ACS Overseas First-Class Annual 2019

298 New Zealand in 2018/19 While the full Test team was rising to new heights, New Zealand’s A team also played five fixtures in 2018/19 – two away against Pakistan A followed almost immediately by three at home against India A. All five games ended as draws. A result was never on the cards in the series against India A, but Pakistan A generally had the upper hand in their two matches in the UAE.  After nine seasons as a double-round-robin tournament, for 2018/19 the six-team Plunket Shield competition was reduced from ten matches per team to eight, ostensibly to accommodate the increased first-class programme for New Zealand A. Wins in their first three matches took holders Central Districts into an early lead, and although a stumble either side of the mid-season break allowed Auckland to go past them briefly in February, two further wins in early March saw Central Districts retain the title with one round of matches still to go. In that scheduled last round, the match between Wellington and Canterbury was cancelled because of the terrorist incident in Christchurch; an adjustment was made to the teams’ points tallies because of this, but it had no effect on their positions in the final table, in which Canterbury finished second (having been last in 2017/18) and their South Island rivals Otago almost sank without trace, saved only by a three-wicket win against Northern Districts in their penultimate match.  It was a mighty close-run thing for the distinction of being the home season’s leading runscorer, the 660 runs (at 60.00) of Glenn Phillips (Auckland and New Zealand A) eventually leaving him just one run ahead of Devon Conway (Wellington) and two ahead of Hamish Rutherford (Otago and New Zealand A). Conway, whose average of 82.37 was by far the best of these three, scored all his runs in the Plunket Shield. The season’s wicket-taking list was headed by Ish Sodhi (ND), no longer required for the Test team but whose 36 Plunket Shield wickets at 24.97 gave him a clear lead among the bowlers. Not for the first time, the influence of non-New Zealand-born cricketers is in evidence here: Sodhi was born in the Indian Punjab, while both Phillips and Conway were among the country’s substantial band of South Africa-born first-class cricketers. (KSW)  Plunket Shield 2018/19: Final table P W L D A BatBP BowBP Adj Pts NetRpW 12 0 0 4 1 Central Districts 8 5 2 1 0 20 26 0 106 7.361 2 Canterbury 8 4 2 1 1 15 22 4 93 0.717 3 Auckland 8 3 2 3 0 14 27 0 77 6.950 4 Northern Districts 8 3 2 3 0 8 28 0 72 1.366 5 Wellington 8 1 3 3 1 19 23 4 62 3.320 6 Otago 8 1 6 1 0 8 21 0 41 -21.920 Adjustments: Canterbury: 4 points added for adjustment to award average points for the round as abandonment was for exceptional reasons in match against Wellington on 17th March 2019. Wellington: 4 Points added for adjustment to award average points for the round as abandonment was for exceptional reasons in match against Canterbury on 17th March 2019. Abandoned matches: New Zealand v Bangladesh, Hagley Oval, Christchurch, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 March. Wellington v Canterbury, Basin Reserve, Wellington, 17, 18, 19, 20 March.