Central Stags: New Season, New Caption, Strong Squad

by Hawke's Bay App
Tuesday, Oct 18, 2022 1:55 PM

It’s a fresh start for the Central Stags who have named the first squad of the season.

The 2022/23 Plunket Shield first-class championship began today at Nelson’s Saxton Oval, but the Stags will be missing regular captain, opening batsman and Nelson representative Greg Hay whose arm was broken by a raring delivery in the practice nets two weeks ago.

Captaining the team in Hay’s stead for the first time will be the joint NZC Domestic Player of the Year, and regular white-ball skipper, Tom Bruce. Bruce will become the 44th first-class captain of the team.

Bruce’s astounding run spree in last summer’s Plunket Shield saw him become the first player to score back-to-back unbeaten double centuries, finishing with a colossal season average of 143.00.

Along with wicketkeeper Dane Cleaver, Bruce recently returned from New Zealand A’s tour of India where he made his first-class captaincy debut for NZ A, and says leading the Stags out at Saxton Oval in a first-class match will be another special moment in his career.

“It’s an absolute privilege to be able to captain the four-day team, albeit we are all feeling very sorry for Greg after his unfortunate injury.

“It’s a great opportunity to lead a quality side and, for me personally, a chance to dovetail off the New Zealand A tour where I learned a lot about captaincy in those two matches.

"It is a great challenge over there, there was a lot to decipler and also so much more time to stew over your decisions."

Bruce had been poised to make his first-class captaincy debut for the Central Stags in November 2016, when then-skipper Will Young was unavailable for a match at the Basin Reserve. Then the Kaikoura earthquake struck and led to the game’s cancellation.

Bruce will lead the team in the first four matches this summer, and was New Zealand’s runaway top Plunket Shield run-scorer last season with 858 runs from the eight rounds, while the leading wicket-taker with 31 at a fine average of just 14.23 was Brett Randell for Northern Districts.

BLACKCAPS Ajaz Patel, Will Young, Cleaver, Blair Tickner and Doug Bracewell bring plenty of style and experience to a strong Stags squad looking to gain an early advantage in the four pre-Christmas rounds. The remaining four matches will take place later in summer, after The Ford Trophy and Dream11 Super Smash campaigns.

Despite losing just two matches outright — fewer losses than all but eventual champions the Auckland Aces and runners-up Canterbury, the Stags finished fifth in last year’s campaign after a string of drawn matches, and one match called off due to an Omicron outbreak in the opposition side.

With a maximum 20 points on the table per round, Bruce is hoping the team will have more opportunities this season to claim crucial outright results.

“We have a strong twelve for the first game of the season and, with the likes of Ajaz and Youngy coming off County cricket, and Dane and myself having been in India, we’re looking to hit the ground running.

“Canterbury will also bring a strong side and we always know that we are in for a good battle against them. We’re looking forward to it.”

Bruce says the team always looks forward to returning to Saxton Oval.

“It’s is a fantastic ground with great faciities and we have had some great, close battles and results here in the last few seasons where it always seems to go down to the wire, down to the last session of the last day.”

That included beating Canterbury by 145 runs, Ryan McCone taking the winning wicket with just one over remaining in the match in October 2018.

PLUNKET SHIELD

Round One, 2022/23

Central Stags v Canterbury

Saxton Oval, Stoke, Nelson

10.30am, Tuesday 18-Friday 21 October 2022

CENTRAL STAGS SQUAD

Tom Bruce (c) — Taranaki, RH batsman, off-spin bowler

Doug Bracewell — Hawke’s Bay, RH pace allrounder

Josh Clarkson — Nelson, RH pace allrounder

Dane Cleaver (w) — Manawatu, RH wicketkeeper-batsman

Ajaz Patel — Hawke’s Bay, LH off-spin bowler