ROUND FOUR OF EIGHT
CANTERBURY drew with AUCKLAND ACES
Hagley Oval, Christchurch
14-17 November, 2022
Toss: Aces who batted
First innings bonus points
Aces 4 batting, 2 bowling; Canterbury 4 bowling, 4 batting
Selected Milestones
150th first-class match between Canterbury and Auckland
Robbie O'Donnell - 8th first-class century (all for Aces)
Henry Shipley - 2nd five-wicket bag
Chad Bowes - 7th first-class century (6th for Canterbury)
Cole McConchie - 8th first-class century (7th for Canterbury)
Robbie O'Donnell - maiden five-wicket bag
Robbie O'Donnell - seventh player in Auckland history to score a century and take a five-wicket bag in the same first-class match
DAY FOUR
With weather rumbling across the country, the complexion of the match was set to change on the final day of Domestic red-ball cricket for 2022.
The Aces had begun the day at 37/1 in the second innings, marginally in arrears after the two sides had produced tit-for-tat heavyweight first innings totals.
Fresh off an outstanding Hawke Cup match, Canterbury Country allrounder Zak Foulkes was subbed in for Canterbury skipper Cole McConchie, a man in red-hot form himself, but stepping back on the final day with illness.
By lunch, the hosts had enjoyed the rain-interrupted first session with a further three wickets, the Aces 69/4 with Robbie O'Donnell departing shortly before the rain arrived.
Lunch chased the weather away and but another couple of wickets put the heat on George Worker and Simon Keene to fortify the innings, the Aces leading by only 58 with just four in hand - and plenty of time left for Canterbury.
DAY THREE
Take a bow, Robbie O'Donnell. In fact, take two, because you don't score a century and take a bag in the same first-class match every day.
The Auckland captain became just the seventh player to achieve the feat in more than a century of first-class cricket, with his maiden five-wicket bag proving something of a shock to all concerned.
But there will be no more chirps about the skipper bowling himself after O'Donnell snared his surprise maiden five-wicket bag in the big match.
Until this week, the number four batsman had bowled just 130 overs in his entire 66-match first-class career, with a best of 3-74.
The man generally regarded as a part-timer or 'golden arm' had a blinder with the ball at Hagley Oval, returning 5-47 off his 17.4 overs - finding some deft movement, to the huge delight of his teammates.
The Aces were under the pump, with Canterbury captain Cole McConchie, in red hot form, posting the second century of the home side's first innings - following Chad Bowes's hundred on the previous day.
O'Donnell dismissed them both, but competition leaders Canterbury calmly reached a mammoth 509 in response to the Aces' 438 to take the first innings lead, plus the maximum eight bonus points.
By stumps on the penultimate day, the Aces were trailing by 34 overall at 37/1.
O'Donnell becomes just the seventh player to score a century and take a five-wicket bag in the same first-class match for Auckland. The full list is:
- Albert Relf (a 1914 Wisden Cricketer of the Year) v Canterbury at Hagley Park in 1907/08;
- Nessie Snedden v Hawke's Bay at Eden Park in 1920/21
- John Sparling v Canterbury at Lancaster Park in 1959/60
- Ross Morgan v NZ U23 at Cornwall Park, Auckland in 1970/71
- Dipak Patel v Northern Districts at Eden Park Outer Oval (now Kennards Hire Community Oval) in 1991/92
- Tama Canning v Northern Districts at Seddon Park in 2004/05
- Robbie O'Donnell v Canterbury at Hagley Oval in 2022/23
DAY TWO
Current Plunket Shield leader Canterbury - with the Central Stags, the only other currently unbeaten side in the championship - and the Auckland Aces have traded centuries in the heavyweight clash at Hagley Oval where opening bat Chad Bowes yesterday posted his seventh first-class century.
Bowes and Henry Nicholls (89) shared a 159-run stand for the second innings to ensure the hosts made good progress in response to Auckland's first innings of 438. However, Nicholls fell 11 runs short of what would have been a century to celebrate his 31st birthday when the Aces struck back with two wickets just before stumps.
Golden arm Aces captain Robbie O'Donnell had earlier accounted for Bowes with a deft touch, moving the ball away to stop the opener's cracking 98-ball 105. O'Donnell himself had reached 123 on Day One, and a strong Aces tail went on to add a further 89 runs the next morning - before handy Canterbury allrounder Henry Shipley completed the second five-wicket bag of his career with 5-97 to end number 11 Ben Lister's career-best 42 (previous best: 24).
Canterbury trails by 176 runs with six wickets remaining: another match delicately poised for 'moving day' that starts at 10.30am.
DAY ONE
In the match between this season's leaders and last season's champions at Hagley Oval, Auckland Aces captain Robbie O'Donnell led from the front with his eighth first-class century (123) as the visitors reached a solid 349/8 on Day One. The Aces will require just one more run in the morning for a fourth and complete set of batting bonus points while allrounder Henry Shipley (4-77) and Sean Davey (3-63) led the charge for hosts Canterbury with the ball and require just one more wicket before the 110 overs cut-off for their fourth bowling bonus.
