The Canterbury Kings have opened their Georgie Pie Super Smash season in style with a seven-wicket win over the SKYCITY Northern Knights.
Scorecard
The purple vs pink clash had all sorts of colour – with a world T20 record, a New Zealand T20 record and a Canterbury T20 record all set in the first innings.
Peter Fulton was the man to tie the world record, taking five catches – all from his straight-on positions behind the bowler, including a key catch on the boundary where any man shorter than "two metre Peter" would have seen the ball travel over their head for a six.
"Two Metre Peter" using his height to full advantage
While Fulton tied the record for most catches by a fielder in T20 history, Cameron Fletcher was busy taking five scalps of his own, with two stumpings and three catches setting a record for dismissals in a New Zealand T20 innings.
However, the man to cause half of those catches was Andy Ellis, who had Canterbury-best figures of 5-9, destroying the tail of what was a rather bizarre, undulating innings for the Knights.
The hosts started out red-hot through the bat of Anton Devcich, who hit three sixes and five fours, taking a particular liking to Hamish Bennett early on as he plundered a hard-hitting 43 from 18 balls to get the Knights off to a flier.
With Daniel Flynn playing a valuable support role, the Knights had a perfect platform at 60/1 after the first five overs.
What they probably didn’t expect to follow was a spell of bowling which resulted in records tumbling.
First, Logan Van Beek and Todd Astle stemmed the flow of runs with precise bowling – Astle dismissing Dean Brownlie and Daryl Mitchell for ducks, while Ronnie Hira chimed in with the dismissal of the dangerous Kevin O’Brien to set the Knights back to 91/4 after 10.3 overs.
Flynn found a willing partner in Tim Seifert, whose rapid 30 from 18 balls including an audacious flick from his knees over fine leg for six. However, Hira claimed Seifert’s wicket, and when Flynn departed with 15 balls to go for a 47-ball 43, the Knights slumped from 147/5 to 153 all out.
The man to do the damage was Ellis, who ended with the remarkable 5-9 from 2.2 overs, taking four wickets in six balls to rip apart the Knights lower order and give the Kings an easy target to chase.
Andy Ellis took a remarkable five-for
Openers Hira and Fletcher got the visitors off to the required start, Hira smashing two sixes over mid-wicket off Brett Hampton’s first and only over.
The opening pair went after strong cameos, both players sending deliveries high into the air which resulted in tough catches claimed to have Canterbury at 35/2.
However, Fulton turned his safe hands to the application of batting, making 44 off 28 balls, and combining with Henry Nicholls (58 not out) to eventually take the win with nine balls to spare.
The Kings will look to go 2-0 when they take on the Mighty Ape Wellington Firebirds on Sunday at home, while the Knights don’t play until next Thursday at Seddon Park, also against the Firebirds.
Caps off to Cricket Express MVP @Elly13NZ. Didn't think we'd see his previous career best of 5-14 beaten! #smashedit pic.twitter.com/nBAzOUOoOg
— GPSuperSmash (@GPSuperSmash) November 6, 2015
