Your winter sorted as the Plunkett Shield returns to the first class stage.
It was in this month that we said goodbye to first class cricket in England for 2021. In what was a never ending season, starting with snow struck friendlies in March and ending with an autumnal clash in Lords early October. We witnessed soaring highs and bitter lows. But, less than 14 days after that we were greeted with a warm welcome from our friends down under and their domestic trophy or should I say shield of the Sheffield variety. But, commencing on October 22, was a different shield which took my eye. The Plunkett Shield sounds like a local university drinking competition between friends but it is actually the hotly fought fiercely contested domestic first class competition staged in New Zealand.
Taking place from October through to February, the shield contains six teams; Northern Districts, Central Districts, Wellington, Canterbury, Aukland and Otago. Each team comes up against each other twice in a group stage format. Once all games have been played the top two teams progress forward towards the grand final and battle it out in contest for the prestigious Plunkett Shield.
The season kicked off first with Wellington facing Otago and Canterbury coming up against Central Districts. The season started with a bang as Wellington's seam bowlers tore through an inexperienced Otago batting lineup on what was a bowler friendly wicket. In Canterbury's clash there was a more serene start, seeing both sides bat comfortably on a flatter wicket. In what felt like no time we reached day four and found ourselves watching two highly contested encounters unfold, all results still possible. For Canterbury, chasing 450 in a day and a third, it was the loss of top order wickets which disabled their chasing hopes and meant they settled for a high scoring yet wicket taking draw. On the other side of the country Wellington battled hard to avoid slipping into a match loosing collapse on an ever increasingly difficult track, their target of 193 appeared simple but was far from that. In spite of this their batters dug hard, made the most of their available time and fought for a well deserved 6 wicket win, defiant and entertaining stuff!
So, two highly entertaining and evenly fought encounters kicked off the Plunkett Shield in phenominal style. And, with two more games to come in round two, (Wellington vs ND and Otago CD) the only way is still up. Too keep on top of and educated on all the goings on of the Plunkett Shield with round ups, build ups and match packs, you know the only place to go is right here on county cricket updates.
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See You Soon!
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