Smith breaks foot just as bat blazes

INJURY PAUSE: Ben Smith says breaking his foot is unfortunate and he'd hoped when it happened it had just been a tendon. PHOTO/FILE

ANOTHER crushing one-day victory has the Central Districts Stags flying high but Wanganui batsman Ben Smith has a frustrating six-to-eight-week wait on the sidelines ahead.

The Stags hammered Northern Districts by 159 runs in Gisborne on Tuesday to notch their fifth win from six games.

Smith had been in great one-day touch with scores of 74 and 75 in two games before breaking his foot batting against Auckland last week.

He is expected to be out for up to two months so will miss the rest of the Ford Trophy one-day campaign in which he was averaging 41 this season.

"It was obviously something that was pretty unfortunate, it was pretty painful at the time. I was hoping it was just a tendon," he said. "It's just something you've got to deal with."

Smith is relaxing in Auckland and will return to the gym soon as he looks to make a return to the fold when the Plunket Shield gets under way again.

Stags coach Heinrich Malan said Smith's injury was unfortunate.

"He's just scoring some nice runs. He's also been a consistent performer for us over the last two years whether it's the red ball or the white ball," he said.

The Ford Trophy campaign has been a much-improved effort on CD's disappointing T20 campaign.

"The boys have kicked it off nicely," Malan said.

He put the turnaround in fortunes down to time together as a team.

While the batsmen were putting on big totals, Malan said the bowling unit was in great form too.

"They all seem to be fit, that's the problem we face (but) it's nice when they're all fit and there's competition for places," he said.

"Doug Bracewell's come back, which is exciting. He was part of the 30-man World Cup squad so he'll be wanting to put in some good performances."

Malan said the side was well-balanced with a large group of young players feeding off the experienced seniors such as Jamie How, who was set to retire at the end of the one-day season.

"He's a consistent performer and the boys are all really wanting to send him off well."

CD's next game is against Otago in Dunedin on Sunday.