Round 10 of 10
CENTRAL HINDS beat OTAGO SPARKS by 247 runs
Fitzherbert Park, Palmerston North
3 March 2019
Career-best centuries to both captain and first drop Anlo van Deventer (an unbeaten 169* off 148 balls) and Natalie Dodd (141 off 151 balls, before being run out on the final ball of the innings) set a new New Zealand List A record for a second-wicket partnership in New Zealand domestic cricket, eclipsing all other teams in both the men's Ford Trophy and women's Hallyburton Johnstone Shield.
It was the second one-day century for both players this season, and Dodd's ninth Hallyburton Johnstone Shield century of her career, with the first seven having been scored for Northern Spirit.
Their combined effort capped a stunning two days for women batting in the 2018/19 competition, with Northern Spirit's Felicity Leydon-Davis and Kate Anderson only one day earlier having smashed the third-wicket record for the competition in similar fashion.
Anlo van Deventer celebrated her second ton this summer. PHOTOSPORT (file photo)
For the Central Hinds, however, there was much more at stake, with a bonus point win having been required to have a shot at hosting rights for the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield Grand Final, for which they would also need Wellington Blaze to defeat the Hearts in Auckland. Both of those things came to pass, and the 2019 Grand Final will see the Central Hinds hosting the Auckland Hearts at New Plymouth's Pukekura Park on 9 March. Each finished with eight wins from the 10 rounds, with the Hinds' net run rate securing the top rank on the final day of the competition.
Sent in by the Sparks, the early loss of Jess Watkin for no score proved inconsequential as Dodd and van Deventer dictated terms with the bat.
The brutal pair piled of 328 runs off 288 balls, in a tally off 339 for two. Having already broken the Hinds' partnership record for all wickets, they finished having also smashed their way past the New Zealand List A partnership milestone of 291, the Canterbury second-wicket partnership record (men's) set by Neil Broom and Henry Nicholls in 2014/15.
The winning margin of 247 runs was also comfortably the Hinds' biggest ever victory by runs, with their next best a 147-run winning margin over the Blaze in 2012/13. It was the third highest margin by any team in the history of the competition, with the Canterbury Magicians holding onto the record a win by 260 against the Sparks in 1981/82, and Wellington Blaze narrowly holding second spot with a 248-run victory, also against the Sparks, from 2010/11.
Van Deventer's 169 not out was the highest individual score for the Central Hinds in the history of the competition, beating Kate Pulford's unbeaten 153* against the Magicians at Christchurch's Village Green in the 1999/2000 season. Dodd's 141 is now the third-equal highest individual innings for the Hinds, with Pulford also having scored 141 against the Otago Sparks at Fitzherbert Park in 2000/01. The national domestic record is an unbeaten 183* set by Suzie Bates for the Sparks in 2005/06 at Auckland's Melville Park. Van Deventer's innings is now the next highest nationally on the all-time list, ahead of Sophie Devine's 162* for Wellington Blaze at Karori Park in 2015/16 and Kate Anderson's new Northern Spirit record of 160*, set yesterday in Round Nine at St Paul's Collegiate.
The Hinds' total of 339 for two was their highest tally in the history of the competition, eclipsing their previous team best of 291 for seven set against Wellington Blaze at Pukekura Park in the 2007/08 summer.
Without their WHITE FERNS trio, the young Otago Sparks side had proved easy pickings, and their tough weekend in Palmerston North wasn't yet over. Wickets in the reply fell quickly, with Mikaela Greig picking up two in the space of three deliveries en route to her second career five-wicket bag for the Hinds, finishing with 5-15 off her four overs while spinner Watkin picked up 3-19, dismissing the Sparks for 92 in exactly 29 overs.
