Henry Nicholls continued his rich vein of form, hitting a career-best double ton, his fourth three-figure score in six first-class innings.
Henry Nicholls slams fourth hundred in six first-class knocks
Leading Canterbury in their Plunket Shield fourth round game against Auckland, Nicholls struck a career-best 226, featuring 23 fours and two maximums. This was his third hundred in three Plunket Shield games this term, to add to the twin centuries in the second round against Otago.
The three aforementioned knocks, along with the 150 against Zimbabwe in his last Test appearance for New Zealand, made it four first-class hundreds in six innings for the left-hander. Nicholls was among the three centurions for New Zealand in their innings and 339 runs victory over Zimbabwe in August 2025, but wasn’t picked for the West Indies’ ongoing visit during the home summer.
The two-Test series in Zimbabwe had marked the southpaw’s return to the Test set-up after a two-year hiatus. He was earlier dropped just two matches after scoring his highest first-class score of 200 against Sri Lanka in the Wellington Test in 2023.
Henry Nicholls led the way as Canterbury set things up for a big win
More than two years after scoring his first first-class double ton, Nicholls hit 226 against Auckland. After sending the opposition into bat, Canterbury skittled them for 138 within two sessions and set themselves up to take a big first-innings lead.
Match 11, Canterbury vs Auckland Aces
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Coming in just the second over following opener Chad Bowes’ dismissal, Nicholls and Rhys Mariu prevented a collapse, while also adding 271 runs for the second wicket in just over 56 overs. Mariu struck a seventh first-class hundred himself, scoring 147 runs in 177 deliveries. Nicholls was the seventh wicket to fall for Canterbury, who were then at 506, and later declared at 534-8.
In reply, by the end of the second day’s play, they had reduced Auckland to 37-3, and led by 359 runs, with a possible innings win in sight.
With the 226-run knock, Nicholls climbed the Plunket Shield top run-getters chart to sit in the second spot, with the fourth round of matches ongoing. He now has 467 runs this season in five innings at 116.75, with two hundreds and a double ton.
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