The Pink Report

Plunket Points Race

It’s hard to believe the first phase of the Plunket Shield campaign is already almost complete. Round three this week is our last feed of four-day cricket until mid-February no less; in the interim all the teams will switch their focus to the white ball in the HRV Cup and national men’s one-day competition. So what do the Knights need in Whangarei to be nicely placed for the ‘resumption of play’ come the other side of summer?

The Plunket Shield is a double round robin (home and away against each opponent), with no final: whichever team has the most points at the end of the 10 rounds is crowned champion, so every match counts. Every side will have laid out plans to get wins under their belt by the end of this month’s early rounds - with almost a third of the competition gone, you really don’t want to be playing catch-up. It’s pretty much the usual suspects, however, who have raced to the top half of the leaderboard.

The Central Stags, third in last years comp, are the only side to have nailed the maximum 16 points so far, courtesy of two outright victories, complete with the first-innings lead in both matches (worth two points per match).

The Knights are next on 10 points, healthily placed. They got full marks from their demolition job on the Wellington Firebirds last week, but in the opening round the Otago Volts showed their reluctance to declare early enough to set the Knights a true run chase on the last day. Thinking negatively, albeit possibly showing the general esteem in which the Knights’ deep batting order is held, the net result was not only no chance of an outright for the Knights, but no chance of any points whatsoever for the Volts. Remind me what the point of that was?

The Volts went on to wrestle a win off the Auckland Aces, having lost the first innings by just six runs. That leaves the Volts in third spot on six points; the remaining teams are trailing on two points or less.

The Stags meet the Aces at Colin Maiden this week, and look more in control of their batting than their opponents, even with Jamie How now en route to join the BLACKCAPS in India. Despite squeaking some points off the Volts, the Aces’ top order faltered in both innings last week, and Volts left-armer Neil Wagner went through them to pick up 10 for the match. They’ve also just lost Kyle Mills and Daryl Tuffey to international duty. You’d have to say the Stags have a good chance of staying in pole position.

The Volts have got the Firebirds (now minus their lynchpin Grant Elliott) away in Wellington. On form, that should be easy pickings for our Otago friends. Which leaves the Knights-Wizards match-up in Whangarei the most intriguing game of round three, for my money.

The Wizards were runners-up in the Plunket Shield last summer and, even though their contracted players list has undergone a fair bit of renovation (Kruger van Wyk left for the Stags, Chris Martin returned to the Aces, Shane Bond retired and they have some young faces), I have a hunch they’re a lot better than their early results suggest. They had the upper hand over the Aces before being shut down for a draw and openers Michael Papps and Rob Nicol are particularly bothersome once one or the other of them get going.

Reports from Cobham Oval are that the track is looking good and it’s going to be interesting to see how the Wizards react if fast-bowling youngster Andrew Mathieson is included in the playing XI for the first time. There’s nothing like an unfamiliar pace bowler to unsettle the nerves of batsmen, let alone one who bowls at 145kph - that’s Andy McKay pace.

Whether or not the Knights opt for Mathieson, the Wizards must also treat Graeme Aldridge with fair caution. He’s the one casting all the spells at the moment. Turn to another type of leaderboard - the Mitre 10 MVP chart that tracks the country’s best-performed players - and Graeme is already up there in the top two for all domestic cricketers this season. Last summer, it confirmed him as the most valuable Plunket Shield performer and the only person in front of him at the moment - marginally - is Neil Wagner after that 10-wicket feast against Auckland. Let’s see how it’s all looking in a few days’ time.