English import Nick Hammond (left) made his highest score of 226 not out a month after hitting 184 against City (pictured here). Photo / File
English import Nick Hammond (left) made his highest score of 226 not out a month after hitting 184 against City (pictured here). Photo / File
FMG Northern batsman Nick Hammond has hit the record books again with a game-saving score of 226 not out in a two-day fixture against Kaipara Flats on Saturday.
The 22-year-old English import reached his highest ever total off 292 balls, hitting 34 fours and a solitary six to earn adraw. The total came just a month after Hammond scored his then highest score of 184 against City at Cobham Oval, the highest score in Northland in the last five years.
Playing at the Bourne Dean domain, Northern were in all sorts of trouble starting their second innings trailing by 162 runs after the home side scored 255 and bowled the visitors out for 93.
Hammond, 22, carried his bat against Kaipara Flats to see Northern avoid the loss. Photo / John Stone
Adding further to Northern's predicament, their frontline seamers in Axel Shepherd and Cale Pooley were unavailable to bowl later in the day, which meant the visitors needed to bat out the day to have any chance of earning a draw.
The day could not have started worse for the visitors who lost two wickets for just one run inside five balls, as Kaipara bowler Liam Jones continued the form which saw him take six wickets in Northern's first innings.
Stand up Nick Hammond who worked in tandem with Pooley (51), Sam Webb (29) and Brandon Peck (20) to carry his bat through the innings and rack up what could be Northland's highest club score by one batsman.
"To fight all day against a good bowling attack was pretty awesome," Hammond said.
"I knew it was the kind of pitch that if you got in, it would flatten out and get pretty nice."
Despite quality bowling from Jones and Josh Cunis, Hammond remained unflappable as he approached the 200 mark and guided his team to a score of 367/6 before the day's play ended, overshadowing Jones' 10 wickets for the match.
Northern's Cale Pooley played a valuable knock of 51 to keep the run rate ticking over on Saturday. Photo / File
Hammond credited Pooley and other supporting batsman for staying in the fight.
"[Pooley] batted awesome, he was smoking it everywhere but my aim was just to be there at the end because to be honest, I didn't really want to field."
While he was obviously elated to reach the double hundred, the Worcestershire second Xl player was determined to make these scores more of a regular occurrence.
"Obviously, I'm proud of the achievement but it's just what I want to be doing more regularly than I have done in the last couple of years."
Saturday's game was Hammond's last appearance in Northland for the 2019/20 summer as he was set to fly back to England today, a week earlier than planned thanks to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
In the other game of round four of the two-day competition, Westech Automotive Maungakaramea survived a fourth innings scare against Motel Sierra Kamo at the Kamo Recreation Ground.
Nathan Parkes, seen here bowling for Northland, picked up four wickets in the final innings which almost saw Kamo take the win over Maungakaramea. Photo / File
The home side faltered in the first innings, all out for 90 before the visitors declared on 150/8. Kamo came back better in their second batting innings, making 158 with Maungakaramea bowler Bhavik Patel taking six wickets.
Chasing 99 for the win, Maungakaramea's batting order imploded and was lucky to hold onto the draw, ending the day at 66/9, Kamo's Nathan Parkes and Ben Hyde taking four wickets apiece in the final innings.
Saturday's round five fixtures (games start at 10:30am)
Kensington Tavern Onerahi Central vs FMG Northern at Kensington Park 1 Motel Sierra Kamo vs Kaipara Flats at Kamo Recreation Ground 1 Westech Automotive Maungakaramea vs Duracrete Products City at Maungakaramea Domain 1
