Three debuts in Plunket Shield round three

• Bottom of the table Auckland Aces are looking to make the most of their first home match of the summer at their happy hunting ground, Eden Park Outer Oval
• New Otago Volts captain Rob Nicol meanwhile goes up against the team he captained last summer 
• Aces young left-armer Ben Lister and Danru Ferns both make their first-class cricket debut while Warren Barnes is making his first-class debut for the Otago Volts

  A massive congratulations to Warren Barnes for making his First Class Debut for the Otago Volts! 👊#PlunketShield @PhotosportNZ pic.twitter.com/pNE1apAGhA

  — Otago Volts (@OtagoVolts) November 6, 2017

• Fast bowler Lockie Ferguson has been named in the XI despite fracturing a thumb in the Aces' previous match last week.
  

• 50th first-class career match: Jimmy Neesham
• BLACKCAP Jeet Raval requires 41 runs to reach 6000 career first-class runs
• Brad Wilson requires 77 runs to reach 6000 career first-class runs
• Anaru Kitchen requires 44 runs to reach 4000 career first-class runs
• BLACKCAP Neil Wagner requires 15 wickets to reach 600 career first-class wickets
• Lockie Ferguson requires 2 wickets to reach 100 career first-class wickets

5️⃣0️⃣* first-up for @GeorgeWorker, 8x4, 75 balls; we're 62/0 at Hagley Oval#PlunketShield🔰 #LoveTheStags🦌 pic.twitter.com/9GCSFwVpOC

— Central Stags 🏏 (@CentralStags) November 6, 2017

• The Central Stags (currently second on the table) and Canterbury (just two points behind them in third place) take each other on in a key battle for early season ascendancy
• Jesse Ryder has scored a century in each of his last three innings, equalling the Plunket Shield record for consecutive first-class centuries. The world first-class record is six in a row
• Canterbury captain Andrew Ellis is playing his 100th first-class match today (and 99th for Canterbury)

• 50th first-class cap for the Central Stags: captain Will Young
• Ryder’s 175 in the previous round was his highest score for the Stags (not of his overall career) & he needs a further 54 runs to reach 1000 first-class career runs for the team (round three will be just his 14th first-class appearance for the Stags)
• Off-spinning allrounder George Worker requires 2 wickets to reach 50 first-class wickets for the Central Stags
• Doug Bracewell requires 5 wickets to reach 250 first-class career wickets; 4 wickets to reach 150 wickets for the Central Stags, & 84 runs to reach 2000 first-class runs for the Central Stags
• Bevan Small requires 6 wickets to reach 50 first-class career wickets
• Canterbury captain Andrew Ellis requires 28 runs to reach 5000 first-class runs for Canterbury
• Chad Bowes requires 18 runs to reach 2000 first-class career runs & 53 runs to reach 1000 first-class runs for Canterbury
• Cam Fletcher requires 15 runs to reach 1000 first-class runs for Canterbury

  Round 3 about to begin! @CentralStags have won the toss and are batting first. @CanterburyCrick will be looking to take some early wickets pic.twitter.com/ux9dXoVQ7B

  — Canterbury Cricket (@CanterburyCrick) November 6, 2017

• Brett Hampton (loaned to Canterbury in round one) returns to his usual team Northern Districts, albeit as 12th man; while unbeaten front-runners the Wellington Firebirds stick with their proven performers after having taken maximum points from the first two rounds.

• Michael Papps requires 193 runs to reach 12000 career first-class runs
• Luke Woodcock requires 6 runs to reach 7000 career first-class runs
• Luke Woodcock requires 133 runs to reach 7000 career first-class runs for Wellington Firebirds
• Hamish Bennett requires 5 wickets to reach 200 career first-class wickets
• Anton Devcich and Jimmy Baker play their 50th first-class match
• Anton Devcich requires 3 wickets to reach 50 first-class career wickets & 7 wickets to reach 50 first-class wickets for ND

  WICKET! @jimmy_bakes gets the breakthrough on his 50th first-class game 🙌 @wgtnfirebirds are 56/1 #PlunketShield pic.twitter.com/KXCSzmd63c

  — Northern Districts (@ndcricket) November 6, 2017