Ford Trophy cricket has started with wins for Otago, Auckland and Canterbury. Will O'Donnell hit a century for Auckland and Angus McKenzie snared 5 wickets for Canterbury, but Otago had strong contributions from their whole team to grab an impressive win against Northern Districts in Whangarei.

Batting first, Otago put up 316/9 @ 6.3rpo. Here are the lads who scored 20+ runs...

Dale Phillips: 89 runs @ 81.6sr
Llew Johnson: 39 runs @ 102.6sr
Leo Carter: 53 runs @ 91.3sr
Luke Georgeson: 40 runs @ 173.9sr
Max Chu: 32 runs @ 110.3sr
Ben Lockrose: 21 runs @ 190.9sr

Most of those lads are younger players on the rise, while Carter played his first game for Otago after moving south from Canterbury. It was a similar story with the ball as ND was all out for 141 with four Otago bowlers taking 2+ wickets...

Andrew Hazeldine: 2w @ 2.4rpo
Matthew Bacon: 3w @ 3.3rpo
Dean Foxcroft: 3w @ 4.1rpo
Ben Lockrose: 2w @ 3rpo

Hazeldine and Bacon are seamers. Foxcroft and Lockrose are spinners.

O'Donnell started his summer with 115 runs @ 87sr for Auckland to lead them to 244/6 @ 4.8rpo. This was his second List-A century and after finishing third for Ford Trophy runs last summer, O’Donnell has got straight back into his groove. O’Donnell averages 35+ in First-Class and LA batting.

Others chimed in for a few decent contributions but Bevon Jacobs flashed his hitting ability down the order with 19* @ 211sr. Jacobs made his domestic cricket debut for Canterbury last year and and his return to Auckland saw him add to his impressive List-A strike-rate of 102.5 (obviously he gives it a whack in T20s with 188.7sr).

Blair Tickner took 4w @ 6.6rpo for Central Districts and Tom Bruce had a crack at chasing down Auckland's target as he hit 73 runs @ 112sr. Will Clark also added 45 runs @ 97.8sr but CD was dismissed for 205 with Jimmy Neesham taking 4w @ 3.5rpo, along with 2w each for Danru Ferns (3.1rpo) and Adithya Ashok (3.8rpo).

Ashok played his first game since last summer, when he made his ODI debut for Aotearoa against Bangladesh. Ashok and Lockrose are young spinners to watch out. Lockrose is a powerful hitter (168sr in T20s) who bowls lefty and Ashok is the best emerging leggy who has already played ODIs and T20Is for Blackcaps.

Adithya Ashok career stuff

FCs: 34.66avg/3.4rpo
LA: 35.89avg/5.4rpo
T20: 22avg/7rpo

Canterbury dismissed Wellington for 129 on the back of McKenzie's baggy as well as Zak Foulkes' 3w @ 3.4rpo. Chad Bowes (48* @ 97.9sr) and Matt Boyle (45* @ 132.3sr) steered Canterbury to victory with the bat, with Boyle showing the quality that has seen him earn a spot in the Canterbury line up at 21-years-old.

Zak Foulkes career stuff

FC: 24.74avg/3.1rpo
LA: 20.79avg/4.5rpo
T20: 19.17avg/7.6rpo

Angus McKenzie career stuff

FC: 34.88avg/2.5rpo
LA: 26.26avg/4.9rpo
T20: 22.33avg/8rpo

Next games are on Wednesday...

Canterbury vs Otago in Christchurch

Central Districts vs Northern Districts in New Plymouth

Auckland vs Wellington in Mt Maunganui

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