It's round three and home at last for the Central Stags in their defence of first-class Plunket Shield.

Invigorated by last week's memorable win, the Stags head into their match against Canterbury starting in Stoke, Nelson tomorrow with one change to the squad and hoping the province will live up to its sunny reputation.

The defending national first-class cricket champions leapfrogged up to second on the table with a key victory against Northern Districts last week — and now have one round left this side of Christmas to haul in the high-flying Firebirds.

The Wellingtonians hold an early 15-point lead over the injury-hit Stags, who are on a quest for a rare third consecutive title this summer.

However, with a maximum possible 20 points available per round, the table can change as quickly as the weather in the eight-round competition.

After a winning debut, rookie pace duo Jarrod Mckay (above) and Ray Toole have been retained in the 12-man Central squad for Saxton Oval — and are joined by another new face in uncapped 24-year-old right-arm seamer Ben Stoyanoff, who last summer earned his 50th cap for Hawke’s Bay.

Said High Performance Manager Lance Hamilton, "Ben has been involved in our wider squad for the last few years and has been close on numerous occasions to playing for the Stags over that period.

"He was unavailable last round due to work commitments, and joins the squad after a standout performance for Hawke's Bay in last weekend's regional Hawke Cup round."

Mckay’s selection has brought to three the number of hometown Nelson players in the 12-man squad, joining allrounder Willem Ludick and captain Greg Hay — who is the tall teenage right-armer’s senior by a mere 17 years.

Hay, a veteran of more than 5000 first-class runs, said he was impressed by the way the young pair of Toole (22) and Mckay (18) handled a testing introduction to first-class cricket last week.

“Jarrod is obviously a very tall young bowler and used his height to get some bounce out of a pretty flat wicket — and also, in the outfield where he took two very good catches for us.

“Ray hit his mark straight away, and he was very consistent. It was exciting to see both of the young men taking their maiden wickets and it will be a win they will never forget, I’m sure.

“This week it will be a special one for Willem Ludick as he returns to the scene of his maiden first-class century — that was in a very exciting outright win against Canterbury last year, and we’re sure they won’t have forgotten that one.”

Toole said he was excited at a chance to play at Saxton Oval for the first time (at any level) with the free admission four-day match beginning at 10.30am tomorrow.

“Training there for the first time yesterday, it was great to have a look around, obviously it’s a class international venue. I’m also really enjoying being part of the Stags — it’s been a really good team environment to come into and all the guys have made it really comfortable for myself and Jarrod.

“They made sure we were clear in what our specific roles were and that they were there to support us through it. That made us relax more on debut so we could just do our thing and be ourselves.”

Toole (above) took 2-38 in his first innings of Plunket Shield — a 74-run win against hosts ND, and earlier faced his first ball of first-class cricket against a fired-up BLACKCAP in Neil Wagner.

“I was a little bit nervous to start with, but the adrenaline kicks in when you’re out there. I was just concentrating on watching the ball and blocking absolutely everything else out of my mind,” said Toole.

“Tom Bruce and Ajaz Patel helped calm me down both times that I batted as well; they were good batting partners. With the ball, I was very happy I did what I had been asked to do, and helped to create and keep the pressure on ND.

"My Dad was over from Australia watching, too, he’d come over for my birthday expecting to see me playing in an A game for CD and then I got to tell him he needed to change his plans and head to Bay Oval which was pretty cool.”

BLACKCAPS batsmen Tom Latham — coming off a double century at the Basin — and Henry Nicholls are expected to feature in the Canterbury side this weekend.

“It may be that we have to work really hard for wickets, similar to last week, but I can’t wait — it will be another exciting test.”

The Plunket Shield will take its traditional summer break at the conclusion of this round, with attention turning to The Ford Trophy one-day campaign and Dream 11 Super Smash T20 title defence, before the crunch final five rounds of Plunket Shield resume in late February 2020.

In association with Nelson Cricket, the Stags will be at a free event at the Saxton Indoor Centre at Saxton Oval, Stoke between 4.30pm and 5.30pm this afternoon (Thursday 7 November) where members of the public aged 15 or younger (and parents) are invited to pop in for a fun hour trying to bowl a Stag in the nets, or have a bat or selfie with the players.

Entry to all four days of the Plunket Shield at Saxton Oval is free admission.

PLUNKET SHIELD | ROUND THREE OF EIGHT

10.30am, Friday 8 - Monday 11 November 2019

Central Stags v Canterbury

Saxton Oval, Stoke, Nelson

GREG HAY — captain, Nelson

TOM BRUCE — Taranaki

DANE CLEAVER — wicketkeeper, Manawatū

WILLEM LUDICK — Nelson

JARROD MCKAY — Nelson

AJAZ PATEL — Hawke’s Bay

RAYMOND TOOLE — Manawatū

SETH RANCE — Wairarapa

BRAD SCHMULIAN — Hawke’s Bay

BEN SMITH — Whanganui

BEN STOYANOFF — Hawke’s Bay (potential first-class debut)

GEORGE WORKER — Manawatū

Article added: Thursday 07 November 2019