The CENTRAL STAGS match against the Auckland Aces in the fifth round of the 2024/25 Plunket Shield will live on for a long time in the history books. 

So many records were broken that the New Zealand Cricket Almanack is likely to need a few extra pages when it is published later this year.

Alas, the result on an Outer Oval pitch that quickly flattened out was a draw - frustration for the the Stags, after they had dominated the Aucklanders throughout the four days. 

The Stags had been sent in on day one, but made their hosts follow on, the match ending with a brush of wet weather and with the Aucklanders, in their second innings, still a long way from hauling in the Stags' record total of 700/5 declared.

DANE CLEAVER's second first-class ton this summer | MBUTCHER

With no outright points, the Stags got bumped down from third to fourth on the national table for their trouble, as the other two games in Hamilton and Wellington meanwhile finished with outright wins to Northern Districts and the Wellington Firebirds.

However, with the three teams parked above the Stags on the table - ND, Canterbury and now the Firebirds - all set to play each other over the last three rounds of the competition, the Stags are far from being out of the running for a second trophy this season.

* ND and the Otago Volts have since been deducted 1 point for slow over rates in the fifth round

The Stags now head to Alexandra to play the Otago Volts who have yet to win a first-class match all season, and they will get a shot at taking down Canterbury in Christchurch in the penultimate round before a second clash with Auckland - this time in Palmerston North, in the last round that starts on 29 March. 

A maximum of 20 points is available per round, and only 12 points are separating the top four teams at the moment - so the Stags still have everything to keep playing for.

JOSH CLARKSON went big with an unbeaten 166 | PHOTOSPORT

The scorecard from Auckland is good reading. Some of the major records and milestones that fell during the epic game are as follows:

• TOM BRUCE: the first triple century by a Central Stag, the highest score by any Plunket Shield player since 1952 (345)
• TOM BRUCE and DANE CLEAVER: Central Stags fourth-wicket partnership record
• TOM BRUCE and JOSH CLARKSON: Central Stags fifth-wicket partnership record
• TOM BRUCE and DANE CLEAVER: second highest fourth-wicket partnership in Plunket Shield history

• TOM BRUCE: third highest individual score in Plunket Shield history (only Bert Sutcliffe ahead of him, with two big triple tons for Otago and the national record of 385, as an opening bat. Sutcliffe had also scored 355 in 1950)
• CENTRAL STAGS: highest ever Stags team total (700/5 declared)
• Highest first-class score by any team at Eden Park's Outer Oval
• TOM BRUCE: 6,000 career runs, 11th first-class century, third first-class century of 200 or more
• DANE CLEAVER: 9th first-class century, second this season
• JOSH CLARKSON, 1,000 first-class runs, second first-class century, career best score (166 not out)
• Third instance of three centuries in a single first-class innings for the Central Stags
• And with DANE CLEAVER handing the wicketkeeping gloves to CURTIS HEAPHY from Day Three, there was also a maiden wicketkeeping dismissal for Heaphy to celebrate.

After having resumed on the second morning on his overnight score of 212 not out, Bruce went past PETER INGRAM's Central Stags landmark of 247 to become the Stags' new individual record-holder, and fellow Taranaki and Stratford Cricket Club representative Ingram was among the first to send his congratulations.

TOM BRUCE and GARY SUTCLIFFE | MBUTCHER

Son of the late great left-hander BERT SUTCLIFFE, GARY SUTCLIFFE also came down to the ground on Day Three to personally congratulate Bruce on his stunning achievement.

The partnership records broken had been longstanding ones - MARTIN CROWE and SCOTT BRIASCO's fourth-wicket partnership record had stood at 276*; it's now 292.

The fifth-wicket record had stood at 301 and was set by ROSS TAYLOR and JARROD ENGLEFIELD in 2004/05. The record now stands at 303.

When Bruce eventually feathered an attempted sweep to the keeper off spinner Louis Delport at 670/5, a remarkable innings came to a close, and his Auckland Aces opponents ran after him to congratulate him on his innings before he left the field to a standing ovation from those few who were lucky enough to witness it.

His knock spanned almost nine and a half hours, came off only 401 balls in sunny conditions, on a flat surface, after he had lost the toss and been sent in, and he offered only two difficult half-chances throughout.

When Bruce declared at 700/5 in the middle session, it became the fifth highest first-class total in all first-class games (including Tests) on New Zealand soil.

The only sad note to the match was the injury suffered by leading pace bowler BRETT RANDELL, who broke his collarbone and was concussed in the field. The team at CD Cricket all wish Randell a smoothe recovery.

SCORECARD AND VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

Article added: Monday 10 March 2025