ 7.23rpo.

CD 266/7 (chasing 400)

Ajaz Patel - 45, Mitch Renwick - 48, Tom Bruce - 55.

Neil Wagner - 3/32 off 21 overs @ 1.52rpo, Jimmy Neesham - 3/23 off 11 overs @ 2.09rpo.

Notes

Hamish Rutherford's scores this season so far; 143, 73, 0, 15, 18, 110.

Anaru Kitchen came into the Otago team for the first time this season and along with Josh Finne, they are forming a slightly weird spin combo for Otago. Kitchen and Finne both batted in the middle order and it's clear that Kitchen is taking on a greater focus on his spin bowling after moving down from Auckland a few seasons ago. Both are super batsmen and made notable scores in this innings, then Finnie took 2/42 @ 3.60rpo while Kitchen took 1/52 @ 3.46rpo before both went wicket-less in the second innings with Finnie conceding 2.51rpo while Kitchen conceded 4.25rpo.

Finnie appears to have the inside running as Otago's numero uno spinner and he continues to be an absolute gun with the bat. He's scored a half-century (56, 60, 98) in each game this season and need I remind you that he's just 19yrs and in his past five FC games, Finnie has four 50+ scores. An off-spinning average of 55.57 isn't so flash, however his 3.36rpo is handy when you consider Otago's seam-bowling stocks.

CD's Tom Bruce is also brewing as an interesting young batsman, as the 25-year-old put up 83 and 55 in this game, which reflects an extremely healthy FC average of 45.72. In just 20 games, Bruce has 12 half-centuries folks.

Ajaz Patel's left-arm spin continues to give CD great service as he's bowling a borderline freakish number of overs, allowing the seamers to be rotated but he also deserves to bowl all those overs as he's doing exactly what he did so well last season in taking plenty of wickets. Patel took 6 wickets in this game (3/134, 3/94) which follows 10 wickets in his last game.

While Tim Seifert and Cameron Fletcher struggled along with every other batsman in that ND vs Canterbury game, Dane Cleaver continues to score some low key runs in the young wicket-keeper stakes. A century and a half-century in CD's middle order over the last two games has Cleaver sneaking in behind Tom Blundell, with Blundell at the front of the pack after being named in the NZ 'A' team.

Auckland vs Wellington (draw)

Notables

Wellington 475

Luke Woodcock - 203, Tom Blundell - 85, Matt McEwan - 63.

Cody Andrews - 3/101 off 24 overs @ 4.20rpo, Donovon Grobbelaar - 2/95 off 26 overs @ 3.65rpo, Colin de Grandhomme - 3/50 off 21 overs @2.38rpo.

Auckland 374

Jeet Raval - 84, Martin Guptill - 56, Michael Guptill-Bunce - 109.

Matt McEwan - 4/80 off 24 overs @ 3.33rpo, Matt Taylor - 3/34 off 6.3 overs @ 5.23rpo.

Wellington 240/9dec

Hamish Marshall - 73, Stephen Murdoch - 52, Tom Blundell - 45.

Tarun Nethula - 5/71 off 12 overs @ 5.46rpo.

Auckland 276/6 (chasing 342)

Martin Guptill - 128, Rob Nicol - 62.

Jeetan Patel - 3/65 off 25 overs @ 2.60rpo.

Notes

And Tom Blundell's selection in the NZ 'A' team is fully justified now with Blundell going back to back with notable scores, which is exactly what we want to see as kiwi cricket fans. Blundell has two 50+ scores and two 40's in five innings with a 3* also featuring in there, basically meaning that he's scoring runs whenever he walks to the crease. Oh, and Blundell hasn't been dismissed under 10 runs in nine straight innings'.

Hamish Marshall returned to the kiwi domestic scene this summer after a hefty stint in County cricket and after four straight scores over 20, Marshall finally went semi-big with a 73.

