Canterbury had a big win vs Auckland in a top of the table battle, Otago and Central Districts had a draw and Northern Districts were too slick for Wellington who went through the first stanza of Plunket Shield with four losses.

Auckland

Loss vs Canterbury | 2-1-1 | 1st | 49 points

Best Performers vs Canterbury

Simon Keene: 52 runs | 2w @ 4.1rpo | 152 runs
Ryan Harrison: 3w @ 4.3rpo
Jock McKenzie: 2w @ 4.3rpo
Cameron Fletcher: 62 runs

Best Performers This Season

Bevon Jacobs: 378 runs @ 54avg/81sr
Cameron Fletcher: 326 runs @ 54.3avg/42sr
Lachlan Stackpole: 282 runs @ 40.2avg/106sr
Simon Keene: 279 runs @ 46.5avg/82sr | 14w @ 24.5avg/3.1rpo
Rohit Gulati: 22w @ 22.6avg/2.8rpo
Jock McKenzie: 9w @ 28.7avg/3.5rpo

Notebook

Keene has a First-Class batting average of 31 and bowling average of 30.8. He has at least a wicket in every Plunket Shield innings this season with 2+ wickets in his last three innings.

Fletcher is averaging 40+ in back to back seasons for the second time since his debut in 2012/13. He has scored 20+ runs in six of his Plunket Shield innings.

Stackpole and Jacobs are the only batters with 10+ sixes.

Gulati is the leading wicket-taker in Plunket Shield and the only bowlers with 20+ wickets.

Northern Districts

Win vs Wellington | 2-1-1 | 3rd | 47 points

Best Performers vs Wellington

James Naylor: 4w @ 3.2rpo
Tim Pringle: 4w @ 1.7rpo | 4w @ 1.3rpo
Jeet Raval: 108 runs
Joe Carter: 99 runs
Robert O'Donnell: 91 runs
Henry Cooper: 88 runs

Best Performers This Season

Henry Cooper: 509 runs @ 84.8avg/49sr
Joe Carter: 388 runs @ 64.6avg/47sr
Bharat Popli: 317 runs @ 45.2avg/56sr
Jeet Raval: 310 runs @ 44.2avg/43sr
Tim Pringle: 19w @ 25.5avg/2.5rpo
Joshua Brown: 12w @ 29.8avg/3.1rpo

Notebook

FC careers for the batting mahi men...

Henry Cooper: 35.5avg/48sr
Jeet Raval: 38.1avg/48sr
Bharat Popli: 40.5avg/49sr
Joe Carter: 37.4avg/50sr
Robert O'Donnell: 35avg/52sr

Pringle had his best FC outing vs Wellington and has wickets in seven of his eight Plunket Shield innings. He has a FC bowling average of 33.9.

Naylor also had his best FC outing in his third game. He took 3w across his first two games and took 5w vs Wellington to give him 8w @ 32avg in FC bowling.

Zak Gibson didn't take a wicket vs Wellington but he has 7w @ 27.2avg/2.8rpo and scored 37* @ 103sr. He has three not-outs in four Plunket Shield innings and has 55 runs @ 55avg/57sr this season.

Central Districts

Draw vs Otago | 2-1-1 | 4th | 40 points

Best Performers vs Otago

Tyler Annand: 3w @ 3.5rpo
Raymond Toole: 2w @ 3.1rpo
Dean Foxcroft: 94 runs
Curtis Heaphy: 65 runs | 81 runs
Brad Schmulian: 78 runs
Dane Cleaver: 93*

Best Performers This Season

Brad Schmulian: 476 runs @ 68avg/67sr
Curtis Heaphy: 419 runs @ 69.8avg/45sr
Dean Foxcroft: 285 runs @ 47.5avg/71sr
Josh Clarkson: 13w @ 25avg/3.6rpo
Raymond Toole: 11w @ 32.9avg/3.4rpo

Notebook

Heaphy's scores in last 10 games: 35, 30*, 32, 36, 190, 13*, 35, 58*, 5, 132, 119, 17, 65, 81.

Heaphy has a FC batting average of 46.7 to go with his 52.8avg in List-A batting at 22-years-old.

Schmulian averages 41 in FC batting and 46 in LA batting. He has a 50+ score in each of his last three games and hit a 46 in the game before that streak.

Foxcroft is averaging 40+ for the second FC season of his career (five seasons below 40avg). He is the only CD batter with a strike-rate over 70 in Plunket Shield and his 7 sixes are the most for CD.

