Central Hinds and Manawatū leg-spinner Georgia Atkinson has been ruled out of this weekend’s national Hallyburton Johnstone Shield matches in Dunedin with injury.

The 37-cap spinner sprained her ankle during last weekend’s Central Super League T20 tournament, putting Atkinson out of the bowling mix as the Hinds seek to turn the tables on an Otago Sparks side that’s suddenly bursting with WHITE FERNS power hitters.

The top-of-the-table Sparks thrashed the Hinds back-to-back during the opening weekend of the season two weeks ago in Nelson, recording an all-time Sparks record winning margin in the process.

All images: PHOTOSPORT

The victories were also Otago’s first in the one-day format in several seasons, snapping a 21-match losing streak with their two bonus point victories over Central’s young side.

The Hinds remain without the services of WHITE FERNS pace bowler Rosemary Mair who is on an NZC-managed programme to return to full fitness, after the left shin stress reaction injury that ruled her out of the WHITE FERNS’ winter tour to England earlier this year. 

However, they have regained Taranaki opening batter Emily Cunningham for the rematches in the lockdown-reshuffled schedule, Cunningham returning from a concussion protocol stand-down after having been hit in the head during the team’s preseason quad tournament in Taupo three weeks ago.

Gemma Sims made her HBJ debut in Nelson | PHOTOSPORT

The Hinds were originally scheduled to be playing at home against the Auckland Hearts in Palmerston North this weekend but, due to the ongoing Auckland Alert Level restrictions, are now spending the weekend playing away in Dunedin. The postponed fixtures against the Hearts will be played later in the season, if feasible. 

To account for extra matches added to the season schedule, NZC has implemented an average points-per-game system that will determine the winners of its national Domestic competitions if teams impacted by COVID-19 restrictions play fewer matches than other teams.

In a normal summer, teams face each other only twice in the regular season, with the top two sides after 10 rounds progressing straight to the Final.

Heading into this weekend, the Hinds and Sparks have each won 30 matches against each other in the history of the competition.

Coach Jamie Watkins said that while the Hinds squad is youthful, there was encouragement to be taken from the performances of new season debutantes Cate Pedersen (Hawke’s Bay) and Gemma Sims (Wairarapa) in a tough situation in Nelson.

Cate Pedersen impressed under pressure | PHOTOSPORT

The pair put on a gutsy 50-run stand for the fourth wicket under pressure in Round Two, opening batter Pedersen top-scoring for the side with 39 and Sims not far behind her, contributing 36.

“The problem obviously was that our experienced players needed to stand up as well, and they’ll be looking to do that this weekend. 

“We've had Hannah Rowe and Claudia Green away during the week at the WHITE FERNS training camp in Lincoln so they will be coming off some strong preparation in the nets against some of these same Otago players. We’ll all be fired up to get ourselves on the board."

Hallyburton Johnstone Shield

v Otago Sparks

University of Otago Oval, Dunedin

GAME 3 • 10.30am Saturday 13 November 2021

GAME 4 • 10.30am Sunday 14 November 2021

JESS Watkin (captain) — Manawatū

HANNAH Rowe (vice-captain) — Manawatū

EMILY Cunningham — Taranaki

KATE Gaging — Nelson — wicketkeeper

CLAUDIA Green — Nelson

MIKAELA Greig — Manawatū

MELISSA Hansen — Wairarapa 

ASHTUTI Kumar — Manawatū 

CATE Pedersen — Hawke’s Bay 

MONIQUE Rees — Wairarapa

GEMMA Sims — Wairarapa 

KERRY Tomlinson — Hawke’s Bay

Coach — Jamie Watkins

Unavailable for selection

Rosemary Mair (managed return from injury)

Georgia Atkinson (ankle)

captain Natalie Dodd (Alert Level restrictions in Waikato)

Official hashtags #HBJShield #CentralHinds

Toss: 10am NZT

Livescoring: visit nzc.nz or the NZC app

Hallyburton Johnstone Shield schedule: click here 

Hallyburton Johnstone Shield is free admission and subject to the following Alert Level 2 protocols:

• Maintain at least 1m distancing from other people outside your personal/family/whanau bubble 
• Wear a face covering
• Keep track of where you have been 
• Get a test if you are unwell 
• Maintain good hygiene
• Book your free vaccination

 

Article added: Friday 12 November 2021