Ben Wheeler celebrates his wicket with CD teammates. Photo / Paul Taylor
Ben Wheeler celebrates his wicket with CD teammates. Photo / Paul Taylor
Bracewell, Van Wyk register milestones
Day 4, Plunket Shield
Asked if he wanted to say anything else after a crushing innings and 94-run victory yesterday, new Central Districts skipper Kruger van Wyk maintained a poker face.
"No thank you, that'll be great," the wicketkeeper said in his usual genteel manner after the Heinrich Malan-coached Stagsoutplayed the Otago Volts in the opening round of the four-day Plunket Shield game at Nelson Park, Napier.
What the 34-year-old didn't disclose was his milestone of reaching 400 first-class career dismissals behind the stumps.
The former Black Cap snaffled 10 nicks by the end of yesterday, eclipsing his previous best of eight dismissals against Auckland but in Canterbury colours.
A flurry of text messages later, Van Wyk said: "I'm obviously proud of the catches but the win was all the more special for me."
The Ruahine Motors Ford Central Hawke's Bay cricketer thanked the bowlers for the milestone and appraised the worthiness of winter camps following a despondent last summer when CD had little to write home about.
"A tremendous amount of time has gone into training over the winter, by Heinrich and our support staff, and the boys have worked unbelievably hard."
While the win was a start, he said it was a template to build on and improve.
Doug Bracewell's performance with the bat and ball were special, he felt, as the Black Cap prepared to jet off to the United Arab Emirates today.
"Dougie's hungry and he's working hard so I'm very pleased for him.
"He's not just a great player but an important character in our changing room and he's maturing by the day."
Put 11 names down, he said, and all had a good game.
Said Van Wyk: "Unity is a word that's gained importance for us this year and it's a word I'll keep using with maturity."
Bracewell's fifth five-wicket bag yesterday in the second innings - eight wickets overall - also signalled the 24-year-old is in great shape for the Pakistan series which includes a three-day match before three tests.
His unbeaten knock of 72 was pivotal in CD's innings, on the heels of opener Ben Smith's inspiring century.
"I'm pretty happy taking five and it's good for the confidence. I also got plenty of overs in so I just want to rest up now and look ahead to the tour in Dubai."
The Sharpies Driving Range Taradale CC cricketer said he hadn't made any drastic changes to his bowling action but had put in countless hours off season fine-tuning his deliveries.
"I've made a couple of minor adjustments with my run up in trying to build a bit more momentum because I'm always trying to improve."
Doug Bracewell's performance with the bat and ball were special, said van Wyk. Photo / Paul Taylor
The two-month slog in the CD camp had created a productive and tight environment.
"It's a great start to the season for the lads and how we went for the four days so now it's straight into the [Georgie Pie Super Smash] twenty20s for them so they'll be looking to push on and take a bit of momentum.
"I'm going to miss the majority of them so it's a bit of a bummer but the boys are excited."
The Stags knew they were going to have some resistance from Otago yesterday but they stuck to their game plan.
"It was slow start but once we got one we knew we were going to be in the game so the bowlers did a pretty good job."
Otago, reeling from the loss of four wickets for 48 runs on Tuesday, resumed yesterday in the bid to carve up 181 runs to have CD pad up again.
Michael Bracewell and Brad Rodden dug their toes in but the a Ben Wheeler bouncer after 19.3 overs cramped up Bracewell as the ball ballooned off his forearm behind to Van Wyk.
CD appealed and the umpire put his finger up as a defiant Bracewell departed for 33 runs from 109 balls. It triggered a collapse of Otago's final six wickets in the first session for a paltry 134 runs after an anaemic first-innings total of 207 to the dismay of rookie Volts coach Dimitri Mascarenhas.
Said Doug Bracewell of his cousin: "I was at fine leg so I didn't see what really happened but he certainly wasn't happy with the decision."
Mascarenhas lamented: "It's a shame Bracewell got a wrong end of an umpiring decision, yeah, so we struggled after that.
"It's one of those things. I don't think he was out but you can't blame the umpires for that because we've been totally outplayed in this game by a very good CD team."
