Ryder assault crushes Central Districts

Wellington 214 for 5 (Ryder 75, Elliott 50, Franklin 42*) beat Central Districts 159 (Young 34, Woakes 3-27) by 55 runs
Scorecard

Central Districts faced a Jesse Ryder onslaught from the outset, and couldn't recover from it; they went down to Wellington by 55 runs in Napier. After asking Wellington to bat, they faced Ryder's storm, and by the time he had departed - after scoring 76 off 26 deliveries - in the eighth over, Central Districts were behind in the game. Their opponents built on the whirlwind start, and scored 214 in their 20 overs, helped by Grant Elliott's quick half-century. Seamer Chris Woakes, with his three wickets, then helped bowl Central Districts out for 159 in 19 overs.

Ryder struck a boundary off the first delivery he faced, and followed it up with a six. He dominated the opening stand of 105, scoring more than 70% of the runs. He had reached his half-century off 16 deliveries, the joint eighth-fastest fifty in Twenty20s, and the joint third-fastest in the HRV Cup. Through nine fours and six sixes, he had scored 72 of his 75 runs. When seamer Andrew Mathieson bowled him out, his team were going at 14.20 runs per over.

That eventually dropped to 10.70 by the end of the innings. His wicket led to three other quick ones, but Grant Elliott and James Franklin added 83 in 8.2 overs to help them past 200. Four of Central Districts' six bowlers had finished with an economy rate of over 11 per over.

When they batted, they suffered an early blow when opener Marty Kain was dismissed off the second delivery of the innings. After scoring 14 off seven balls, No. 3 Jamie How also departed. A brief recovery ensued but was undone by the fall of quick wickets. When Carl Cachopa, the fourth-highest run-getter in Plunket Shield and the sixth-highest in the HRV Cup this season, was run out in the ninth over, his team had lost half their side for 69 runs. Will Young, who scored 34, wicketkeeper Ben Smith and Adam Milne tried to keep them in the hunt, to no avail.

Ryder, with this knock, has scored 174 runs in three matches in the HRV Cup, at a strike rate of 200 - both chart-topping stats so far.