TOBY FINDLAY CALLED IN FOR STAGS

It was one of the most remarkable matches in CENTRAL STAGS first-class history, but the fifth round of the 2024/25 Plunket Shield came at a heavy cost to the Stags whose form pace bowler BRETT RANDELL is now nursing a broken collarbone.

The fielding injury, combined with concussion, ended a standout season for the right-arm paceman whose averages in the Dream11 Super Smash (12 wickets at 20.16), The Ford Trophy (20 wickets at 22.15) and Plunket Shield (12 wickets at 21.66) were all in the elite territory, and surely had him in the frame for national selection just days before a fresh-look BLACKCAPS white-ball squad was revealed.

Brett Randell | PHOTOSPORT

Central also had to stomach a draw after their record-shattering dominance in Auckland - led by TOM BRUCE's exceptional 345 in a record total of 700/5 declared.

Bruce offered only two half chances throughout his imperious 564-minute knock over the first two days (a difficult attempted leg-side stumping off Louis Delport on 47* at 113/3, and a half-chance to gully on 184*) after having been sent in by Auckland, and said the magnitude of his innings was still sinking in.

“I’m obviously proud of the achievement, but it still feels surreal at the moment.”

Bruce had had a lean start the red-ball summer by his usual standards, after putting “too much expectation” on himself. He’s now averaging more than 100 in first-class matches against Auckland, and is set to play the team again in Palmerston North in the final round in a couple of week’s time.

“Once I got through my first 20 or 30 balls, I felt like I was seeing it all right and it was just about making sure I stuck to my game plan with discipline, good decision-making for long periods of time and sticking to my own game,” says Bruce.

“Fortunately I was able to do that in the double century partnership for the fourth with Dane and then a triple century partnership with Josh, and it was awesome to be able to bat with Dane and Josh for that long.

“As a batting unit, that’s exactly the kind of thing we talk about before a match: building strong partnerships.

"It was really crucial that those guys got going as well, and I was really pleased for them, and able to feed off their energy as well.

“Dane had been the form batter through the first half of the Plunket Shield while Josh hadn’t played a whole lot of four-day cricket before Christmas because he was injured.

“So to see him get his second first-class century, and a quality one to boot, I was really stoked for him.”

Bruce is now averaging 51.87 after 75 matches for the Stags, with his 10 centuries for his team including two unbeaten double centuries, as well as his triple.

The Stags now head to Central Otago to play the bottom-of-the-table Otago Volts who have yet to get a win after five of the eight rounds.

The Stags meanwhile have two wins, two draws and one loss as they get ready for four days at Molyneux Park.

However, all is not lost. Far from it.

The Dream11 Super Smash champions are still in the race for the title, with only 12 points separating the top four teams and 60 points left up for grabs in the summer.

Twenty-one-year-old TOBY FINDLAY has joined a squad that is now without the experience of Randell, BLAIR TICKNER and premier spinner AJAZ PATEL, all on the injury list.

Findlay ironically made his debut as a concussion substitute for Randell two years ago, the only first-class match he has played to date.

He now comes in as his replacement in the twelve, after having gone from strength to strength in his first white-ball season as a contracted player.

There are no other changes to the squad that performed so well in Auckland, with the toss scheduled for 10am tomorrow and a free livestream and livescoring at www.cdcricket.co.nz