STATISTICS: Milestones and statistics from the first round of HRV Cup.
Craig Cachopa (Wellington Firebirds) and Matt Henry (Canterbury Wizards) were making their HRV Cup Twenty20 debuts. Muttiah Muralitharan and Brendan Taylor (Wellington Firebirds) and Azhar Mahmood (Auckland Aces) were three overseas players making their HRV Cup debuts while Corey Anderson (Northern Knights), Jimmy Neesham (Otago Volts) and George Worker, Brendon Diamanti and Yasir Arafat (Canterbury Wizards) were all playing their first matches for a new association.
Ross Taylor continued his liking for the Otago Volts bowlers. In five matches against them he has now scored 271 runs at an average of 67.75 and at a strike rate of 202.23. Those runs include 19 sixes and 24 fours. The 8 times he cleared the boundary in his latest innings equals his own domestic record for most sixes in an innings, against the Auckland Aces at New Plymouth in 2009-10. Brendon McCullum is the only other New Zealander to have hit 8 sixes in an innings, doing so during his century for the BLACKCAPS against the Australians at Christchurch in 2009-10.
Taylor now has two of the four highest scores by batsmen made in a losing cause. He has the highest score, 111* made during the Stags loss to the Knights in 2007-08, while Chris Gaffaney (Otago Volts) and Chris Harris (Canterbury
Wizards) have also made centuries in a losing cause. Taylor's latest innings of 95 comes next in the list.
When BJ Watling reached his half-century for the Knights against the Wizards it was the second slowest in New Zealand T20 history. Fifty has been reached on 207 occasions and only Rob Nicol's fifty in 52 balls for Auckland back
in the first season of the domestic competition has been slower than the 50 balls required by Watling.
The 63 runs added by Brad Wilson and BJ Watling against the Wizards was a first wicket record for the Knights. The previous record was 61 shared by BJ Watling and Daniel Vettori against the Aces in 2009-10.
Ian Butler conceded fifty runs in his four overs for the first time. There have now been 28 occasions of fifty or more runs being conceded by a bowler in matches involving New Zealand teams. The record remains the 61 runs given up
by Michael Bates in the HRV Cup Final at New Plymouth in the 2009-10 season. Butler is also only the second bowler, after Bates, to have conceded fifty runs while claiming three wickets.
Michael Mason finished the 2010-11 season by taking 3 for 24 in the Central Stags HRV Cup Final loss to the Auckland Aces. He has started the 2011-12 season in similar vein, taking 3 for 31 against the Otago Volts but once again being
on the losing side.
BJ Watling (Knights) with 75 and Andrew Ellis (Wizards) with 42* achieved their highest T20 scores while Anton Devcich (Knights) 2 for 40, achieved his best bowling figures.
During both innings of the Otago Volts vs Central Stags match the number of sixes hit outnumbered the fours with the Stags hitting 7 fours and 9 sixes and the Volts 6 fours and 8 sixes. There have only been five occasions where less
boundaries have been hit in a match lasting the full forty overs than the thirty scored in this match.
The Otago Volts last ball win is the fifth occasion a team has scored the winning runs off the final ball of their twentieth over in a successful run chase. It is also the second time the winning hit was a six with Derek de Boorder emulating Bradley Scott for the Northern Knights against the Canterbury Wizards in the 2009-10 season.
When Craig Cachopa made a stumping for the Wellington Firebirds against the Auckland Aces it was only the second time a wicketkeeper has made a dismissal on debut. Peter McGlashan is the only other 'keeper to have made a dismissal in his first match, also a stumping, for the Knights against the Firebirds.
The Auckland Aces are now the only team to have a better than 50% winning record since the inception of the domestic T20 competition in the 2005-06 season. They have 29 wins to 11 losses. The Canterbury Wizards (19/19) and Central Stags (21/21) both have a 50% record. The Northern Knights with 15 wins and 24 losses trail the field.
