The Central Stags have hit the ground running in the back end of the Plunket Shield Championship with a thrilling win over the Wellington Firebirds at McLean Park late on Sunday.

The 60-run win in the last hour was especially satisfying for GREG HAY and his men after having been sent in on a greentop three days earlier, after the entire first day's play had been lost to rain.

The Stags batsmen showed character in a tough situation on Friday as they battled their way to 175 in the first innings, with a determined tail helping to graft valuable runs.

Promoted to nine, BLAIR TICKNER threatened to reach a new career best with the bat as he chipped away for more than 75 minutes, before turning the tables on the Firebirds when the Stags took the ball in the last session in what was effectively a three-dayer.

Swing bowler SETH RANCE accounted for both openers, starting by skittling debutant Luke Georgeson in the third over, just after a missed chance against Tom Blundell.

He soon got Blundell anyway, knocking off the top of off in the seventh over at 18/2.

Tickner (0-7 off five), RAY TOOLE (2-8 off six overs) and JOSH CLARKSON (1-5 off five) were all on their mark as they exerted pressure and cost the Firebirds three further wickets in the session - including the big one of Devon Conway who fell to Toole, caught behind.

By stumps, captain Michael Bracewell shaped as a key man in the Wellington first innings, but with a tough job to do from 60/5 after 23 fiery overs and 16 wickets falling during the day.

DAY THREE

Saturday was moving day and it was Stags who had the best moves with bat and ball - patiently working their way into a position to take control, even despite a few more hiccups and uncontrollables along the way.

The morning started with a flurry of wickets, Rance finishing with four and Blair Tickner 3-10, with tidy support again from Toole and Clarkson as they routed Wellington for just 104 in the first dig: no spin required.

Now the Stags embarked on their second innings with a more thand handy 71-run lead on the still green-painted surface.

GEORGE WORKER had been unfortunate to get a first-baller the previous day, but now he got a chance to get going at the top.

The left-hander stayed at his post for two hours, falling only one shy of a half century, and combining with ROSS TAYLOR in a steadying 42-run stand for the third wicket after the early loss of Hay and WILL YOUNG, the Test BLACKCAP departing LBW despite the ball hitting him above the knee roll at 37/2.

Taylor went on to a timely half century, but the Firebirds debutant Luke Georgeson continued to take the hosts by surprise with his prodigious outswing - claiming Hay, Taylor and Tom Bruce for 3-39 off just 11 overs.

The Stags found a way to fight back, AJAZ PATEL backing up his Ford Trophy career-best batting just two weeks ago with his maiden first-class fifty.

Patel (52 off 66) and Clarkson (35) shared a 63-stand for the seventh wicket that got right under the Firebirds' feathers, and when Clarkson was caught off spinner Michael Bracewell, Rance stepped in to larrop a couple of sixes in an enjoyable finish to the innings.

Hay declared nine down at 245, giving his bowlers a short, four-over crack at the visitors before stumps. The Firebirds survived to head into the final morning at 2/0, needing a further 315 off 100 overs if they were to take the win.

DAY FOUR

Both teams spent the first two sessions chipping away at their jobs, the Stags taking just two wickets in the morning session while the Firebirds stayed more or less on target to tick off 100-odd runs per session.

But the final session was a dramatic one!

By tea, the Wellingtonians had made it 175 for five - still a viable proposition, but with Clarkson having picked up two handy wickets in Bracewell and Troy Johnson.

The Firebirds appeared to have shut up shop as the final session ask got tough, but Blair Tickner's last spell turned the game as he suddenly claimed three wickets in the space of two overs with the new ball, and the last hour was taken.

DION EBRAHIM

The first of these saw former Zimbabwe international - now Central Stags assistant coach - Dion Ebrahim get himself on the park and in the game as a substitute fielder, with both Rance and Taylor now sidelined.

His first opportunity in the field was to take a spectacular catch in the deep to dismiss Logan van Beek on 39 - the Stags ecstatic as it separated the two capable Firebirds allrounders whose seventh-wicket stand had gone to 56 by then, the largest partnership yet in the final innings.

The piece of brilliance lifted the Stags in the field, Tickner striking again at the end of the same over as Tom Bruce took the catch to remove new man Lauchie Johns.

The Firebirds were now suddenly 238/8, living dangerously if they were to lose another. And that they did, after just one more delivery from Tickner (4-73) at the start of his next over - the 89th, the big pace bowler trapping Iain McPeake plumb.

In the interim the remaining allrounder Jamie Gibson had reached his fifty, and hit a six off Toole to celebrate. But the Firebirds lost their final wicket in a calamitous muddle, Gibson's partner turning blind, both of them then scrambling back from a suicide single, leading to Gibson slipping over in the middle of the pitch to be run out while still on his rump.

The Stags erupted in victory as they banked 16 points, still trailing leaders Canterbury by 37 points but with the advantage of playing Canterbury twice in the last three rounds, with a maximum of 20 points per team available per round.

Game on, lads!

 

 

ROUND FIVE

CENTRAL STAGS beat WELLINGTON FIREBIRDS by 60 runs

McLean Park, Napier

11-14 March 2021

SCORECARD

Toss: Wellington Firebirds who bowled

SELECTED MILESTONES

First-class debut: Luke Georgeson (Wellington Firebirds)

Dane Cleaver 50th first-class match for the Central Stags

Ajaz Patel (Central Stags): maiden first-class half century

Dane Cleaver 150th first-class dismissal for the Central Stags

Bonus Points

Bowling: Wellington Firebirds 4 (maximum achieved), Central Stags 4 (maximum achieved)

Batting: Central Stags 0, Wellington Firebirds 0

Total Points This Round

Central Stags 16, Wellington Firebirds 4

 

Article added: Monday 15 March 2021