Plunket Shield: Round 3
0
The Rain Round.
While the ambitious November T20 series passed mostly unscathed things weren’t so lucky in the last round of the Plunket Shield.
It is not often you get three low scoring games with no result. The closest was in Dunedin where Otago, batting second, took a 106 run lead before failing to finish off the ND Allstars 2nd XI as they made 104/6 in 61 exhilarating overs.
The best statchat from the round was in Dunedin. Michael Rippon (98 and 9 wickets for Otago) came very close to joining Warwick Armstrong, Jack Crawford, Frank Woolley & Dipak Patel as the only players to score a century and take 10 wickets in the same first-class game in NZ.
The match in Nelson was even less remarkable while at the match at the Basin Reserve the hosts were rolled early for 91, Auckland made a comparatively mammoth 217 in return before Wellington were possibly fighting back at 104/2 before the tempest came.
Batsmen
In keeping with the Bannerman themed round from last week, ND’s Henry Cooper scored 149 out of his side’s 243. The next highest score was Daniel Flynn with 20.
In Dunedin Nathan Smith scored a maiden first class century with 114.
Without wanting to panic anyone Latham and Nichols both scored ducks for a combined 8 balls.
#ConwayWatch: A failure in the first innings with 22, although that was the side’s top score, and 32* in the second.
Bowlers
Good signs with the test series around the corner is that Neil Wagner took his second 5WI in consecutive matches taking 6/114 (off 40 overs). Possible test teammate Lockie Ferguson ushered in Movember by taking 4/23 bowling downwind at The Basin.
Elsewhere Rippon, mentioned above took 5/33 off 27 overs, and 21-year old Cantab pace bowler Fraser Sheat claiming a career-best 4-52.
The figures of the round though were from Ben Sears (yes, son of Michael) who took 6/43.
This resumes in February 2020.