Cleaver has a FC batting average of 40.8 and his 93* vs Otago was his first score over 35 this season.

Toole has a FC bowling average of 28.9 and averages below 31 in all three formats. He has a wicket in every Plunket Shield innings this season.

Clarkson didn't take a wicket vs Otago and is still cruising along at 13w @ 25avg.

Wellington

Loss vs Northern Districts | 0-4 | 6th | 18 points

Best Performers vs Northern Districts

Nick Kelly: 111 runs
Elliot Seddon: 5w @ 3.1rpo
Michael Snedden: 3w @ 4.6rpo
Peter Younghusband: 66 runs

Best Performers This Season

Tim Robinson: 381 runs @ 63.5avg/77sr
Nick Kelly: 381 runs @ 47.6avg/60sr
Gareth Severin: 289 runs @ 36.1avg/51sr
Liam Dudding: 13w @ 24.2avg/2.9rpo

Notebook

Kelly's scores this season: 0, 11, 1, 6, 54, 41, 150, 3, 13, 3, 59, 111, 1. He has a FC batting average of 40.3.

Severin's scores this season: 60, 5, 17, 18, 25, 12, 65, 104, 25, 26, 11, 41, 5. He has a FC batting average of 36.4

Seddon took 5w on FC debut as a 21-year-old.

Canterbury

Win vs Auckland | 2-1-1 | 2nd | 48 points

Best Performers vs Auckland

Fraser Sheat: 3w @ 1rpo | 1w @ 3.6rpo
Cameron Paul: 3w @ 3.6rpo | 2w @ 3.7rpo
Sean Davey: 2w @ 2.2rpo | 4w @ 2.1rpo
Callum Cameron: 2w @ 4.6rpo | 2w @ 3.3rpo
Henry Nicholls: 226 runs
Rhys Mariu: 147 runs

Best Performers This Season

Henry Nicholls: 467 runs @ 116.7avg/72sr
Matthew Boyle: 284 runs @ 47.3avg/58sr
Chad Bowes: 236 runs @ 33.7avg/67sr
Sean Davey: 13w @ 23avg/2.8rpo
Ish Sodhi: 12w @ 42.6avg/3.2rpo

Notebook

Scores this season...

Henry Nicholls: 117*, 11, 138, 25, 15, 111, 109*, 2, 19, 226.
Rhys Mariu: 0, 37, 67*, 44*, 5, 2, 14, 2, 0, 12, 147.

Add in his 150* vs Zimbabwe and Nicholls has six 100+ scores in his last 10 games.

Mariu now has a FC average of 55.81.

Sheat averages 28.4 in FC bowling and Davey averages 21.2.

Paul is 20-years-old and has 23w @ 21.7avg in his first five FC games. He also scored 91 runs for NZ 11 vs West Indies prior to the Test series.

Cameron took 2w in each innings of his FC debut.

Otago

Draw vs Central Districts | 1-1-2 | 5th | 40 points

Best Performers vs Central Districts

Max Chu: 151 runs

Luke Georgeson: 80 runs | 1w @ 5rpo | 3w @ 2.9rpo

Ben Lockrose: 72* | 3w @ 2.3rpo

Danru Ferns: 4w @ 3.8rpo | 3w @ 3.5rpo

Jarrod McKay: 2w @ 3.9rpo | 2w @ 4.1rpo

Best Performers This Season

Jacob Cumming: 332 runs @ 55.3avg/63sr
Luke Georgeson: 320 runs @ 106.6avg/40sr | 13w @ 30.6avg/3.5rpo
Max Chu: 290 runs @ 48.3avg/62sr
Danru Ferns: 16w @ 26.4avg/3.3rpo
Jarrod McKay: 11w @ 49avg/4.2rpo

Notebook

Georgeson's Plunket Shield mahi...

Scores: 14, 59*, 44*, 74, 49*, 80
Wickets: 0, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1, 3

Georgeson averages 27.1 in FC batting and 32.2 with the ball.

Chu's last two Plunket Shield seasons...

2024/25 Plunket Shield: 378 runs @ 47.2avg/49sr, 1 x 100, 3 x 50
2025/26 Plunket Shield: 290 runs @ 48.3avg/62sr, 1 x 100, 1 x 50

Both of Lockrose's 50+ scores in FC batting have come in the last two games. He has scored 30+ runs in four of his last five innings and his FC bowling average of 64 will probably drop as he continues a consistent spinny all-rounder role.

Ferns has a wicket in seven of his eight Plunket Shield innings and averages 33.7 in FC bowling.

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