2020/21 HALLYBURTON JOHNSTONE SHIELD FINAL
CANTERBURY MAGICIANS v AUCKLAND HEARTS
Eden Park Outer Oval, Auckland
FREE ADMISSION
After a season like no other, it all comes down to Sunday...
— WHITE FERNS (@WHITE_FERNS) March 19, 2021
🎩 @CanterburyCrick Magicians v ❤️ @aucklandcricket Hearts
Hallyburton Johnstone Shield Final | 10am | @edenparknz Outer Oval 🏏
See you there @BluesRugbyTeam + @crusadersrugby 🏉#HBJSHIELD #CricketNation #Cricket pic.twitter.com/yNSirNy8ej
Canterbury Magicians captain Frankie Mackay has a chance to lead her team to a second national trophy this season when the Dream11 Super Smash (T20) champions look to add the one-day Hallyburton Johnstone Shield to Canterbury's trophy cabinet on Sunday.
That cabinet is already well stocked with Canterbury's men's team having lifted The Ford Trophy - the male equivalent of the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield.
Auckland Hearts captain Lauren Down is meanwhile out to stop the red and black double act with the two captains leading the way at the top of the order for their respective teams - and both ranked among the top four run-scorers this season.
The two sides finishing top equal on points and separated only by net run rate, the Hearts have a home Grand Final after official top qualifier Canterbury ceded the hosting right, as neither Hagley Oval nor Mainpower Oval is available this Sunday.
Down (above) will head into the classic Auckland-Canterbury showdown with 332 runs from eight innings, including an unbeaten 104* against Wellington Blaze in Wellington a few weeks ago, and two half centuries for a batting average this summer of 47.42.
Mackay likewise heads in with a century and two half tons from the regular season, her best this summer an outstanding 142 in which she batted into the 48th over against the Otago Sparks in Oamaru in November.
She will bring with her a season average of 45.12 to Eden Park Outer Oval, after 361 runs from eight innings, and holds the all-time Canterbury Magicians record for most Hallyburton Johnstone Shield centuries with 13 - almost twice as many as the next player on that list, fellow WHITE FERN Amy Satterthwaite.
Satterthwaite has seven tons for the team and only just missed out on making that eight centuries in Sunday's narrow 10-run loss to the Hearts at the Outer Oval that squeaked the Auckland Hearts into this year's Grand Final - setting up a potential title defence for Auckland, who won last year's title against ND and did the one-day double alongside the Auckland Aces.
Satterthwaite reached a run-a-ball 96 in the run chase at the Outer Oval on Sunday before a dramatic death over in which she was bowled by Jesse Prasad off the penultimate ball of the match.
Having lost the previous day's ninth round to the Magicians by 24 runs at the same venue, the Hearts had needed to win if they were to make this year's Final - the result knocking out the Central Hinds who missed qualification by just one point to finish in third spot.
Lauren Down produced a knock of 75 on Sunday before she was bowled by rival Mackay: that saw the anchorwoman overtake Maddy Green for sixth spot on Auckland's list of all-time List A run-scorers with a career haul of 1,847 runs.
Mackay meanwhile broke a New Zealand Domestic record in the same innings with her fourth five-wicket bag in List A cricket.
The spinning allrounder collects big records: already she owns a ton of Canterbury Magicians one-day statchat, including most wickets for the team overall. Sunday's bag saw her go to a career haul of 154 - becoming the first woman to reach 150 for her side and just the second to break that milestone in New Zealand women's List A history.
Mackay also has the most career runs for her side with 4,694, eclipsing even Satterthwaite on both those lists. And with 14 victims at 16.85, Mackay is among the top bunch of wicket-takers this season, along with the Hearts' dangerous Prasad who has 14 at 13.28.
Sunday's 2021 Grand Final will be free admission, the first ball at 10.00am and the toss to be made at 9.30am.
Number one: Magician Kate Ebrahim is the season's top run-scorer with 476 runs from 10 games at 59.50, including two centuries and two half centuries | PHOTOSPORT
