Hawke’s Bay off-spinner Jayden Lennox and young Manawatū allrounder Ashtuti Kumar are in line to make debuts tomorrow as the national Plunket Shield and Hallyburton Johnstone Shield campaigns resume on opposite sides of the coast.

Ajaz Patel’s BLACKCAPS Test recall has opened the door for a first-class left-arm spinner in the Central Stags’ Plunket Shield squad while exciting young talent Kumar has been called into the Central Hinds’ Hallyburton Johnstone Shield (one-day) squad for the first time.

Don't miss this Sunday arvo's Deco City Festival at McLean Park, free admission noon-6pm

The Stags will be back in action in Napier while the Hinds host the Canterbury Magicians at New Plymouth’s Pukekura Park on Saturday and Sunday and need to win both games — while also needing competition leaders Northern Spirit to win both their concurrent matches against the Auckland Hearts. The back-to-back games are the last two rounds before the Grand Final with one spot left to play for, Spirit having already qualified.

For 16-year-old Palmerston North schoolgirl Kumar, it will be a return to the ground on which she made her composed Dream11 Super Smash debut in December, when she was called into the T20 squad for the first time after an injury, her only appearance to date.

The right-armer's first one-day opportunity comes with WHITE FERN Rosemary Mair away at the ICC T20 World Cup and Claudia Green unavailable this weekend.

Said Central Hinds Head Coach Jamie Watkins, “Ashtuti has had a very good season. She was player of the match in the Districts T20 final which Manawatū won and was also a star performer in the CD U19 Women’s team that won the NZC national tournament this summer.

“She has just been at NZC’s High Performance Centre in Lincoln this past weekend with other identified Under 19 players ahead of next year’s inaugural ICC Women’s Under 19 World Cup and brings skills as a middle order bat, useful back-up seamer and outstanding fielding — as shown in her T20 debut, taking two crucial catches for the Hinds in our win against the Auckland Hearts.”

The Central Stags are also reigning national champions —  in the Plunket Shield, and head into the third of eight rounds of four-day first-class cricket on a quest to become the first team since 1940 to lift a threepeat of New Zealand first-class championships.

The Stags are well placed after the pre-Christmas rounds in second spot on the table and host a Northern Districts line-up that includes BLACKCAPS spinners Ish Sodhi and Mitch Santner over the next four days at McLean Park.

Jayden Lennox in action at last weekend's Hawke Cup | CDCA

Twenty-five-year-old Lennox is set to make his first-class debut after having made his List A (one-day Ford Trophy and overall Central Stags) debut in November.

He joins a strong squad that includes NZC-contracted batsman Will Young in his first Plunket Shield game of the summer and wicketkeeper-batsman Dane Cleaver coming off his recent career-best 196 against the shadow India Test side at Hagley Oval.

Both the Plunket Shield and Hallyburton Johnstone Shield matches are free admission every day, and Sunday afternoon will see Napier’s Art Deco Festival 2020 come to McLean Park with 30s-themed entertainment, refreshments and the chance to win a Central Stags Plunket Shield shirt autographed by the team - for the best dressed - in a festival on the bank (noon-6pm) hosted by sponsorship partner Deco City Beer.

CENTRAL STAGS

Round 4 v Northern Districts

McLean Park, Napier

10.30am | Saturday 22 to Tuesday 25 February 2020

Greg Hay – captain — Nelson

Tom Bruce – Taranaki 

Dane Cleaver – Manawatū 

Jayden Lennox – Hawke's Bay — potential first-class debut

Willem Ludick – Nelson 

Seth Rance – Wairarapa 

Brad Schmulian – Hawke's Bay 

Ben Smith – Whanganui   

Blair Tickner – Hawke's Bay 

Ray Toole – Manawatū 

George Worker – Manawatū

Will Young – Taranaki

Coach — Aldin Smith

Unavailable for selection

Doug Bracewell, Ben Wheeler, Ben Stoyanoff,

Ajaz Patel, Ross Taylor, Adam Milne, Bevan Small, Kieran Noema-Barnett

CENTRAL HINDS

Rounds 9 & 10 v Canterbury Magicians

Pukekura Park, New Plymouth

10.30am | Saturday 22 February 2020 

10.00am | Sunday 23 February 2020

Anlo van Deventer — captain — Wairarapa

Hannah Rowe — vice-captain — Manawatū

Jess Watkin — Whanganui

Natalie Dodd — Taranaki

Kerry Tomlinson — Whanganui

Melissa Hansen  — Wairarapa

Mikaela Greig — Manawatū

Monique Rees — Wairarapa

Ashtuti Kumar — Manawatū

Georgia Atkinson — Wairarapa

Kate Baxter — Taranaki

Esther Lanser — Whanganui

Emily Cunningham — Taranaki 

Coach — Jamie Watkins

Unavailable for selection

Rosemary Mair, Claudia Green

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Article added: Friday 21 February 2020