They could have been top of the first-class table with just a wee bit more luck on their side, but the CENTRAL STAGS are near enough after the first four rounds of the 2022/23 Plunket Shield.

The first-class championship takes a break now until late February. When the Stags finally put on their whites again, they will be well positioned, sitting in a close second spot on the table - within easy striking distance of leaders Canterbury who are only six points ahead with four rounds still to come in 2023.

With a maximum of 20 points available per round, that's a good spot for the Stags to be in at the midpoint of the campaign, after two wins, a draw, and today's 68-run loss to the Wellington Firebirds despite a maiden five-wicket bag to LIAM DUDDING and fighting 14th first-class century from WILL YOUNG.

After Young was dismissed on 105 on a demanding last morning, form allrounder DOUG BRACEWELL kept going, scrapping his way through the overs and looking all class yet again.

It took a brilliant nut from Logan van Beek to get him out on 43, the ball of the day - and that swung the pendulum back towards the Firebirds, in the 100th first-class fixture between the two sides.

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Earlier in the see-sawing game, the Stags had been set a last-innings chase of 317. Things had been in the balance on the previous afternoon, and they had overcome a rocky star with the loss of four big early Stags wickets in the last innings.

A century stand between Young and JOSH CLARKSON dug the team out of immediate danger - with the only blow in the last session on Day 3 being Clarkson's dismissal in the very last over of the day, after so much graft.

The Stags were left needing a further 162 on the last day and they began with five in hand. They got much closer than the Firebirds would have hoped. And, with fat rainclouds brewing on the horizon, everyone knew that, should they not get those runs, it would be enough to avoid defeat - and deny the Firebirds a handy 12 points on the tight table - if they could just bat until lunchtime.

As it turned out, the Stags would be dismissed just four minutes before the lunch bell - whereupon the heavens opened. No further play would have been possible had the game still been live. But, cricket is cricket, and the Firebirds had earned their win well.

Van Beek was on a great roll, taking a bag in each innings to finish with a career-best 11 wickets for the match, on another very good surface for red-ball cricket.

That had been preceded by Dudding's brilliant start to the match with his maiden five-wicket bag, in his first match as a contracted Central Stags player.

Captain TOM BRUCE finished the last red-ball match of the calendar year with an astounding batting average of 115.13 for the Plunket Shield in 2022, including two double hundreds and his big hundred this season.

Bruce and his Stags now turn their attention to the start of The Ford Trophy one-day competition next week, and will head down to Dunedin on Tuesday for the first away match in the white-ball season, against the Otago Volts on 24 November.

Then it's back to Palmerston North for a free admission rematch with the Wellington Firebirds whom the Stags play in all three formats this summer at Fitzherbert Park, the one-dayer starting at 11am, on 30 November. 

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Then the Stags will play their Dream11 Super Smash doubleheader with the Central Hinds against the Blaze and Firebirds just after Christmas on 27 December. Tickets are selling fast already for this popular fixture: bit.ly/CDTICKETS

Best of three is a viable proposition for a side that has, so far, looked one of the strongest and most balanced around the traps this season.

The Ford Trophy round one squad will be named on Wednesday 23 February.

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Article added: Thursday 17 November 2022