I continue to be a huge fan of Michael Guptill-Bunce and this game gave us a funky little battle with Guptill-Bunce taking on Martin Guptill and Jeet Raval, with Auckland's battle of the openers welcoming in the Blackcaps opener. Guptill-Bunce is still out of the Blackcaps picture at the moment, so I'll serve up another chapter in Guptill-Bunce celebrations; Guptill-Bunce now has three games in a row in which he's scored a half-century or century, five straight games in which he's scored over 40 in an innings.

Guptill-Bunce now has an average of 40.13, with eight half-centuries and three centuries in 19 games. Note his name alongside Josh Finnie's name as Aotearoa's best batsmen that no one's talking about.

Wellington's Matt McEwan played his first Plunket Shield game for the season, scoring 63 and taking 4/80 along with 1/67. McEwan's a 25-year-old Cantabrian and a FC bowling average of 30.82 in 21 games perked my antenna up, I'll keep an eye on him.

Leaders

Bowling

Ajaz Patel (CD): 19 wickets off 194 overs, 31.57avg, 3.09rpo.

Tarun Nethula (Aux): 17 wickets off 116.1 overs, 25avg, 3.65rpo.

Neil Wagner (Otago): 14 wickets off 73 overs, 13.07avg, 2.50rpo.

Batsmen

Luke Woodcock (Welly): 427 runs from 5 inns, 106.75avg, 2 x 100, 1 x 50.

Brad Wilson (Otago): 400 runs from 6 inns, 80avg, 2 x 100, 1 x 50.

Hamish Rutherford (Otago): 359 runs from 6 inns, 59.83avg, 2 x 100, 1 x 50.

Blackcaps Context

Aaaaye Martin Guptill got runs! Guppy scored 56 and 128, getting some runs in before the Blackcaps take on Pakistan and subsequently putting Jeet Raval in the shade although they probably kicked it together a fair bit as they're Suburbs New Lynn homies. Raval scored 84 and 19, which should poor cold water on the conundrum at the top of the order for the Blackcaps, until the first Test at least.

Hamish Rutherford might have something to say about all that as well. Rutherford's scoring runs freely at the moment, with his 110 in Otago's second innings coming off just 107 balls and any conversation about Raval's opening credentials should also make note of Rutherford's threat.

Jimmy Neesham couldn't score any runs, although he did take wickets with 2/39 off 11 overs and 3/23 off 11 overs. Corey Anderson did a bit better with the bat in scoring 35 and 23, while he took a wicket in either innings and we shouldn't read too much into Anderson's lack of work with the ball as he wasn't realyl required to bowl too many overs.

Henry Nicholls failed to keep his case for Blackcaps inclusion going strong with a duck and 15. In his three games this season, Nicholls has just two scores over 30 with a 33 and 98 coming in the previous round. With a few other batsmen standing up, demanding attention, Nicholls is walking a tight-rope.

Tim Southee and Ish Sodhi dominated for ND, taking 14/20 wickets. This is exactly what we want when our Blackcaps drop down to Plunket Shield cricket and the work of Doug Bracewell was also encouraging. Bracewell is being encouraged to develop his all-round ability and 42* along with 26* shows that the lad can definitely do a job in the middle/lower order, while he also took 3/58 and 2/42.

This round of Plunket Shield was epic thanks to the inclusion of numerous Blackcaps and with the Blackcaps always enduring a hectic schedule, we rarely get to see so many feature in Plunket Shield cricket. Southee and Sodhi will catch the eye for their wickets and Guptill's runs will be talked about in the mainstream media, but I reserve special mention for Neil Wagner.

Wagner has played just two games and he's taken 14 wickets (5, 3, 3, 3). This continues a run of impressive performances from Waggy, performances that have seen the good vibes that have been sucked out of the Blackcaps sit firmly above Wagner's halo. Wagner has taken the following in recent outings: 6, 2, 2, 1 (vs Zim), 3, 5, 1 (vs SA), 2, 0, 2, 1 (vs Ind), 5, 3, 3, 3 (for Otago).