DAY FOUR
When the Devon Hotel Central Stags declared at lunch on the final day (eight down, opening batsman Ben Smith unbeaten on 117) they thought setting the Wellington Firebirds a chase of 306 in two sessions on the sweeping park was a fair ask. But the Firebirds got up for their first outright of the season.
The five-wicket win was powered by an attacking team effort that began, quite inauspiciously, with first innings centurion Stephen Murdoch going from the sublime to the ridiculous, sloping off with a 10-ball duck at the top of the innings, this time, as he was bowled by Blair Tickner.
Captain Michael Papps (41) and Craig Cachopa (37) sorted out a 68-run stand for the second wicket before Michael Pollard and Tom Blundell came together at 119/3 to add a pivotal 93 for the fourth wicket.
Their stand shrunk the target to a gettable 97 off the last 15 overs, before Pollard fell to George Worker's offspin for 65.
That left Matt Taylor to pick up the chase at the death, thumping 33 off just 26 balls, including five boundaries, but he was run out by Dean Robinson.
The experienced, cool customer that is Luke Woodcock was up to the last ditch pressure, smashing an unbeaten 31 off 19 deliveries, while Blundell hung about for an unbeaten 77 in a sweet-tasting five-wicket win on the last afternoon.
Earlier, Stags opener Ben Smith had racked up yet another early-season century, his fourth first-class hundred; while captain Kruger van Wyk had reached a half-century in the Stags' the total of 273/8 declared.
DAY THREE
The order of the morning was runs. Pressing on from an unbeaten ton overnight, Wellington Firebird Stephen Murdoch took his drink in the morning session while his score hovered on 146, playing out an over or so of dots before he calmly picked his ball and tapped the 150 — and with it, the Firebirds' 300 — with his 24th boundary.
Murdoch was just ahead of raising a 50-stand, too, for the fifth wicket, with his lieutenant Tom Blundell. The stand would swell to 90 before Stags spinner Ajay Patel finally had the satisfaction of removing the Firebirds number three on a career-best 171 (27 fours, three sixes, all told), Blundell reaching 45 before the Firebirds declared 32 runs behind at a solid 353/5.
Blair Tickner had finished with a career-best of his own, having picked up the first four wickets to fall in the innings. Michael Papps and Michael Pollard had gone cheaply, Luke Woodcock had got a start with a patient 33, but Craig Cachopa would put in over two hours at the crease in support of Murdoch, chalking up 76 in the process.
Veteran paceman Brent Arnel got the ball rolling in the second innings with two early Stags wickets, but the loudest shout came when first innings colossus George Worker was trapped in front by Jeetan Patel on just 15.
Jeetan Patel takes the crucial wicket of George Worker LBW @wgtnfirebirds @andrewsmithfit #birdsonfire pic.twitter.com/r0bSPlfNYN
— Paul Steele (@steelo14) October 25, 2015
Patel’s breakthrough plunged the Stags to 73/3 after 32 overs, Tom Bruce joining Ben Smith on 33* before he, too, was trapped in front — this time by paceman Dane Hutchinson.
The fourth Stags wicket had toppled with a lead of 124 on the board. By stumps, both opener Smith and Kruger van Wyk had half-centuries, and a lead of 201 for their team with six wickets intact.
DAY TWO
The Devon Hotel Central Stags' statistician is getting a sore arm. Last week it was their highest ever total: today they made their highest ever 10th wicket stand with a remarkable 134-run partnership between George Worker and Andy Mathieson.
The Stags' previous record was 133 between Gary Bartlett (99 not out) and Ian Colquhoun, against the team then known as Auckland in 1959/60. Worker and Mathieson's stand was the fifth-highest 10th-wicket partnership in New Zealand's first-class history (the record is 184, set by Roger Blunt and William Hawksworth for Otago against Canterbury in 1931/32).
After bringing up his century earlier in the day, Worker cut loose for his maiden first-class double ton (his 210 included 26 fours and six sixes), taking a boundary off Jeet Patel for his milestone. Capable number eleven Andy Mathieson got him across the line by weathering 50 balls for an unbeaten 12 in support. Their century stand together had come off only 91 balls, Mathieson contributing five of those runs, including the boundary that raised it.
The excitement propelled the Stags from 239/7 to 385 all out, at a gallop.
@wgtnfirebirds 160/2, Stephen Murdoch on 78, Craig Cachopa on 47 #birdsonfire #nelson #saxtonoval pic.twitter.com/ihpd8LXRAJ
— Paul Steele (@steelo14) October 24, 2015
Steve Murdoch spearheaded the Firebirds' response with a century of his own and by stumps was unbeaten on 108, his ninth first-class ton having helped the Firebirds pare the deficit down to 153 runs.
Blair Tickner (above) had taken all three wickets to fall in the innings to sit on a career-best 3-46 overnight.
DAY ONE
A damp, cloudy day greeted the Wellington Firebirds and the Devon Hotel Central Stags in Nelson this morning as the Firebirds won the toss and put the hosts in to bat at Saxton Oval.
After a delayed start, Brent Arnel struck early, taking the wicket of Stags opener Dean Robinson, in his second over.
Ben Smith and Greg Hay then set about their work and put together a solid partnership before Smith was trapped in front by Matt McEwan for 41, hitting seven boundaries in the process. An over later and Hay was back in the sheds after having been cleaned up by Dane Hutchinson for 23.
Following on from his BLACKCAPS and NZA form, it was business as usual for George Worker before partner Tom Bruce (9) became Arnel's second wicket for the day.
Stags captain Kruger van Wyk came to the crease with the hosts in the precarious position of 92/4, and did what van Wyk does best: knuckle down.
Worker and his captain put together a 110-run partnership in which van Wyk found the boundary seven times on his way to a hard fought 51 — before being done by the turn of Jeetan Patel (2 for 46 off 17) in the 61st over.
The wickets were being shared around as McEwan (2 for 61 off 20) nabbed Josh Clarkson without adding to the scorecard, and a few overs later Seth Rance was joining his teammates as the Firebirds started to find some wicket-taking momentum.
Worker reached his 3000th first-class run in style as he reached 40, and continued in fine form to finish the day unbeaten on 86, with Ajaz Patel chipping away in support for his 13 off 43. The Stags finished the day in a promising position at 239 for 7.
