Central Stags unchanged for Dunedin
The Central Stags have named an unchanged squad for the penultimate match of the 2020/21 first-class Plunket Shield season.
The first-class team heads to Dunedin to play an injury-hit Otago Volts squad - the last away match of the summer before returning to McLean Park for next weekend’s final round, after which the historic Plunket Shield trophy will be presented to new champion Canterbury at the Napier ground.
The five remaining teams are left competing for pride this summer with the midtable Stags heading into the seventh round in fourth spot on the table (47 points), 10 points ahead of the Volts (37), and capable of overtaking the Auckland Aces and Northern Districts in this round who sit just three and four points ahead, respectively.
Runners-up last season and champions for the two seasons before that, the Central Stags have not finished out of the top two placings since 2016/17 and are out to uphold their strong recent record.
The University of Otago Oval match will begin half an hour later than usual every day in Dunedin with an 11am scheduled start time (10.30am toss) to take into account the dew factor in Dunedin at this time of year, and the time needed for teams to warm up on the surface.
Swing bowler Seth Rance remains on the injury bench while Ajaz Patel is unavailable as he awaits the birth of his first child, fellow Hawke’s Bay off-spinner Jayden Lennox having made his first-class debut in the previous match in Rangiora and retained for Dunedin. Batsman Will Young remains unavailable on BLACKCAPS duty.
The match will be Tom Bruce’s 50th first-class appearance and the Taranaki batsman will require just 56 more runs to chalk up his 3000th first-class run. Long-serving captain Greg Hay (Nelson) meanwhile requires a further 150 runs this summer to reach the landmark of 6000 first-class career runs.
The match will be live-scored at https://scoring.nzc.nz/centraldistricts and live-streamed by NZC YouTube and on the NZC app. The remaining two matches in the seventh round begin one day later, at the customary start time of 10.30am, in Wellington (Basin Reserve) and Auckland (Eden Park Outer Oval).
The final round of the 2020/21 season will then begin on 3 April 2021 and will be free admission at McLean Park.
CENTRAL STAGS SQUAD
ROUND 7 of 8 v Otago Volts
University of Otago Oval, Dunedin
11am 26-29 March 2021
Admission: free
Greg Hay (c) — Nelson
Doug Bracewell — Hawke’s Bay
Tom Bruce — Taranaki
Josh Clarkson — Nelson
Dane Cleaver (w) — Manawatu
Joey Field — Hawke’s Bay
Jayden Lennox — Hawke’s Bay
Ben Smith — Whanganui
Brad Schmulian — Hawke’s Bay
Blair Tickner — Hawke’s Bay
Ray Toole — Manawatu
George Worker — Manawatu
Coach: Aldin Smith
