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Black Cap Tom Blundell has capped a 24-hour roller coaster, scoring a Plunket Shield century for Wellington, and then falling for the rare field obstruction firing.
Blundell became the second first-class hitter from New Zealand to be fired for obstructing the field. The last was John Hayes of Canterbury more than 60 years ago in the 1954-55 season.
Facing a delivery from Otago’s Jacob Duffy at the Basin Reserve, Blundell sliced the ball into the stumps. He used his foot to keep the ball out of the wickets, which is allowed, but then reached out to deflect it, which is illegal.
Under the previous law, Blundell would have been out of the game, but the firing was built into field obstruction laws in 2017.
Blundell had kept Wellington’s second-inning chase together, hitting his eight-ton first-class and finding some welcome form before the West Indies test series.
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Rain threatened to end day four on Sunday with Otago needing three wickets to win and Wellington 94 more races. The game was finally able to start at 5 p.m. and the Volts picked up the last three wickets quickly to win their first Plunket Shield game of the season by 84 runs. Blundell was the first batter to leave, unable to add to his nightly score of 101.
Clogging the field is a rare dismissal in cricket. In the 2018-19 season, while playing for the Northern Districts in a T20 against Canterbury, Daryl Mitchell was left out when he stuck out his leg to block the ball as Kyle Jamieson threw onto the grounds.
In international cricket, dismissal has occurred once in tryouts (in 1951), seven times in one-day internationals, and twice in T20s.
Hagen Hopkins / Getty Images
Wellington starter Tom Blundell scored a Plunket Shield Century against Otago and also delivered obstructing the field.
England’s Ben Stokes was perhaps the highest-profile incident when he blocked a shot to the stumps from Australia’s Mitchell Starc in 2015 with his hand. He claimed he did not intentionally handle the ball while trying to dive down the road
Blundell will start for New Zealand in the two-trial series against the West Indies alongside Tom Latham with the opener at Seddon Park in Hamilton, starting on December 3.
He had gotten off to a poor start at the Plunket Shield, hitting 2, 17, 8 and one in Wellington’s first two games, both against Canterbury.
Hagen Hopkins / Getty Images
Wellington’s Tom Blundell goes on the offensive against Otago at the Basin Reserve during his 101 innings.
In the first innings against Otago, he got off to a solid start, reaching 31, but fell to Duffy, caught in the second slip by Dale Phillips.
Meanwhile, Canterbury’s stellar start in the Plunket Shield with new coach Peter Fulton continued, making three wins out of three to open the competition.
It’s been a turnaround from Canterbury under Fulton, who replaced Brendon Donkers, and has the side firing at full blast.
Canterbury edged the Northern Districts by one inning and 32 runs at Rangiora with 22-year-old Fraser Sheat leading the way with gameplay figures of 9-63.
Kai Schwoerer / Getty Images
Canterbury’s Fraser Sheat shone with the ball against the Northern Districts at Rangiora’s Mainpower Oval, taking nine wickets for the game.
The Northern Districts offered little bat resistance in their second attack with starter Henry Cooper (22) the only batter to top 20 on a pitiful-looking scorecard.
His fast bowling partner Will Williams also impressed for Canterbury, putting them in an excellent position at 5-26 in the early innings. Williams finished with six wickets for the game.
The humid weather in the Nelson region meant that the match between Central and Auckland was abandoned without a ball being thrown for four days.
It was just the 16th time a top-notch New Zealand match was abandoned without a ball being thrown with Otago and Auckland facing the same situation in Dunedin last summer.
TAKE A LOOK:
Plunket Shield round three scores:
In Basin Reserve, Wellington: Otago 265 and 218-3 decl (Dale Phillips 83rd, Hamish Rutherford 69) beat Wellington 205 and 194 (Tom Blundell 101; Jacob Duffy 4-69) by 84 races.
At Mainpower Oval, Rangiora: Canterbury 266 beat Northern districts 113 and 121 (Henry Cooper 22; Fraser Sheat 5-31, Daryl Mitchell 3-10) for one inning and 32 runs.
At Saxton Oval, Nelson: Central in Auckland: Game abandoned without a ball being thrown.
Plunket Shield Points after Round 3: Canterbury 54, Auckland 38, Otago 25, Northern Districts 25, Central 23, Wellington 11.
