Rookie inspires Firebirds

Luke Georgeson made the highest score of his fledgling first-class cricket career as the Wellington Firebirds made a winning start to the Plunket Shield.

The 22-year-old opener made 74 as they chased down 193 to beat the Volts by six wickets at their Basin Reserve home in a low-scoring contest yesterday.

He was in sight of a century when he reached 74 midway through the morning session, needing 26 runs at a point when 55 were still required for the Firebirds to win.

But he proceeded to face 29 dot balls from left-arm wrist-spinner Michael Rippon before mistiming a pull shot to give substitute fielder Josh Finnie a simple catch.

At that stage the Firebirds needed just 25 more runs and Black Caps wicketkeeper Tom Blundell guided them home.

After the match, coach Glenn Pocknall praised Georgeson’s efforts. ‘‘If you look at the scores across the other three innings, 207 was the highest score, so it was always going to be a bit challenging, but for him to stand up as a young, inexperienced player and lead the batting unit, it was really good to see.’’

There was good news at the start of the day for the Firebirds – and potentially the Black Caps, if he is in the mix to tour India – when Rachin Ravindra was cleared of any major damage after taking a blow on his right arm late on day three.

Pocknall said seamer Ben Sears could be in contention to play in the next match, against Canterbury back at the Basin Reserve, starting on Sunday.

Canterbury and the Central Stags were forced to settle for a draw in the other match as rain disrupted proceedings at Hagley Oval in Christchurch.

The hosts – and defending champions – began the final day at 61-0 needing 389 runs from a minimum of 96 overs while the Stags were searching for 10 wickets.

Black Caps opener Tom Latham made 104 for Canterbury before he was caught reverse-sweeping. Earlier, he joined in a partnership of 90 for the first wicket with fellow international Henry Nicholls, who made 44.

When the rain arrived before tea, Canterbury had slumped to 199-5 with two new batsmen, Cam Fletcher and Theo van Woerkom, at the crease.

Play resumed after a two-hour delay at 5.22pm, with the Stags needing five more wickets from a tick more than 21 overs, but they couldn’t find a breakthrough before bad light stopped play at 6.18pm.