STATISTICS: A summary of the statistics and milestones following the second round of women's domestic cricket.
Georgia Guy (Auckland Hearts) and Rebecca Burns and Thamsyn Newton (Wellington Blaze) were the players making their debut during the second round of matches.
Morna Nielsen for the second round in a row equalled the most economical bowling figures in the Action Cricket T20 competition. Her figures of 4-1-6-1 were not enough to stop the Wellington Blaze from coasting to a nine wicket victory.
It was a round for economic bowling with Kate Broadmore (Central Hinds) and Frankie Mackay (Canterbury Magicians) conceding just eight in their four overs while Paula Gruber and Stafanie Taylor (Auckland Hearts) both conceded nine runs to completely stifle the Otago Sparks batters. When Gruber last played the Sparks she had figures of 4-0-8-3.
This was repeated in the Sunday matches with Sian Ruck (Wellington Blaze) and Brooke Kirkbride (Northern Spirit) giving up just eight runs in their four overs while Kelly Anderson finished with 2-5 off 3 overs for the Canterbury Magicians.
This was reflected in the team scores during the Friday Twenty20 matches when the top score of the teams batting first was 94 for the Northern Spirit with the Otago Sparks restricted to 87 and the Central Hinds managing just 83. This is the first occasion that all three teams batting first during a round have failed to reach three figures. On the Sunday it was a similar story with only the Canterbury Magicians passing a hundred.
The 69 scored by the Central Hinds against the Magicians on Sunday was the fourth lowest total in T20 history while the Sparks have now been dismissed for less than a hundred in all four matches they have played at Melville Park.
Stafanie Taylor is the latest in a series of overseas players with the surname Taylor to play in the New Zealand domestic competitions. Clare Taylor first played for Otago Sparks in the 2000-01 season before finally retiring at the end of last season. Claire Taylor played for the Canterbury Magicians for three season from 2002-03 and more recently Sarah Taylor has played for the Wellington Flames returning for the current season. So Stafanie Taylor became the fourth Taylor to have been brought in from overseas when she played for the Auckland Aces in the first round of the Action Cricket competitions last week.
The 60 Stafanie Taylor scored against the Otago Sparks was the fifth highest score for the Auckland Hearts and the ninth half-century scored for them in T20 matches. Her half-century came in 38 balls, the fourth fastest for the Hearts. Her partnership of 73 for the first wicket with Sam Curtis was a Hearts record.
Frankie Mackay and Amy Satterthwaite both scored half-centuries in adding 97 for the Magicians second wicket against the Hinds. This was two runs short of the Canterbury second wicket record held by the same pair against the Hearts last season and eight runs short of the Magicians T20 record of 105 added by Haidee Tiffin and Michelle Mitchell against the Hinds in 2007-08.
The 77 run winning margin was the second largest for the Canterbury Magicians after the 91 run win against the Hearts last season while the 9 wicket win by the Wellington Blaze over the Northern Spirit on Friday equalled their best when batting second. Auckland Hearts registered their largest win when when batting second, beating the Sparks by 8 wickets.
In the Action Cricket Cup matches Andrea Stockwell made five dismissals for the Wellington Blaze in the Northern Spirit innings, taking three catches and making two stumpings. She is just the fifth player to achieve five dismissals in an innings and only Sarah Hill has taken more with 6 catches, also for the Blaze against the Spirit, back in 2006-07.
Felicity Leydon-Davis took her maiden four wicket analysis with 4-26 for the Northern Spirit in a losing cause against the Wellington Blaze while Hannah Trollip made a her best score of 33. Deanna Doughty had her best bowling figures of 3-28 in the Northern Spirit innings.
Auckland Hearts had an easy 8 wicket win over the Otago Sparks with Georgia Guy in her first Cup match taking 3-6 while Lauren Down in her second match finished with figures of 2-13.
In a low scoring match at Cornwall Park in Hastings, Erin Bermingham had career-best Cup figures of 3-8 to help the Canterbury Magicians comfortably defend 140 against the Central Hinds. Kelly Anderson followed her four.
