For the first time in Central Stags history, the team has won New Zealand's one-day and first-class trophies in the same season, and all in the space of eight days.

With an astounding Plunket Shield victory in Nelson in the last (cyclone-rescheduled) match of the season, the Stags sent interim Plunket Shield leader Canterbury's hopes up in a curl of smoke as they stormed to an amazing victory over the Auckland Aces at 2.30pm on the last day.

Missing a number of top players due to the concurrent BLACKCAPS and New Zealand A series, the Stags also overcame everything the weather could throw at them over the four days, in which more than four sessions of play were lost, including the entire first day.

But through it all, the team kept their eyes on the prize and fought hard on a pitch that had little life in it.

A number of players contributed at various times with Josh Clarkson's aggressive first innings knock a standout, and Will Clark blasting sixes in the second innings to help make up for lost time.

But the star of the match will go down as Ray Toole who stunned the Aces with a career-best seven wicket bag in just 13.3 overs to win the game - on a flat deck.

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Toole said the Stags drew on their experience in Rangiora two games earlier, where they had rattled through Canterbury's second innings on the way to a key victory (taking six Canterbury wickets for just 14 runs, on a pitch that had slightly more life).

"We knew we had done it before," said Toole.

"With the weather and rain here, when we started off this match in Nelson, the deck was a bit soft and slow, and if anything we thought we might get catches in front.

"But on the last day, suddenly there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and I think the sun hardened it up a bit.

"The nicks started carrying through, and we got the ball swinging as well, which we had in the first innings as well, but now with a bit more pace in it.

"With Duddsy's [Liam Dudding's] spell, we kept the pressure on from both ends, and it was just a matter of leaving nothing out there.

"To lift the Plunket Shield is unbelievably special, and it's something I've personally strived for since debuting. It's a very sweet feeling."

In his home town of Nelson, veteran captain Greg Hay became the first Stags skipper since Vic Pollard in 1969 to lift the 116-year-old trophy twice as a captain, after having missed the entire first half of the summer with a broken arm.

Toole finished with 31 wickets for the season at 22.96, behind only Otago Volt Jacob Duffy (32 at 29.09) nationally.

Stag Tom Bruce (705) who captained the first half of the championship-winning campaign was the third highest run-scorer in the campaign, missing the last match as captain of New Zealand A - who had beaten Australia A on the same day down in Lincoln.

It was a come-from-behind finish to a Stags campaign that had been heartbreakingly interrupted by Cyclone Gabrielle, and saw the Stags go for a month without any cricket in the peak of the season.

The team finished level on 101 points with Canterbury, but knew that was all they needed: an outright with two bonus points from the first innings. If they won, they would be elevated by the second separator: the overall number of wins.

The Stags won five of their eight matches and Canterbury four.

Canterbury had met the Stags twice in the uneven competition this season, and neither time had the Cantabrians tasted victory.

In October, the Stags had staved them off for a dramatic draw at this same ground, first match of the season.

How crucial that last Stags wicket in October would prove: Blair Tickner and, you guessed it, Ray Toole having held the fort with the bat, whilst nine down.

The Plunket Shield championship was the Stags' first win in the longest format since 2018/19 when they went back to back, also winning the T20 title that summer.

They won their final match by an emphatic 188 runs, with the trophy presented to Hay by Central Districts and Nelson Cricket Life Member Jock Sutherland.

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Article added: Wednesday 05 April 2023