Domestic Cricket Daily: Ford Trophy #11
Finals are glorious things, until they are shortened or one team doesn't show up and the other wins via a stroll in the park. Unfortunately, instead of a 50-over hit out for the Ford Trophy final, Canterbury took the bickies in a 20-over fixture thanks to Mother Nature over Wellington. T20 cricket ain't all that bad, it's just that we've already had the Super Smash and it would have super-duper cool to see these two teams duke it out in the skills that make 50-over cricket what it is.
Instead, the domestic deity Peter Fulton smoked 116 off 58 balls to help the Cantabs reach 199/3. Hamish Marshall did his best for Wellington in reply, hitting 59 off 29 balls but Canterbury's spin duet of Tim Johnston and Todd Astle took 2 wickets each and Andrew Ellis followed Fulton's veteran lead with 4/28 @ 7rpo.
Fulton had a fairly quiet Ford Trophy campaign up prior to this final having only hit one half-century in seven innings' and somehow this was only Fulton's fourth List-A century. This Ford Trophy final was played in Rangiora and Fulton had played two other games in Rangiora during the competition; starting with 53 in Canterbury's first game and dismissed for a duck in game four.
With four notable scores in six innings' and a 63.50avg/91.80sr, Henry Nicholls finished the campaign as Canterbury's best batsman. Nicholls has enjoyed plenty of air-time on The Niche Cache for his domestic exploits and it's purely because he's stacked runs upon runs; Nicholls was the only batsman to score over 300 runs in less than seven innings'.
People will debate about Nicholls' Blackcaps credentials and right now there doesn't seem to be much space in that ODI batting line up to accommodate him. That's especially the case when you consider the desire for power at the international level, although Nicholls knocked around with a 91.80sr with only Sean Solia (45) and George Worker (71) hitting more fours than Nicholls (41) - remember that Nicholls only played six games.
Canterbury once again enjoyed strong contributions from Ellis and Astle as all-rounders; Ellis took 12 wickets in six games @ 17.41avg/4.35rpo, Astle took 12 wickets @ 32.33avg/5.10rpo. The bloke who needs highlighting though is Tim Johnston, an off-spinner who finished second to Ish Sodhi as the Ford Trophy's best spinner (both took 14 wickets) thanks to Sodhi playing less games.
Johnston didn't take more than 3 wickets in an innings, however he only went wicket-less in two of his nine innings. Having only played two List-A games before this summer's Ford Trophy, Johnston slotted right in without any problems and his career List-A average of 21.61 looks pretty damn good on the back of a 23.07avg for the Ford Trophy. Johnston hasn't quite been able to make much of an impression in the Plunket Shield (56.20avg), but as he's in a purple-patch, Canterbury may give him more game time alongside Astle's leggies.
Enjoy a Ford Trophy All-Stars team...
George Worker
1st in runs, 6th in wickets.
Playing at Pukekura Park definitely helps Worker's run-scoring, but his form this summer is undeniable and it's not only the balance between bat and ball that makes him valuable; he can smack it and noodle it.
Luke Woodcock
10th in runs, 17th in wickets.
I was leaning towards Worker's opening partner at Central Districts Jesse Ryder, but I had to squeeze Woodcock in here. He opens in the Plunket Shield and gives the same balance that Worker gives, plus there's a fairly young batting group so having Woodcock's experience at the top will be lovely.
Sean Solia
2nd in runs.
The breakout star of the Ford Trophy was the 24-year-old Solia, who was swiftly promoted to a key batting position for Auckland and delivered the goods. Solia not only delivered the goods but he did that at a strike-rate of 99.57.
Will Young (Captain)
3rd in runs.
It's just cool to see the lad who I consider to be Aotearoa's best non-Blackcaps batsman putting runs on the board after a lean summer up to this point. Keep an eye on Young as he's only 24yrs, leads CD and will be gunning for some Plunket Shield to cap things off.
Henry Nicholls
4th in runs.
There really isn't a whole lot else that Nicholls can do for a promotion to the international level, just gotta wait.
Josh Clarkson
11th in runs.
Always love getting a bolter in these teams and as we've got batsmen who are better at carving the ball to the boundary, Clarkson gets the nod for his ability to finish off an innings. We saw this in the Super Smash and Clarkson backed it up in the Ford Trophy with an average of 54.60 and strike-rate of 116.66.
Tim Seifert (wk)
14th in runs.
I've talked about our young wicket-keeper/batsman stocks for a long time, yet in the Ford Trophy the likes of Tom Blundell, Dane Cleaver, Cameron Fletcher and even Glenn Phillips didn't quite deliver as well as we would have hoped. Northern Districts' Seifert scored the most runs of that group and he was the only wicket-keeper to hit two notable scores.
Scott Kuggeleijn
16th in runs, 1st in wickets.
No one took more wickets than Kuggeleijn and he also showed his ability with the willow, hitting two half-centuries at a strike-rate of 106.14. We gotta now wait and see how Kuggeleijn's off-field situation unfolds, the dude's quality in the domestic cricket arena is certified though.
Anurga Verma
3rd in wickets.
One half of Wellington's destructive seam attack, Verma is finally enjoying an extended stint of success and he'll be looking to crack into Wellington's Plunket Shield team with similar impact.
Ish Sodhi
4th in wickets.
Nicholls dominated in only six games and it's the same story with Sodhi as he took 14 wickets in six games. Sodhi joined Ellis as the only bowlers to take more than 10 wickets and average under 20, with his attacking prowess on display taking a wicket every 23.1 deliveries.
Hamish Bennett
2nd in wickets.
Verma and Bennett both took 16 wickets, but Bennett finished with a slightly better average of 20.18 (vs 20.75avg). Bennett offered the hostility with his pace and bounce doing damage while Verma delivered out-swing nibblers.
12th-Man: Andrew Ellis
6th in wickets.
Ellis had to be in this group somewhere thanks to his performances with the ball, but also because we know exactly what Ellis is going to offer as an all-rounder. He continues to be a fantastic leader for Canterbury and I'd be happy to chuck Ellis in anywhere in this team if some joker rolled their ankle playing ping-pong in the warm up.