May 2025
Bay Oval produces another history-making match
For the second season in a row, a Plunket Shield match between Northern Districts and Central Districts at the Bay Oval hit the headlines, with two rare as hen's teeth performances.
Central Districts all-rounder Will Clarke achieved a maiden century and five-wicket bag in the same match, while ND skipper Jeet Raval went within seven minutes of claiming a world record for the slowest first-class century.
The previous season, the first-class encounter between Northern Districts and Central Districts had produced six centuries in three days of competition.
Northern Districts batted first in the 2025 edition of the clash between the two fierce rivals and were bowled out for 204. Will Clarke took the first part of the rare feat when he grabbed five wickets at a cost of 62 runs.
Central Districts came back at their opponents with 391, with Will Clarke (109) and Brad Schmulian (108) posting three-figure scores. Clarke's maiden century and five wickets became just the fourth time that the feat had been achieved in New Zealand Cricket, following in the footsteps of Bill Redgrave (Wellington - 1905/6), John Sparling (Auckland - 1959/60 and Les Butler (Wellington - 1961/62).
Facing a deficit of 187, the home side rewrote the record book with a marathon 362 for the loss of seven wickets to take a draw from the game. Jeet Raval, became an unstoppable object in the middle of the Bay Oval, in hitting 107 runs in his 9 hours and 11 minutes before he was caught by Ajaz Patel.
Raval's time in the middle was the third slowest first-class century of all time, being just seven minutes short of Pakistan batsman Sadagoppan Ramesh against England in the 1977/78 season.
One of the new wave of Black Cap bowlers, Ben Sears, wrote his name on the Bay Oval Honours Board with an ODI match-winning performance against Pakistan.
New Zealand set their opponents a solid target of 265 with Sears ripping through the Pakistan batting attack in taking five wickets at a cost of just 34 runs.
Mattie Green showed why she is a first-choice White Ferns selection in a Hallyburton Shield match. Green carried her bat to 118 not out for the Auckland Hearts in their One-Day matchup with the Northern Districts Women. Batting at three, her score included nine 4's at a tad under a run a ball.
Green's big performance wasn't enough with the hosts chasing down the Auckland target of 195 with a solitary wicket to spare.
Other NZC Major Association honours performances at Blake Park were recorded by Simon Keene, who took five wickets for 29 for Auckland against Canterbury, with Auckland batsmen Michael Sclanders belting 107 against Otago. Both matches were played at the Bay of Plenty ground, early in the season, with Eden Park unavailable.
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