2023/24
ROUND TWO
CANTERBURY drew with OTAGO VOLTS
Hagley Oval, Christchurch
28-31 October, 2023
First innings points:
Canterbury: 7
Otago Volts: 4
Total points this round: Otago Volts 4
Canterbury 7
Milestones
Michael Rae: 50th first-class match (all teams)
Henry Nicholls: 15th first-class century, 4th for Canterbury, 1st v Otago Volts
Henry Nicholls: highest first-class score for Canterbury (124)
Jake Gibson: career best first-class bowling (4/58)
Cole McConchie: 9th first-class century, 8th for Canterbury, 3rd v Otago Volts
Jamal Todd: maiden first-class half century
Fraser Sheat: 100 first-class wickets (all for Canterbury)
Jake Gibson | All images: PHOTOSPORT
Not required for the BLACKCAPS' 2023 World Cup campaign in India, Henry Nicholls made the most of his opportunity to front for Canterbury - producing his best score in the Plunket Shield, backed up by a second-innings half century for his lifelong side.
He helped gain the advantage in a second-round match between two teams that had both been looking for their first win of the season.
DAY ONE
Things didn't start auspiciously for Canterbury when one of their most dependable batters, Leo Carter, injured his back during warm-ups. He would not be available to bat in the first innings, after Volts captain Dean Foxcroft sent in the hosts.
But his old mate Henry Nicholls would more than fill that void.
Things did start quite auspiciously for the Volts. Not only in the toss department, but with three quick wickets: both openers and skipper Cole McConchie back in the pavilion at 21/3.
McConchie had been castled for a duck as Jake Gibson squeezed one through the gate on his way to his best first-class four-fa.
The Canterbury captain would have much more authority in the second innings. In the meantime, first drop Nicholls would underpin the two big, vital partnerships that followed.
Nicholls reached his century almost on the stroke of tea, a positive knock off 148 balls (11x4, 1x6) in some four hours. He wasn't done, going past his previous career best for Canterbury in the last session, before Foxcroft enticed a catch when Nicholls was on 124.
Just six down before the new ball, by stumps that had become 313/9 - Canterbury effectively all out, with Carter unable to bat.
Kyle Jamieson (44 not out) had added some late order value with the bat as he celebrated his return to Hagley Oval and was now set for some rest after a big day ahead with the ball.
DAY TWO
The Otago Volts made a duly cautious start to their first innings against the new-ball pairing of Fraser Sheat and Jamieson. But even so, Luke Georgeson fell to Sheat in just the fourth over of the morning.
Dale Phillips joined young Jacob Cumming and gradually the pair began to pick off some boundaries. At 87/1 in the 26th over, they looked set for a good response to Canterbury's statement, but then Sheat prised them apart.
Wickets began to fall too regularly for the southerners. In the 55th over, their old teammate Michael Rae (below) struck twice in the space of three balls for a double wicket maiden and, just seven overs later, the Volts were all out for just 184, falling short of picking up a batting bonus point.
The Volts got an early wicket of their own when Canterbury began their second dig but, by day's end, the hosts held a 231-run overall lead, still with eight wickets in hand at the midpoint of the four-dayer.
Matt Boyle had helped get them off to a good start. He perished caught behind down the leg-side when the shadows were long, and when he had tried to get a pull shot away against Jarrod McKay - only to find himself loping back in, short of his fifty.
Nicholls. with all his experience and timing, had meanwhile again done the business at first drop, needing just seven more runs to reach another fifty in the match.
DAY THREE
Nicholls would not plough on to a second century in the same match - that possibility ending when he was caught off Jacob Duffy on 61 in the morning session. It would instead be captain McConchie's turn in the spotlight as Canterbury kept the pressure on their visitors from the south.
Having resumed on 3*, McConchie batted into the 81st over of the innings - sharing a century stand with the handy Mitch Hay who had also supported Nicholls for a century stand in the first innings.
McConchie reached 108, while Hay (below) was unbeaten on 82* by the time McConchie declared at 333/4, an overall lead of 462.
With plenty of runs in the bank, Canterbury now had 38 overs to have a crack at the Volts' top order before stumps, and they got them three down (73/3) before the players walked back in.
Canterbury's day, again.
DAY FOUR
After overnight rain, the players were greeted with a misty, cloud-covered day, a half hour ground delay, and the winds picking up.
The Volts' middle order had a big job to do if they were to stave off the Cantabrians, back in full attack mode after having stumbled in the first round against the Wellington Firebirds the previous week.
What's more, top batsman and captain Dean Foxcroft was injured and unavailable to bat unless absolutely necessary, having wrenched his knee while attempting a catch.
Their first five wickets were taken with no batter having passed 30. That left newbie Jamal Todd and Max Chu (above) to try to stave off defeat, with more than 300 runs still required for the alternative.
The stylish pair was still there at lunch, however, at 163/5 with a 62*-run stand.
Sheat eventually made the breakthrough in the middle session at 200/6, Chu caught behind with the sixth-wicket stand closed for 99 runs, and Sheat - whose grandfather had also represented Canterbury, back in the 1950s - collecting his 100th first-class wicket.
Chu had batted for more than two hours for his 38, and the 19-year-old left-hander Todd, in just his second match, now had an even bigger weight on his shoulders as the Volts tried to hold on and play out the time, at least.
Todd played for the NZ Māori Secondary Schoolboys XI in 2021 | PHOTOSPORT
The talented youngster reached his maiden first-class half century off 111 balls, and Jake Gibson stuck around for 14 and a half overs to fashion a promising seventh-wicket stand. But the return of big Kyle Jamieson to the attack soon made life difficult for the pair, with the Test bowler looking for bounce and getting a fending Gibson caught off the glove.
Duffy's stay was a short one, stumped off his longtime former teammate Michael Rippon. Now the Volts had just two wickets in hand, still a monumental 228 runs adrift, with Todd resilient on 64*.
Todd could take heart that it took the Test pairing off Jamieson and Nicholls (at slip) to finally end his career-best knock that spanned four a half hours.
A hobbling Foxcroft replaced him as the last batsman at 236/9, late in the middle session - and his ability to bat, even on one leg, would prove crucial to his side.
By tea, he had made sure the Volts were still alive at 254/9, the deficit 209... as the covers went on. Light rain had developed, and continued after the break, both teams now with a heightened state of anxiety.
A lengthy wait ensued until the match was called off after 6PM. For all their good work, Canterbury still hadn't got a win under the belt - and neither had the Otago Volts.
The Volts next head to Dunedin for their first home match of the season, against the Central Stags, while Canterbury stay put at Hagley and await the Auckland Aces from Monday, 6 November.
