2023/24 Plunket Shield: Round Three Notebook
For those who want deeper Plunket Shield coverage than the Henry Nicholls ball tampering saga, The Niche Cache is here with the round three notebook. Nicholls' actions may have helped Canterbury defeat Auckland, then again Auckland have lost every game this season and if they weren't winning at home, they were unlikely to win in Christchurch. Central Districts also had a win over Otago in Dunedin while the two best teams of the first stanza Wellington and Northern Districts played out draw influenced by rain in the capital.
Northern Districts: 2-0-1 | 42 points
Wellington: 2-0-1 | 42 points
Central Districts: 2-1 | 39 points
Canterbury: 1-1-1 | 31 points
Otago: 0-2-1 | 15 points
Auckland: 0-3 | 10 points
Most Runs
Henry Nicholls: 335 runs @ 111avg/59sr
Nick Kelly: 288 runs @ 48avg/62sr
Tom Bruce: 235 runs @ 58avg/55sr
Greg Hay: 224 runs @ 44ag/37sr
Mitch Hay: 209 runs @ 52avg/54sr
Nick Greenwood: 207 runs @ 34avg/63sr
Dale Phillips: 205 runs @ 34avg/65sr
Sean Solia: 195 runs @ 32avg/46sr
Max Chu: 189 runs @ 31avg/47sr
Jeet Raval: 179 runs @ 44avg/59sr
Most Wickets
Nathan Smith: 19w @ 14avg/3.2rpo
Scott Kuggeleijn: 18w @ 13avg/2.6rpo
Kristian Clarke: 17w @ 17avg/3.8rpo
Doug Bracewell: 15w @ 16avg/2.7rpo
Adithya Ashok: 14w @ 29avg/3.8rpo
Zak Foulkes: 13w @ 16avg/2.8rpo
Fraser Sheat: 12w @ 17avg/2.1rpo
Jacob Duffy: 12w @ 21avg/2.5rpo
Michael Rae: 12w @ 25avg/3.1rpo
Ray Toole: 11w @ 21avg/2.9rpo
Wellington vs Northern Districts
Batting first, Wellington scored 270 runs with notable knocks from Tim Robinson (60), Nathan Smith (58) and Nick Kelly (51). Gareth Severin also chimed in with 40 runs as Northern's Kristian Clarke took his second 6-wicket-baggy of the summer. Brett Hampton took 3 wickets as well before he salvaged the batting response from Northern with 85 runs @ 110sr down the order, with Northern dismissed for 191.
Smith took 5w as the leading bowler for Wellington, along with 2w for Ben Sears and Michael Snedden. Nick Greenwood hit his second 50+ score of the season with 73 runs opening the batting for Wellington as they declared on 224/9, with Scott Kuggelijn taking 4w for Northern. Wellington set Northern a target of 304 for victory. Northern's best batters led the way in pursuit of their target with openers Jeet Raval (58) and Henry Cooper (73) both passing 50 runs, then Joe Carter added 54*. Rain ruined the run-chase though with Northern of 248/4.
Robinson played his first game of the season for Wellington and made an impact straight away. The 21-year-old not only scored 60 runs but he also took 2w in the final innings, dismissing both Northern openers in his 4 overs.
Smith has taken wickets in all six innings of bowling so far, taking 3+ wickets in five of those innings. After a knock of 49 runs in the opening game, Smith had his first 50+ score of the season and is now averaging 26.7 with the bat, 27.8 with the ball in First-Class cricket.
22-year-old Clarke has taken 6w in back to back games and he's quietly building fantastic career bowling stats. Clarke has a FC average of 26.9 while also averaging 21 in List-A and T20 cricket. Clarke isn't quite Northern's best bowler though with Kuggeleijn leading their wicket-taking mahi. Kuggeleijn's efficiency continues to intrigue as he earned a Test call up last summer and as documented throughout The Niche Cache's cricket coverage, Kuggeleijn was Aotearoa's best bowler in two A series against Australia. Kuggeleijn has wickets in 17 of 18 innings across his last 10 games.
