Devon Conway is cashing in yet again. PHOTOSPORT

Conway goes big at the Basin — again

Posted Saturday, 23 February, 2019 in Domestic Match Reports

ROUND FIVE

WELLINGTON FIREBIRDS v NORTHERN DISTRICTS

Basin Reserve, Wellington

21-24 February 2019

Scorecard

First innings bonus points

Bowling: Northern Districts 2 (completed), Wellington Firebirds 0 (completed)

Batting: Wellington Firebirds 4 (maximum achieved), 0 (completed)

DAY FOUR

In Wellington, wet weather at the Basin Reserve led to a frustrating final day for the Wellington Firebirds, who needed just one further wicket to claim an outright victory; and Northern Districts, who required a further 61 runs.

View this post on Instagram

News from the @basinreserve is a break in the rain and the clean up can begin so hopefully some play in #plunketshield between @wgtnfirebirdsandblaze & @ndcricket

A post shared by Basin Reserve (@basinreserve) on Feb 23, 2019 at 5:30pm PST

No play was possible, with the match finally called a draw after 5.30pm.

A win to the Firebirds would have elevated them from fifth to third on the table, while a win to ND would have lifted them from fourth to third, as this season's title fight enters the business end.

ND's Ish Sodhi was left unbeaten on 47*.

DAY THREE

Declarations in a rain-affected encounter have set up an intriguing finish in the only match that will run into the fourth morning (Sunday). At stumps, Northern Districts at 312 for nine had just one wicket left in hand, with a further 61 runs required for a victory.

However, number nine batsman Ish Sodhi — who has scored nine first-class half centuries in his career, six of them for ND — is unbeaten on 47 not out. For the Firebirds, Hamish Bennett has meanwhile claimed his seventh first-class five-wicket bag (his fourth for the Firebirds) and will head into the final morning on figures of five for 68.

DAY ONE

Wellington Firebirds Devon Conway continued an outstanding summer across all formats with an unbeaten 146* on day one of the resumption of the Plunket Shield championship, at the Basin Reserve this afternoon.

In his 11th first-class season, the consistent first drop’s 16th first-class century is his third for the Wellington Firebirds — and second this season, having scored 203 not out in October.

Conway’s second summer in New Zealand cricket has been a prodigious one, having produced four List A half centuries in The Ford Trophy and an unbeaten 105 — the first century of a consistent career in the shortest format — in the Burger King Super Smash.

Sent in by Northern Districts, the Firebirds had already got off to a solid start by the time Conway strode to the middle, opener Luke Woodcock (43) having just departed at 82 for one.

The day was bittersweet for the Firebirds’ other opening batsman, however, Rachin Ravindra dismissed just four runs short of what would have been the young man’s maiden first-class and Firebirds century. Ravindra would have to settle for a career best in his second Plunket Shield match for the team, his previous having been his 82 on debut.

The Firebirds went to stumps at 367 for five, ND seamer Jimmy Baker having removed Tom Blundell and Malcolm Nofal in the same over in the last session but the Firebirds already on course to dictate terms.

With Thanks To