Canterbury’s Henry Shipley nabbed a rare list A hat-trick this week.
The all-rounder became just the fourth player to achieve the feat in the 52 years the domestic one-day competition has been running. Bet you can’t guess the other three. Here is the list, courtesy of the hard-working Margot Butcher:
- Willie Watson (7-23), Auckland v Otago in Auckland, 1984-85.
- Scott Briasco (4-84), Central Districts v Auckland in Napier, 1989-90.
- Matthew Walker (3-40), Wellington v Otago in Dunedin, 2000-01.
Told you that you couldn’t guess. Otago features twice for the wrong reason. And, by the way, a couple of years back Otago was hoping to lure Shipley further south. That Shipley has sailed now. The all-rounder finished with six for 40 to help clinch a 102-run win over Wellington at the Basin Reserve on Tuesday.
Martin Guptill has followed Trent Boult and Colin de Grandhomme through the escape hatch. He has handed back his playing contract to pursue other playing opportunities. All-rounder Jimmy Neesham turned down a belated contract offer for similar reasons. Is this the trickle before the flood? Right now New Zealand Cricket is losing players at the end of their careers, but how long before younger players such as Finn Allen opt out of the central contracting process and decide to freelance? International cricket is slowly eroding.
The Female League was launched with some fanfare this season and with good reason. There had not been any female club cricket in Dunedin in 40 years. It was ambitious to structure a tournament around four teams and it felt like the organisers over-reached. When the Sparks and under-19 players are unavailable, the player numbers are too low to run the competition the way it was initially planned, so it will now operate as an eight-a-side T20 competition when there are not enough players to form four teams.
Kane Williamson skipped the third T20 against India to attend an unspecified but "pre-arranged" medical appointment. Let’s just call it what it was — an elegant solution.
adrian.seconi@odt.co.nz
