Final Home Match Of 2022/23 Sees ACES Hoping To Spoil Northern Districts Ascendancy

After a summer of ups and downs, fine weather and (lots of) rain, the end of the home summer for the ACES is finally here, back where it began at Eden Park Kennards Hire Community Oval.

Since the resumption of the Plunket Shield the ACES have played some very fine cricket without being able to get over the line for much needed wins.

The draw with Wellington two weeks ago at Colin Maiden Park showcased some truly dominant play from the ACES while in Alexandra last week neither Otago nor the visitors could get ahead on a slow, low wicket.

With the rescheduled round five match against Central Districts to contend with in early April, the ACES will look take heart from the fact the they've played one less match than all the other teams (apart from CD) meaning their position at 6th on the table could change if the result goes their way this week.

They come up against a Northern Districts side brimming with confidence after their astonishingly close 2 run win against the Wellington Firebirds last week. A win for them could catapult them above Canterbury at the top of the Plunket Shield table.

Interestingly, this is the first four day match this summer where these two sides will face each other.

The selectors have made one change for this week's match with Ben Lister returning from illness, replacing Louis Delport.

The autumn equinox brings pleasant weather to Auckland this week, with a slight chance of isolated showers on Tuesday and Wednesday and partly cloudy conditions otherwise.

The toss is at 10am with play kicking off at 10:30am. The match is free entry and will also be live streamed on New Zealand Cricket’s YouTube channel while live scoring is available at scoring.nzc.nz.

Plunket Shield Round Eight | Auckland ACES vs. Northern Districts |
10:30am, 21-24 March 2023 | Kennards Hire Community Oval, Auckland

Adi Ashok (Suburbs New Lynn)

Mark Chapman (Parnell)

Danru Ferns (Takapuna)
Ben Horne (Parnell) (wk)
Simon Keene (North Shore)

Ben Lister (Suburbs New Lynn)

Robbie O’Donnell (Takapuna) (c)
Will O’Donnell (Takapuna)
Sean Solia (Suburbs New Lynn)
Will Somerville (Parnell)
Quinn Sunde (Takapuna)
George Worker (Cornwall)

© Scoop Media