Teams declare at 0-0 twice in New Zealand's domestic tournament Plunket Shield

New Zealand’s first-class competition, the Plunket Shield, saw a rare double 0-for-0 declaration as two teams pushed for a decisive result in a rain-hit match. The Central Districts were taking on Canterbury in Nelson. Batting first, the Districts had put on 352 in the first innings and were 7 wickets down. As the rain stopped play, the two teams decided to go for two consecutive 0-for-0 declarations in an effort to enforce a result.

But despite this move, the match ended in quite a dramatic fashion, with left-arm quick Ryan McCone bowling the Canterbury No. 11 Andrew Hazeldine off the last ball of the penultimate over of the match to win it for the Districts. The last-wicket pair of Hazeldine and Will Williams had kept the Central Districts’ bowlers at bay for 25.5 overs and almost steered Canterbury to what would have been a miraculous draw.

Rain plays spoilsport

Rain wiped out two full days of play in the match that took place between October 10 and 13. The fourth and final day began with Central Districts resuming from their score of 301 for 7 in the first innings. They proceeded to add 51 to their total. Willem Ludick was able to bring up his maiden first-class hundred, in only his second match. The Districts then decided to declare the innings in the seventh over of the day.

Canterbury then declared their first innings at 0 for 0, and the Central Districts proceeded to do the same in their second, which effectively rendered the game into a singe-innings match. However, Canterbury were unable to get the result they wanted, handing the Central Districts a 145-run victory.

The two most recent examples of double 0-for-0 declarations in first-class cricket both involved Hampshire in the 2013 County Championship, against Gloucestershire and Leicestershire respectively. Test cricket has only seen such an occurrence once, which came during the controversial Centurion Test between South Africa and England in 2000.

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