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Central Districts v Wellington, 50 overs, Fitzherbert Park in Palmerston North, 6 December 2020

Scorecard

I have written about cricket at Fitzherbert Park before. Nineteen years ago next March I covered a first-class match there between Central Districts and Auckland for CricInfo (the daily reports, or, if you prefer to relive the drama hour-by-hour, live reports, are still available). It was an odd game played on a pitch so treacherous that it might have been educated at Cambridge in the thirties.

Initially, the problem was sudden, rearing bounce. As the game progressed, this was varied by an increasing number that kept low, the mix trending towards the latter. At tea on the first day, I raised the possibility that the match could become the first anywhere in the world to be over on day one since Kent v Worcestershire at Tunbridge Wells in 1960 (you may sense in the angry-young-man tone of the reports the concern of a writer fearing that he will be paid for one day’s work when he had budgeted for four). In fact, it just stretched into the third, the obduracy and skill of Mark Richardson being decisive.

Palmerston North (Palmerston is a small town in the South Island) is a couple of hours’ drive north of Wellington, and in cricketing geography is part of Central Districts, which cover the bottom half of the North Island except Wellington, and the top bit of the South Island. It is the only serious contender for Wellington’s claim to be the windiest place in the country. That is due to its flatness, something that presents the navigationally challenged such as myself with difficulties, depriving us of topographical clues. Once, I made three attempts to leave the city, but arrived back in the centre each time, as if I were staging the Hampton Court maze scene in Three Men in a Boat in a modern setting.

Fitzherbert Park is one of five venues Central use during the course of the season, the others being the sublime Pukekura Park in New Plymouth, the Saxton Oval in Nelson, McLean Park in Napier, and Nelson Park in Napier when McLean Park needs time to recover from the rugby season (as you will see from the recycling of Palmerston and Nelson, New Zealand’s English placenames were selected from a narrow range of nineteenth century imperial figures, one reason why the current trend towards the use of Māori placenames is a good thing),

Fitzherbert Park is a pleasant venue, though not an outstanding one by New Zealand standards. Thinking of a similar ground in the UK, the best I could come up with was Archdeacon's Meadow in Gloucester, to which Gloucestershire switched when the Wagon Works Ground became unfit for first-class cricket (or rather when it was recognised that it had been unfit for that purpose for some time). It has a main road running down one side but is otherwise tree-lined. The stand being full of excited young players—commendable, but noisy—I took my place on some raised seats under a tree at deep extra cover.

This was the third of the ten-match league stage of the 50-over competition. The winner hosts the final. Second and third play off to meet them. Both Central and Wellington had lost their first two games, so the loser here would face a tough challenge to finish in the top three. Both sides were without key personnel in the test and New Zealand A teams.

Central won the toss and decided to bat. Wellington attacked early on, with four close catchers. This was good to see, but to no avail as both McPeake and Bennett were both expensive in their opening spells. In the fourth over Bayley Wiggins cut Bennett for six. Central reached 50 in the ninth over.

The introduction of Sears brought some control—just ten came from his first four overs—and the first wicket. Wiggins drove casually to mid off to be caught by Bracewell.

George Worker has been on the fringe of the international team for a while, and has made ten appearances in shorter forms. He showed his value with bat and ball here. In partnership with Ben Smith the hundred mark was passed in the 20th over and it seemed as if a total of around 300 was a realistic aspiration, but Worker also fell to a casual shot, to be caught at mid-wicket off legspinner Younghusband.

Around this time, two ducks were observed circling the ground, an ominous portent in the superstitious mind of the cricketer. Nobody went scoreless, but from that time on wickets fell regularly enough to deny Central the resource and momentum needed for a big score.

Tom Bruce’s was a key wicket. He can be as devastating a batsman as any in the final overs, but he had his middle stump knocked back by Younghusband when coming down the pitch. Hamish Bennett left the field after his first three expensive overs, and did not return, so the leggie was promoted from luxury to essential status. He responded well with three for 42. I hope that this encourages Bracewell to prefer Younghusband to his own rustic off spin more often.

Smith top scored with 79. He dispatched Younghusband into the flowerbed across the main road, but was caught on the mid-wicket boundary trying a repeat two overs later.

That Central finished with as many as 261 was thanks to some judicious late hitting by Clarkson, who took four fours off McPeake in the 47th over, and Dudding, who left no part of the bat unused in making 15 off the final over of the innings. I made a note that Central were 20 short, and, for once, I was about right.

The early part of the Wellington reply was a game of two ends. From the City End, Seth Rance kept it tight, conceding 19 from his first five overs, while profligacy from the River End meant that Wellington had made 60 by the end of the tenth.

Andrew Fletcher hit four boundaries off Liam Dudding’s opening over, all driven through the covers. The only wicket to fall in this period was that of Lauchie Johns, run out backing up when the ball flicked of Rance’s finger as he followed through.

Slow left-armer Jayden Lennox, playing the seventh match of a career so far limited to 50-over cricket, came on for the 14th over. I had not heard of him, but was greatly impressed by his performance here. He took one for 20 from his initial seven-over spell, the wicket being that of Fletcher, bowled by a ball that hurried on as he stepped back to cut.

With 97 to get from 17 overs and eight wickets standing a position from which Wellington should have won with something to spare. Win they did, but easy it was not. Bracewell and Johnson both fell to catches off Worker, to short fine leg and short third man respectively.

Jakob Bhula had come in at the fall of the first wicket, but hit not a single boundary between the 21st and 41st overs, when an inside edge bounced over the keeper’s head. He was a Morris Minor obdurately doing 30 with no higher gear available, slowing down the following traffic.

Fraser Colson joined Bhula and initially found it as hard to meet the desired scoring rate. Lennox was as abstemious as he had been earlier, but George Worker struggled to find his length and line on returning to the attack and Colson hit two fours in the first over of his spell before being bowled coming down the pitch to Lennox, who appears to relish a challenge.

Forty were needed from seven overs. A required rate of a little under seven an over is usually inconsequential these days, but Bhula was as becalmed as Ben Ainslie’s yacht has been in the pre-America’s Cup races so far, and though the new batsman, Gibson, hit the ball hard from the start, every one went straight to a fielder in the inner ring. One came from the 45th over.

It seemed when Gibson mishit an on drive off Field that Wellington’s last hope was gone, but the ball went high enough for the strengthening wind to carry it towards the mid-wicket boundary, which happened to be the shortest on the ground, and it dropped just over the rope for six to keep Wellington in the race.

With 22 needed from the last three overs, two of which were to be delivered by the reliable Rance, Central remained marginal favourites, but 16 came from the 48th over including two fours and a six from Gibson, who was growing fond of the short legside boundary.

Now, and only now, did Bhula find his boldness and touch, completing the paperwork with two fours off the first two balls of the 49th over. The image that sprung into my mind was that of Janet Webb sweeping into view as the credits rolled at the end of Morecambe and Wise, thanking people for watching her show, for this was a victory won despite Bhula’s unbeaten 97, rather than because of it.

The unusual structure of the competition had the two teams back at Fitzherbert Park for a second game two days later, but it was rained off. Both registered one victory in the two rounds that followed before the competition made way for the T20 during the summer holidays. Wellington are fourth, just two points behind third-placed Otago. With all four of their remaining fixture at the Basin Reserve, they can still make the play offs.