A breathtaking display of hitting from Colin Munro narrowly edged a superb Will Young innings as the Mondiale Auckland Aces blasted past the Devon Hotel Central Stags by 10 runs in a world record-breaking T20 spectacular at Eden Park Outer Oval.
Scorecard
The game set a new record for the most sixes in Twenty20 history (31), beating the 30 scored by the Chennai Super Kings against the Rajasthan Royals in India's IPL in 2010.
The spectacle meant the Aces' 217/4 was very nearly caught by a brilliant effort from the Stags, who fell just short at 207/7.
Colin de Grandhomme was in smashing form
Auckland’s massive total was set up by a mammoth partnership between arguably the two most devastating Twenty20 batsmen in the country: Munro and his fellow Colin, de Grandhomme.
Colin Munro now has a stake in both a T20 and first-class sixes world record
Before the pair joined forces at the crease, Jeet Raval got the hosts off to a strong start at Eden Park Outer Oval, showing exquisite timing against the quicks — putting Adam Milne onto the roof, and dominating the leg side against Andrew Mathieson.
He helped bring the Aces to 52/0 after five overs, but the Stags struck back, Dane Cleaver taking three catches as Raval, Brad Cachopa and Rob Nicol fell within five overs of each other.
That brought the Munro and de Grandhomme combo to the crease after 10.1 overs, the score at 84/3. What was to follow was a complete T20 batting masterclass.
Munro took an immediate liking to Mathieson, tonking him for four sixes in an over, including one onto the roof. He raced through to 45 from 16, where a moment that changed the match occurred.
George Worker got one to beat Munro’s bat, Kruger van Wyk whipping off the bails for a stumping shout; Munro walking.
However, he was stopped at the boundary: replays showed his foot was back in the crease, so he ran back to the wicket and continued his onslaught.
His 50 came from 20 balls, and he reached 75 from 27. His hitting was so pure that the Stags were preferring to bowl to the man with the highest strike rate in domestic T20 history – de Grandhomme – who wasn’t too shabby, either.
Mathieson took the brunt of the attack, going for a remarkable 70 from his four overs – the second most expensive spell in T20 cricket history.
De Grandhomme smashed three sixes in a row as he finished on 49 not out from 23 balls, while Munro was dismissed off the last ball of the innings for 89 from 40 balls, ending with five fours and eight sixes.
The duo’s partnership of 133 from 59 balls had seemingly taken the game completely away from Central, and that looked increasingly the case when the dangerous Worker was dismissed just three balls into the response.
However, Indika Senarathne’s 35 from 15 balls set the Stags off to a rapid beginning, before Young sent Tarun Nethula for two sixes in an over to have the Stags at 68/1 after five overs.
Young’s technique was superb, moving his feet against the spinners as he brought up his 50 from 26 balls, the Stags keeping in touch of the required rate at 103/3 after 10 overs.
He continued to put on a hitting clinic, but fell just short of a deserved century, dismissed by Matt Quinn for 96 from 50 balls.
Quinn also took the scalp of the big-hitting Josh Clarkson for a golden duck to effectively end the Stags’ valiant fight.
Although Tom Bruce gave it a go with 46 from 29 balls, the Stags eventually finished 10 runs short.
Get your Georgie Pie Super Smash tickets online and go in the draw to win a Ford Fiesta Trend Manual*
* Terms & conditions apply
