New Zealand State Championship Round 3: A Graphical Analysis by Jack Solock

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Event:

State Championship 2004/05

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DateLine: 21st January 2005

 

Auckland continued to dominate the State Championship with their third consecutive outright victory, by 7 wickets over Central Districts at Auckland. What might have been a spirited run chase was turned into a canter by a record setting 172 run (in 174 minutes) first wicket partnership v CD by Richard Jones and Matt Horne, breaking the old record of 161 set by Simon Peterson and Blair Pocock at Auckland in January 1992. (http://www.cricketarchive.com/NewZealand/Scorecards/f/39/f39312.html) For CD, Jamie How's fantastic run of form ended, with innings of 4 and 13 that lowered his average to 84.60. For Auckland, ex-Black Cap Lou Vincent raised his hand to the selectors with 185*, his highest first class score.

 

At Dunedin, Otago won their first match of the season, by 114 runs over Canterbury. At the close of a rain marred day 3, the Volts had a 274 run lead in their second innings with 5 wickets in hand. In just under 20 overs on day 4, they were able to increase their lead to 352 before declaring, giving themselves about 80 overs to win the match, which they were able to do, with about a half hour left. An interesting feature of this match was Gareth Hopkins' 10 ten dismissals (all catches), equaling the New Zealand 1st class record set by Chris Nevin (all catches) for Wellington v Otago at Dunedin in January 1996 (http://www.cricketarchive.com/NewZealand/Scorecards/f/41/f41761.html). The all time record is 13 (11 catches and two stumpings) set by Wayne James for Matebeland v Mashonaland Country Districts in the Zimbabwe Logan Cup Final in April 1996 at Bulawayo. (http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/f/41/f41914.html).

 

In the other match, Northern Districts weren't able to carry the momentum from their amazing victory over Central Districts in the last round, and were soundly defeated by 8 wickets by Wellington at Wellington, giving the Firebirds their first victory of the season. This match featured a great performance by James Franklin. Franklin said all the right things after being overlooked for national selection when Jeff Wilson, the ex-rugby star, was given a call up after 12 years. But in this match he let his arm do the talking, taking a five fer in each innings, and a match haul of 10 for 71 off 33 overs.

 

 

The points graph shows Auckland taking off like a rocket, leaving the other five sides in the dust. They next play Wellington who, after being denied a chance at victory by rain against Otago in Round 2, hit their stride in this Round. If Auckland wins this match, they are almost sure to book their place in the final. If Wellington wins, there may be drama in the tournament's final rounds. Otago has also begun to make a move, while CD has faded a bit after their disastrous loss to ND. That win may be the highlight of the ND season. Canterbury, who just last year played in the Championship final, have yet to get off mark. Part of the explanation for that is that they are averaging 20.2 runs per wicket, with Peter Fulton averaging 22, Brendon McCullum 12.50, and last year's wunderkind Michael Papps 5.

 

 

The wins minus losses graph, as always, gives us a better picture of what is really going on in the tournament. We are immediately drawn to the Central Districts line, showing two losses in a row and a team in trouble at the moment. But when we look at the points table, we see CD sharing second position with Otago and Wellington (actually third based on a crashing net run per wicket rate--see below). This is due to the fact that CD were rewarded for their spirit crushing loss to ND with two points. CD should actually be in fourth place, not sharing second.

 

 

The net runs per wicket graph truly shows how Auckland is dominating this competition. Their NRPW is almost 15 runs higher than Wellington, who come second. No other side have a positive NRPW.

 

Sources for this article:
nzcricket.co.nz game stories, averages, and scorecards
Chris Rattue and New Zealand Press Association via New Zealand Herald (Aukland)
cricketarchive.com scorecards
2004 New Zealand Cricket Almanack
2004 Wisden Cricketers Almanack

 

(Article: Copyright © 2005 Jack Solock)