Otago had a fabulous win vs Northern Districts in Dunedin that bumped them up to second on the Plunket Shield ladder, while Canterbury had a home win vs Central Districts and Auckland's win in Wellington means Wellington still haven't won a game.

Auckland

Win vs Wellington | 5th | 2-3-1 | 60 points

Best Performers vs Wellington

Samrath Singh: 3w @ 4.9rpo | 2w @ 4.6rpo
Ryan Harrison: 3w @ 3.8rpo | 3w @ 3rpo
Simon Keene: 2w @ 3.6rpo | 62 runs | 3w @ 3rpo
Lachlan Stackpole: 172*
Luke Watson: 86 runs | 31 runs

Best Performers This Season

Lachlan Stackpole: 596 runs @ 54.1avg/99sr
Simon Keene: 514 runs @ 51.4avg/77sr | 24w @ 26.6avg/3.4rpo
Bevon Jacobs: 417 runs @ 37.9avg/77sr
Ryan Harrison: 253 runs @ 42.1avg/42sr | 18w @ 31avg/4.3rpo
Rohit Gulati: 27w @ 28avg/2.9rpo

Notebook

Lachlan Stackpole is the only player with a strike-rate over 88 or 13+ sixes in Plunket Shield this season, while leading Auckland for runs. Here's his career mahi...

FC: 41.6avg/81sr
LA: 23.3avg/89sr
T20: 19.5avg/146sr

Most sixes in Plunket Shield this season...

Lachlan Stackpole (20yrs): 31
Matt Boyle (23yrs): 12
Bevon Jacobs (23yrs): 11
Tom Blundell (35yrs): 10
Tim Robinson (23yrs): 9
Thomas O’Connor (21yrs): 8
Glenn Phillips (29yrs): 8
Kristian Clarke (25yrs): 8

Simon Keene is second in runs, wickets and catches (11) for Auckland in Plunket Shield this season. Keene's career mahi...

FC: 33.6avg/65sr | 30.6avg/3.3rpo
LA: 29.1avg/98sr | 23.2avg/5.3rpo
T20: 21.4avg/165sr | 34.6avg/8.2rpo

Ryan Harrison in FC: 22.9avg/35sr | 30.6avg/4rpo

Samrath Singh had played three FC games and he took 5/6 wickets in this game.

Luke Watson and Marco Alpe made their Plunket Shield debuts. Watson played two games of Super Smash and Alpe is an 18-year-old wicket-keeper.

Northern Districts

Loss vs Otago | 3rd | 3-3-1 | 76 points

Best Performers vs Otago

Joe Carter: 84 runs | 81 runs
Bharat Popli: 72 runs
Jeet Raval: 51 runs
Zak Gibson: 3w @ 4.3rpo | 43 runs | 1w @ 3.2rpo
Tim Pringle: 3w @ 2.5rpo | 2w @ 2.6rpo

Best Performers This Season

Henry Cooper: 629 runs @ 52.4avg/50sr
Joe Carter: 605 runs @ 50.4avg/50sr
Bharat Popli: 486 runs @ 37.3avg/56sr
Jeet Raval: 453 runs @ 34.8avg/44sr
Kristian Clarke: 379 runs @ 42.1avg/59sr | 14w @ 35.5avg/2.9rpo
Tim Pringle: 25w @ 28.4avg/.6rpo
Zak Gibson: 17w @ 23.8avg/3rpo

Notebook

Joe Carter's last three FC seasons...

2023/24: 594 runs @ 59.3avg
2024/25: 299 runs @ 49.8avg
2025/26: 605 runs @ 50.4avg

Bharat Popli's scores in last 10 games (all FC):

89, 1, 0, 10, 21*, 69, 116, 8, 6, 91, 1, 26, 58, 13, 17, 1, 72, 8.

Zak Gibson has at least 10 consecutive innings with a wicket across all three formats. He has taken 3w in three of his last four innings bowled and 17w so far this season is already a career high in FC bowling. He has two seasons with 10+ wickets and averages below 30, both have come in the last three seasons.

Tim Pringle's runs and wickets in last 10 games...

Runs: 27*, 27, 0, 25, 36*, 21, 5, 24
Wickets: 1, 1, 1, 4, 2, 0, 1, 0, 3, 2

Central Districts

Loss vs Canterbury | 4th | 3-2-2 | 70 points

Best Performers vs Canterbury

Ray Toole: 4w @ 4.7rpo | 5w @ 3.3rpo
Ajaz Patel: 3w @ 3.8rpo | 1w @ 3.4rpo
Dane Cleaver: 67 runs | 78 runs
Brad Schmulian: 55 runs

Best Performers This Season

Brad Schmulian: 709 runs @ 64.4avg/60sr
Curtis Heaphy: 493 runs @ 49.3avg/43sr
Dane Cleaver: 406 runs @ 45.1avg/67sr
Ray Toole: 31w @ 23.1avg/3.3rpo
Ajaz Patel: 14w @ 32.5avg/3.1rpo
Josh Clarkson: 14w @ 33.6avg/3.5rpo

Notebook

Ray Toole is now the leading wicket-taker in Plunket Shield as a lefty seamer. He is the only bowler with 30+ wickets and he took 31w @ 22.9avg in 2022/23 so this isn't quite his best season of FC bowling. Toole averages 27.4 in FC bowling, 31.4 in List-A and 29.1 in T20s.

