The intrigue is brewing. Can Canterbury do the three-peat?
First class champions for the past two seasons on the trot, tomorrow Peter Fulton’s red and blacks enter the business end of the 2015/16 Plunket Shield, brought to you by Budget Rental, in second place on the points table and well in the hunt for the rare triple title.
No team has won three titles in a row since the great Auckland era of the 1930s. Auckland won four Plunket Shield titles in succession up unto the 1939/40 season, after which WWII saw the competition go on ice until the end of the war in 1945/46.
With just four rounds to go, the unbeaten Mondiale Auckland Aces are the only team in front — but nowhere near far enough in front to be comfortable.
With a maximum 20 points available per side per match (if teams nail all their bonus point targets), Canterbury, on 71, could catch the Aucklanders (85 points) at any moment.
Canterbury skipper Peter Fulton is also in sight of a serious statistic, heading into round seven on 9771 career runs at first-class level — the echelon in which the tall mainstay debuted 16 years ago.
Fulton would be the last to make mention of any such personal focus, but with 229 runs to find from a maximum possible eight first-class innings left in the summer, it’s game on to become the 25th New Zealander to tick off a rare target.
The last Kiwi to crack the 10,000 run mark was Wellington Firebirds skipper Michael Papps, last season. Papps had previously played many times alongside Fulton in his Canterbury years.
Michael Bates steps back into the Auckland captaincy
Two of the six teams tomorrow will feature stand-in captains: regular SBS Bank Otago Volts captain Hamish Rutherford (concussion) and Mondiale Auckland Aces captain Rob Nicol (injury) are both out; Brad Wilson and Michael Bates fill the roles in their stead.
Two former New Zealand Under-19s players, Brett Randell (Mondiale Auckland Aces) and 2015/16 New Zealand Cricket Maori Scholarship winner Zak Gibson (above, SKYCITY Northern Knights) are in line to make their first-class debut, if selected in their team's playing XI.
ROUND SEVEN
All matches are four-day matches starting at 10.30am this Tuesday, 8 March
Livescoring will be available at www.blackcaps.co.nz and on the BLACKCAPS mobile app
Official hashtag: #plunketshield
Mondiale Auckland Aces v Devon Hotel Central Stags at Eden Park Outer Oval, Auckland
Mondiale Auckland Aces (two changes, Matt Quinn and Brett Randell for Nathan McAndrew and Rob Nicol; also Michael Bates as captain for the injured Nicol): Michael Bates (captain), Brad Cachopa, Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Donovan Grobbelaar, Michael Guptill-Bunce, Shawn Hicks, Tarun Nethula, Robbie O'Donnell, Matt Quinn, Brett Randell, Jeet Raval
Devon Hotel Central Stags (one change, Navin Patel for Liam Dudding): Will Young (captain), Tom Bruce, Dane Cleaver (w), Greg Hay, Ajaz Patel, Navin Patel, Mitch Renwick, Kurt Richards, Bevan Small, Ben Smith, Blair Tickner, George Worker
Wellington Firebirds v SKYCITY Northern Knights at the Basin Reserve, Wellington
Wellington Firebirds (two changes, Iain McPeake, in line to make his first-class debut if selected in the playing XI, and Michael Pollard in for Anurag Verma and Luke Ronchi):
Michael Papps (captain), Brent Arnel, Matt Bacon, Tom Blundell (w), Scott Borthwick, Fraser Colson, Dane Hutchinson, Iain McPeake, Stephen Murdoch, Jeetan Patel, Michael Pollard, Luke Woodcock
SKYCITY Northern Knights (three changes, Zak Gibson, who is in line for a first-class debut, Joe Walker and BJ Watling in for Brett Hampton, Ish Sodhi and Joe Carter): Daniel Flynn (captain), James Baker, Dean Brownlie, Anton Devcich, Zak Gibson, Tony Goodin, Scott Kuggeleijn, Daryl Mitchell, Bharat Popli, Tim Seifert, Joe Walker, BJ Watling
SBS Bank Otago Volts v Canterbury at Queen's Park, Invercargill
SBS Bank Otago Volts (two changes, Mark Craig for Rhys Phillips and Blair Soper for the injured Sam Wells; also Brad Wilson as captain for Hamish Rutherford): Michael Bracewell, Neil Broom, Mark Craig, Derek de Boorder, (w), Jacob Duffy, Jack Hunter, Anaru Kitchen, James Neesham, Craig Smith, Blair Soper, Christi Viljoen, Brad Wilson (captain)
Canterbury (one change, Matt Henry in for Logan van Beek): Peter Fulton (captain), Todd Astle, Hamish Bennett, Chad Bowes, Leo Carter, Michael Davidson, Andrew Ellis, Cameron Fletcher (w), Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Johnston, Ken McClure
Full schedule here
