2023/24 HALLYBURTON JOHNSTONE SHIELD
Round 4
Sunday, 26 November 2023
Kennards Hire Community Oval
AUCKLAND HEARTS defeated CENTRAL HINDS by 4 wickets
Auckland Hearts: 5 points
All images | MBUTCHER
Selected Milestones
Claudia Green - maiden five-wicket bag (5/30)
It was Green on Green in Auckland as the Hearts' captain Maddy (below) did it again, but not before the Hinds' Claudia took her maiden five-wicket bag in Domestic cricket.
Hinds skipper Natalie Dodd won the toss in the weekend's rematch, hoping to reverse the previous day's loss to claw back to the top end of the table.
On a cooler Auckland morning with a changeable breeze spicing things up, Dodd opted to bat first again, but would soon have a feeling of déjà vu as plans quickly starting unravelling.
Again the Hinds' top order would let themselves down with the bat. Again opposing skipper Maddy Green would respond with a match-winning captain's knock.
And again the Hinds would find themselves beaten by four wickets, plummeting on the table after their strong opening weekend.
It wasn't all bad news for the visitors however, with Claudia Green's maiden bag the highlight.
Bowling into a challenging stop-start breeze, Green bowled superbly, and did all the work herself, without assistance from the field.
But first things first. The batting. Fran Jonas (4/32) and Molly Penfold (2/42) made sure that the Hinds did not get away from them on the scoreboard in the first innings.
Penfold's diving, one-handed caught and bowled to stop Thamsyn Newton on 26 was a showstopper, and had the Hinds 85/4.
Jonas meanwhile ripped out big cheap wickets in the middle order and, had it not been for another strong performance with the bat from form batter Mikaela Greig - reaching 76, the match might have been all over by lunchtime.
Greig's batting stats were suddenly blooming, the top scorer nationally so far in this season's HBJ, after just a handful of innings of note from her previous 10 seasons.
However, it wasn't enough to stop the Hearts from bundling out their visitors in just the 41st over, which meant the Hearts could start their own innings before the scheduled lunch break.
The top three didn't get going, Claudia Green accounting for Saachi Shahri and Anna Browning while Ashtuti Kumar was the only other successful bowler in the innings when she trapped Bella Armstrong on 17 at 69/3.
But again Hearts captain Maddy Green would hold the innings together and see it through to a successful conclusion, this time for an unbeaten 77* off 84 balls.
Green's grit ensured the Hearts leapt out in front to a clear lead on the table, after the first four rounds, and ahead of the Aucklanders' big clashes with defending champion the Wellington Blaze in a fortnight's time - also set to unfold at Kennards Hire Community Oval.