Carter and Kelly have 50+ scores in all three games so far this season. Along with Nicholls they are the only lads with three scores over 50.
Canterbury vs Auckland
Auckland batted first in Christchurch and put up 217 led by George Worker's 60 runs. Canterbury had Will O'Rourke taking 2w in his first game of the season, while Michael Rae (3w) and Zak Foulkes (2w) also played notable roles. Nicholls hit his second century of the season in Canterbury's reply, with support from Michael Rippon (69) and Foulkes (61) which took Canterbury to 413/9 declared.
Adithya Ashok took 3w for Auckland while Danru Ferns and Louis Delport took 2w each. Auckland's veterans led the way in the second innings with Sean Solia scoring 67 and Rob O'Donnell battling away down the order with 54*. Auckland were dismissed for 256 thanks to Michael Rippon's 4w, along with 2w for Foulkes and Rae. Canterbury only needed 61 runs for victory and they hit that mark in 16.1 overs.
Canterbury's all-rounders showed their value with Rippon and Foulkes making key contributions with bat and ball. Rippon has wickets in all four innings bowled but he took 4w in the first three innings, then 4w in his last outing. Rippon hadn't passed 50 runs prior to this game but he had two 30-odd scores and a 19*.
Foulkes is emerging as one of the best young cricketers in Aotearoa. This game saw him slide back into the middle order after playing the first two games as an opening batter in Chad Bowes' absence. The 21-year-old didn't register a score over 20 runs in that opening role and his return to the middle order saw him crack his first 50+ score in FC cricket. With the ball, Foulkes has wickets in all six innings and he now has a FC bowling average of 21.
As a mark of Canterbury's seam bowling depth, they have three seamer who have taken 10+ wickets. Foulkes is joined by Rae and Fraser Sheat. This was O'Rourke's first game (3w) while Ed Nuttall has played one game and Henry Shipley hasn't featured this season.
Otago vs Central Districts
Central batted first in Dunedin and put up 182 runs thanks to Greg Hay's knock of 59. Jacob Duffy took the first of his 3-wicket-baggies and the other five bowlers used by Otago took 1w each. Otago then scored 210 runs led by 23-year-old Thorn Parkes' 70 and another solid knock from 19-year-old Jamal Todd (48).
Doug Bracewell's 4w came with support from Brett Randell and Ray Toole who took 2w each. Central's second batting innings saw them reach 332/9 declared with Tom Bruce not-out on 105, along with Josh Clarkson's 52 runs. Duffy took 3w again and Otago needed 305 runs for victory.
Dale Phillips put Otago in a strong position thanks to his 85 runs and he was the last wicket to fall for Otago who were dismissed for 254. Bracewell gathered a few more wickets with 3w and Ajaz Patel showed his Blackcaps Test squad class with 3w. The key figure in Central's bowling attack however was Brad Schmulian as he took 2w, including the winning wicket of Phillips. Schmulian scored the same amount of runs as the number of wickets he took and his first wickets of the season helped Central seal victory.
Patel has 10w @ 28avg/3.1rpo this season he enters the Blackcaps Test mixer with wickets in five of six innings. Bracewell is the leading wicket-taker for Central and he sits in a similar zone as Kuggeleijn as domestic leaders still bagging lots of wickets. Meanwhile, the best batter from the A series this year was Bruce and he continues to score lots of runs. Bruce currently has a FC batting average of 49.8.
Otago haven't won a game yet but they do have a draw and lots of funky young talent. Phillips, Parkes and Todd all had 50+ scores while Max Chu had 49 runs in the second innings as well. A weakness for Otago is their top-order with openers Jacob Cumming and Luke Georgeson, as well as Dean Foxcroft all averaging below 15. Most of the best batters so far are experienced domestic players while Wellington's Greenwood is the only young-ish opener with multiple 50+ scores. Opening the batting ain't easy in October/November so Otago's lack of top-order runs should improve.
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