Cricket: CD a point below but Big Mo's in the corner

Firebirds captain Michael Bracewell congratulates Stags batsmen Greg Hay and Ajaz Patel after their Plunket Shield victory at Saxton Oval, Nelson, yesterday. Photo/Photosport

Crunch numbers hard enough and they'll tell you anything you want to hear but in the case of the Central Districts Stags there's crystal clarity amid mysticism in Nelson.

If numerology takes your fancy, then it pays to know that the William Young-captained Stags walloped the Wellington Firebirds by seven wickets early on day three of the four-day Plunket Shield match at Saxton Oval yesterday.

Where it becomes spooky, possums, is that the total of each innings were spot on in three digs out of four - Firebirds were first skittled for 171 runs; CD replied with 172 all out; Wellington eked out 172 in their second innings; CD eclipsed the 172-run target with 172-3.

Read what you like into all of that but it's fair to say neither team will miss a key point - CD are just a point below Wellington on the top of the first-class shield table and the Firebirds' bubble has burst.

The only undefeated side in the red-ball competition - which goes into recess now to accommodate a white-ball diet of Ford Trophy one-day and Burger King Super Smash T20 from December 10 - the Heinrich Malan-coached Stags will take that momentum into the glamour game.

The shield format will resume on March 1 next year when CD host Otago Volts at a revamped McLean Park, Napier, complete with its drop-in wicket.

CD opening batsman Greg Hay and nightwatchman Ajaz Patel engineered their victory yesterday after chasing down 54 runs on an overnight total of 118-3.

While Hay felt a classic four-day game would go down to the wire on the last day, he wasn't complaining on a wicket that always carried the promise of a result for bowlers.

"That's what you need to win the Plunket Shield so I think that's why we need to see a few more of these wickets," said the 33-year-old from Nelson who was unbeaten on 85 runs after collecting a duck in the first innings.

He said CD had taken advantage of a greenish wicket, on winning the toss, with the bat as the one-run, first-innings total over Wellington saw both sides miss out on batting points - CD claimed 16 points and the Firebirds four, overall.

"The pitch did quite a bit throughout the game, actually," he said. adding it wasn't "outrageous but enough" to keep the bowlers interested but that didn't extend to specialist batsmen.

Hay said despite the disappointment of their first dig, CD were delighted with their tail.

Wicketkeeper Dane Cleaver scored 73 runs at No6 and Doug Bracewell contributed 30 at No7 after rookie batsman Bradley Schmulian was the only top-order batsman to provide a stepping stone with 40 runs.

"For a while we looked like we were going to come up short, to be bowled at 130 or 140," Hay said, adding "you don't often see that [171, 172 totals]".

Hay said the dreaded pair was always in the back of the mind of batsmen but they tended to draw on positivity to go hard out.

"The best way to go about it on this sort of wicket was to go out there knowing there's no prominent movement and I looked to get on top of the bails to try to just hang in there."

Even Patel showed veteran spinner Jeetan Patel no respect, spanking him to the boundary to amass six fours on the heels of a first-innings duck.

He came in after No 4 Young departed for 35 runs.

"It was a good opportunity for him [Ajaz Patel] to show what he can do with a bat, really," said Hay who had assured him that even though it was a pressure situation in the morning there was no compulsion on him because he had done the job overnight to defy the Wellington bowlers as a nightwatchman.

"It was just a bonus because we weren't relying on him to score runs so he just needed to bat freely and back himself.

"He did that and managed to come in and bloody outscored me this morning by putting the bad ball away," said a jovial Hay who is relishing a four-win purple patch he hadn't been a part of in a shield campaign.

He said the boys were itching to begin their white-ball crusade but he didn't envisage Malan picking him for the blazing-bails T20 stint.

"You always like to be playing but I haven't spoken to the powers that be," he said, suspecting CD had a potent T20 line up.

Hay hasn't played white-ball cricket for almost four years.

Black Caps squad member Ben Wheeler and Doug Bracewell claimed three wickets each in the second spell as the former claimed a milestone 100th scalp in the format after the latter claimed his 150th wicket for CD and 250th first-class victim on Saturday.

The CD Hinds women's team lost their second one-day match to the Wellington Blaze by 80 runs at Donnelly Park, Levin, to lose the opening round of the series (including a T20 match) 3-0.

They lost the Saturday's one-dayer by 154 runs and the T20 on Friday by eight wickets.