Follow UsIt was the final day of the Plunket Shield 2024-25, New Zealand’s prestigious first-class tournament and 39-year-old Neil Wagner decided to take matters into his own hands to get himself the only trophy wanted in his cabinet.
On April 1 (Tuesday), the final day of the 24th match, the last in the six-team league, where every team played eight games each, Northern Districts were up against Otago, who needed 274 on the last day with seven wickets in hand.
Wagner, who had taken three wickets in the first innings and one wicket already in the second, turned the gas on and picked four more to get a fifer in his last match with New Zealand cricket and also record his 37th fifth-wicket haul in first-class cricket.
Talking about sensing victory, Wagner, as quoted by ESPNCricinfo, said, “I don't think it's ever felt like it's in the bag until I thought we needed three wickets or so left. I started thinking, hey, this is it. The dream's going to come true in quite a nice and fitting way."
Having won the World Test Championship (WTC) in 2021 and Super Smash in 2008-09, Wagner, a pure red-ball bowler, was always looking to win the Shield, having come close to it on many occasions previously.
Unlike the Ranji Trophy in India or the Sheffield Shield in Australia, the Plunket Shield does not have a final. The team that finishes at the top of the league at the end of all the matches wins it.
“Yeah, cherry on the top, like it's just, couldn't have asked for a better ending. Plunket Shield is one of the only things I've never been able to achieve as a team, and to do that in your last game here is definitely a tick off the bucket list and a pretty special day. It's a nice way to end what has been a pretty special time in New Zealand,” Wagner said.
Though the South Africa-born might have played his final match in New Zealand, he would have another shot at glory in his final appearance for Durham in the County Championships 2025.