Dane Cleaver's scores in last 10 games: 19, 47, 2, 48, 75, 0, 109, 67, 78, 26.

Cleaver averages 41.5 in FC batting.

Brad Schmulian is now averaging 41.7 in FC batting.

Wellington

Loss vs Auckland | 6th | 0-5-1 | 31 points

Best Performers vs Auckland

Tom Blundell: 96 runs | 35 runs
Michael Snedden: 5w @ 3.3rpo | 44*

Best Performers This Season

Nick Kelly: 455 runs @ 37.9avg/58sr
Nick Greenwood: 426 runs @ 32.7avg/60sr
Tim Robinson: 407 runs @ 40.7avg/73sr
Liam Dudding: 15w @ 29.6avg/2.9rpo
Michael Snedden: 11w @ 50.2avg/3.7rpo
James Hartshorn: 10w @ 43.3avg/3.7rpo

Notebook

Tom Blundell's scores in last 10 games:

41, 45, 51, 41, 49*, 21, 28, 6, 6, 98*, 96, 34.

Canterbury

Win vs Central Districts | 1st | 4-1-2 | 91 points

Best Performers vs Central Districts

Mitch Hay: 85 runs
Matt Boyle: 75 runs
Henry Nicholls: 68 runs | 66 runs
Rhys Mariu: 52 runs
Michael Rae: 4w @ 3.6rpo | 2w @ 3.5rpo
Travis Muller: 3w @ 2.5rpo | 1w @ 3.6rpo
Fraser Sheat: 2w @ 3.1rpo | 4w @ 3rpo
Leo Carter: 77 runs
Jesse Frew: 53 runs

Best Performers This season

Henry Nicholls: 793 runs @ 99.1avg/75sr
Matt Boyle: 536 runs @ 53.6avg/71sr
Fraser Sheat: 25w @ 23.8avg/3rpo
Sean Davey: 23w @ 22.2avg/2.7rpo
Michael Rae: 23w @ 24.9avg/3.1rpo

Notebook

Canterbury's younger batters in FC cricket...

Rhys Mariu: 53avg/66sr
Matt Boyle: 34.9avg/65sr
Mitch Hay: 46.6avg/54sr

Jesse Frew hit his first 50+ score in Plunket Shield. Usually he is a wicket-keeper but Hay was listed as the keeper in the win vs CD so Frew was playing as a batter.

Canterbury's seam bowling unit now with Travis Muller getting game time...

Fraser Sheat: 26.9avg/2.8rpo
Sean Davey: 21.2avg/2.6rpo
Michael Rae: 32.1avg/3.6rpo
Travis Muller: 29.3avg/3.4rpo

Otago

Win vs Northern Districts | 2nd | 3-1-3 | 83 points

Best Performers vs Northern Districts

Thomas O'Connor: 4w @ 4.3rpo | 21 runs | 3w @ 3.4rpo | 84*
Max Chu: 40 runs | 71*
Danru Ferns: 3w @ 3.6rpo
Jarrod McKay: 2w @ 3.4rpo | 1w @ 2.4rpo
Jack Boyle: 85 runs
Matthew Bacon: 3w @ 2.8rpo
Troy Johnson: 57 runs
Thorn Parkes: 53 runs

Best Performers This Season

Max Chu: 524 runs @ 58.2avg/58sr
Jacob Cumming: 493 runs @ 49.3avg/66sr
Jack Boyle: 410 runs @ 37.2avg/45sr
Luke Georgeson: 352 runs @ 50.2avg/39sr | 18w @ 32.5avg/3.3rpo
Thomas O'Connor: 119 runs @ 39.6avg/76sr | 23w @ 11.9avg/3.4rpo
Danru Ferns: 20w @ 34.1avg/3.4rpo

Notebook

Max Chu’s last two seasons in each format...

Plunket Shield

2024/25: 378 runs @ 47.2avg/49sr

2025/26: 524 runs @ 58.2avg/58sr

Ford Trophy

2024/25: 290 runs @ 36.2avg/109sr
2025/26: 252 runs @ 36avg/68sr

Super Smash

2024/25: 230 runs @ 28.7avg/155sr
2025/26: 237 runs @ 29.6avg/140sr

Thomas O’Connor’s last three games...

Runs: 5, 9, 21, 84*
Wickets: 3, 7, 6, 4, 3

O'Connor's FC career: 122 runs @ 24.4avg/70sr | 25w @ 14.7avg/3rpo

Thorn Parkes hit his first 50+ score of the Plunket Shield season. He has one century and 14 scores over 50 in his career at 25-years-old, averaging 32 in FC batting.

Troy Johnson has two 50+ scores in Plunket Shield and seems to be on the up with Otago after no 50+ scores and averages less than 20 in his two FC seasons prior.

Jacob Cumming's scores in last 10 game:

45, 38, 5, 5, 23, 6*, 49, 58, 33, 18*, 7, 45.

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