2022 Plunket Shield: Northern Districts vs Otago Draw
Northern Districts and Otago shared a draw in their Plunket Shield round two fixture, sending Otago up to second on the ladder where they share 24 points with Canterbury and Wellington. Central Districts have 23 points, Northern have 11 points and Auckland have eight points. This draw gives Otago a win and a draw, while Northern have a loss and a draw.
Northern put up 355 runs in their first innings with Henry Cooper leading the run-scorers. Cooper hit 112 at the top of Northern's batting line up as Colin de Grandhomme (58 off 38 balls), Kieran Clarke (52 runs) and batting wizard Neil Wagner (41 runs) provided support. Jacob Duffy continues to sizzle with the ball for Otago as he took 7 wickets in that innings before 93 runs from Dean Foxcroft and 96 runs from Thorn Parkes steered Otago to 429 runs.
Both teams received runs from their bowlers with Travis Muller (50 runs), Duffy (70 runs) and Michael Rae (36 runs) bolstered Otago's only batting innings. Wagner's 4w for Northern led their bowling effort, plus 2w each from Joe Walker and Matt Fisher. Northern then reached 258/9 with de Grandhomme's 84 runs the leading knock, rounding off the drawn contest.
Only two batters have scored 100+ runs with strike-rates over 70. Tom Blundell has 196 runs @ 78sr and de Grandhome has 173 runs @ 100sr. Despite de Grandhomme taking 2w @ 53avg in two games, his batting is typically CDG-ish and his presence in Plunket Shield is fabulous.
Wagner's 4w in this game take him to 5w @ 31.6avg this season and how his mahi progresses this season remains an enticing wrinkle to track. Fisher is the only Northern bowler who has taken more than 5w after two games and he now fourth for wickets with 10w @ 15.6avg.
Cooper had scores of 56 and 90 in the first game, followed by 112 and 39 in this game. In 42 First-Class games, Cooper averages 37.76 and after a dip last season where he only managed one notable score (it was a 200-run biggun'), Cooper has reclaimed his PS consistency. Cooper leads Northern for runs with 297 runs @ 74.25avg and he now has a century in five of his seven FC seasons.
Cooper has three 50+ scores in four innings, Otago's Thorn Parkes has three 50+ scores in three innings. Parkes is yet to hit a FC hundy but he came close against Northern with 96 runs, following scores of 54 and 58 in the first game.
Foxcroft's 93 is a significant knock as he flashes the talent that made him a notable youngster prior to his pandemic-absence. FC cricket is Foxcroft's worst format (averages 40+ in List-A and T20) although he is building solid FC foundations and his third 50+ score in 16 innings of FC batting takes him to 29.62avg.
Otago have the hottest seamer in Aotearoa right now which is a lovely boost for their young batting line up. Duffy is first for PS wickets with 17w @ 14.94avg and this is a massive improvement on last season's 13w @ 54.84avg. Then again, Duffy seems to roll through this pattern...
2011/12: 2w @ 29.5avg
2012/13: 12w @ 51avg
2013/14: 5w @ 53.6avg
2014/15: 45w @ 24avg
2015/16: 25w @ 46avg
2016/17: 9w @ 51.33avg
2017/18: 29w @ 23.62avg
2018/19: 17w @ 46.82avg
2019/20: 24w @ 22.45avg
2020/21: 28w @ 20.14avg
2021/22: 13w @ 54.84avg
2022/23: 17w @ 14.94avg
Duffy has a streak of six consecutive innings with 2+ wickets which stretches back into the Aotearoa 'A' tour of India. Duffy also has wickets in 11 of his last 13 innings.
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