***Official*** New Zealand Domestic Season 2014/15

[Kippax]

Aaron Redmond retires

When Aaron Redmond takes the field in Auckland in the final round of the Plunket Shield it will be his 129th and final First Class game. 7203 First Class Runs, 2941 in List A and 1573 in Twenty20 cricket marks Redmond’s significant contribution to the game. An underrated leg spin bowler Redmond has 109 First Class wickets including two in Test Matches.

Redmond has signalled his intention to pull stumps on his highly successful career, with a young family based in the UK the strains of being in New Zealand for six months a year have led to him deciding it is time to concentrate on a career outside of cricket.

With eight Test Matches, six One Day Internationals and an appearance at the 2009 Twenty20 World Cup Redmond represented New Zealand at the highest level in all three forms of the game.

After transferring from Canterbury for the 2004-05 season Redmond developed into one of Otago’s premier batsman through a highly successful period for the association. With one match to go the honours board for Otago reads 73 First Class games and 4750 runs including 11 centuries, 87 List A and 62 Twenty20 matches in the Volts shirt. The current captain of the side, Redmond has offered much to the Volts culture both on and off the field.

Coach Dimitri Mascarenhas first met Redmond 20 years ago while playing age group cricket in Perth. Mascarenhas said “Aaron has been a crucial part of the furniture at Otago Cricket for many years and will be sorely missed. His statistics speak for themselves but some of the hardest stuff to replace will be the things a character like Aaron brings to the team environment. I wish Aaron and his family all the best for their next chapter of their lives”.

Otago Cricket CEO Ross Dykes sees Redmond as one of the genuine characters of the game. “ As a CEO, Aaron kept me on my toes in the early years but with a wife and family and the maturity that they bring, he has been a constant source of enjoyment both on and off the field. His dry sense of humour, his perceptive knowledge of the game and the freedom with which he played made him a favourite at University Oval. He respected the game and will be fondly remembered as one of the those key people who started the resurgence of the Otago Volts in domestic cricket.”

Otago’s twelve for the final game of the season is unchanged from that who beat Canterbury.

Aaron Redmond (C )
Roald Badenhorst
Michael Bracewell
Derek de Boorder
Jacob Duffy
Ryan Duffy
Josh Finnie
Rhys Phillips
Michael Rae
Hamish Rutherford
Craig Smith
Neil Wagner

 

[Kippax]

 

[Dan]

Devcich (c)

Oh man that disappoints me immensely.

 

[Kippax]

Slightly more vigilant on injury news than usual. Maybe it's just because a lot of ND supporters live down at the TAB.

 

[Immenso]

Yeah Bracewell on a sluggish wicket isn't good viewing.

Pretty nice wicket quality from Duffy, not quite the big butch third seamer to come in after Bouthee we were hoping for yet though. He hasn't had the chance to use Auckland's swing and bouncier clay to take a haul yet; that's coming up.

Definitely much better quality wickets than his last few regressive seasons. I think half his wickets those seasons were charity batting caught in the ring.

 

[vandem]

Cant still looking like champions, but depends on how they and Auck bat on day 2.

ND declared 8 down, if my maths is correct they need to bowl out Cant tomorrow for less than 250 on 1st innings and win outright to jump ahead. So ND still in with a slim chance. Cant are unlikely to declare 8 down and screw ND as they need to maximise their chance of a win.

Intriguing.

Edit, Aldridge just took his 37th and 38th FC wickets of the season, perhaps some nerves in the Cant camp?

 

[Kippax]

Fulton really feels huge admiration and respect for Northern Districts and its methods he's said, so it may well be nerves. Copycat Agribusiness found to be timorous in the presence of Original Agribusiness.

Or it could just be a young wicketkeeper, an agribusinessman, and a clumsy and blundering old oaf for a top 3 I guess.

 

[Immenso]

Interesting that Canterbury have gone into this round a batsman lighter than their normal lineup.

Leo carter out and Tim johnston in with the keeper promoted to open.

Seems like selection of a team chasing the title in hope rather than a team with a 10 point buffer at the top.

 

[Prince EWS]

Interesting that Canterbury have gone into this round a batsman lighter than their normal lineup

It really annoys me when domestic teams think they need to rotate 6 bowlers over a four day game.

Tim johnston in

Yesssssssssssss! All is forgiven. 1/100 probably coming up, but oh will it ever be an aesthetically pleasing 1/100.

 

[Kippax]

It really annoys me when domestic teams think they need to rotate 6 bowlers over a four day game.

"The skipper must always have options at his disposal be they swing, seam or spin with the ball or strokemakers and defensive walls with the bat. You don't want to overload any aspect of the Plunket Shield team." - Bradburnicus 3:18

 

[Howsie]

Ha. NZ cricket for you. Kane Williamson wins the T20, ODI and Test player of the year but doesn't pick up the New Zealand cricketer of the year. Under 6's stuff.

 

[Blain]

Nice to see some of the talent which emerged a couple seasons ago finally finding their feet this season, it's been desperately needed!

Nicholls, Young and Macewell in particular. Although at the same time, guys like Raval, Cachopa, Pollard, Rutherford and Mitchell have fell over a little bit.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Ha. NZ cricket for you. Kane Williamson wins the T20, ODI and Test player of the year but doesn't pick up the New Zealand cricketer of the year. Under 6's stuff.

It would Under 6's stuff if the NZ sportsman of the year and key to our WC success hadn't won the supreme award.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Martin Crowe's speech:

Enjoy Martin Crowe's moving NZC Awards interview again

 

[vandem]

Cant still looking like champions, but depends on how they and Auck bat on day 2.

ND declared 8 down, if my maths is correct they need to bowl out Cant tomorrow for less than 250 on 1st innings and win outright to jump ahead. So ND still in with a slim chance. Cant are unlikely to declare 8 down and screw ND as they need to maximise their chance of a win....

What do I know?

Canty declare 8 down which screws ND. Thought they'd push for every last run, they must know that both Auck and Otago will construct a 4th day run chase as a win for either team will have them champions if Canty don't win.

 

[Dan]

Otago can't win, can they?

 

[thierry henry]

It would Under 6's stuff if the NZ sportsman of the year and key to our WC success hadn't won the supreme award.

If Williamson was better than him in every format then Williamson must win the supreme award.

If McCullum was the proper supreme award winner then he should have won at least one of the format awards for the exact same reasons you've stipulated above.

There's no way of justifying how it makes sense.

 

[Kippax]

Well they're not including captaincy as part of being a component of being a player it seems, I guess because only one guy gets the chance to embellish his year with it.

 

[Prince EWS]

Well they're not including captaincy as part of being a component of being a player it seems, I guess because only one guy gets the chance to embellish his year with it.

Yeah the only logical conclusion is that, in the eyes of NZC at least, "cricketer" includes captaincy but "player" does not.

 

[vandem]

Otago can't win, can they?

Otago can be champions if they get max bowling points and win and Cant don't win.

Cant were on 107 pts, +3 bowling +0 batting = 110 if they don't beat ND.

Otago were on 92 points, +3 batting = 95. If they get 4 bowling points and 12 for the win they reach 111. Those late order runs by Smith and Philips etc may be very important.

Auck still in it, started on 97 points so don't need any more FI points, just need an outright win and need Cant to not win.

(Assuming my maths is OK)