Devon Flannery celebrates his century milestone against South Canterbury on Saturday. Photo Jaime Pitt-MacKayIt was a simple game plan for Mid Canterbury batsman Devon Flannery when he came to the crease last weekend.

Get in, bat the whole day.

He did get in.

And then batted for a long time – the best part of four hours, as he hit 134 from 172 balls.

The clearness in thinking was something which evidently paid off for the Ashburton teen, as he delivered the biggest and most decisive knock of his young representative reign.

His team needed it also.

After he was dragged out into the middle in just the second over of the innings already one down, Mid Canterbury found themselves in early strife at 12/3.

“I was losing a lot of people around me,” he said.

“But James (Southby) was a good help, when I was with him it felt pretty comfortable.”

The pair put on a crucial fourth wicket stand of 80 to haul Mid Canterbury off the ropes as they registered 226, which ultimately was enough for the team to claim a total of 8 first innings points in the drawn match.

But it was Flannery’s combative stay at the crease which was the turning point as the South Canterbury bowlers felt the pinch.

“They were getting a bit frustrated, especially when it was me and James, they kept pretty quiet and were bowling a few more bad balls.

“I didn’t change a thing.”

He timed the ball to perfection and proved devastating down the ground when the opposition bowlers were guilty of over-pitching around off stump.

Apart from some gentle ribbing from the South Canterbury side around the looming milestone, Flannery had no clue of his score until his team-mates and a sprinkling of patrons at the Ashburton Oval broke out into applause.

Flannery brought his maiden Cup century up with a textbook straight hit towards long off.

“It was a bloody good feeling, but I just needed to get the helmet on and keep going because we needed a lot more runs.”

His contribution continues a run of the younger players of Mid Canterbury going big for the team.

Team-mate Angus Jemmett was also 16 when he hit 108 on debut in the Hawke Cup a year ago.

“We’ve played a lot together and we both enjoy it.”

Flannery also credited the track at Ashburton Oval last weekend as a great cricket wicket, and one of the better surfaces the ground had produced.

“It was coming on nice.”

He also noticed there were less nerves heading into his fifth Hawke Cup game after being backed by coaching staff over the past few weeks to play his natural game.

“I knew I was hitting the ball well at practice.”

With such an important match against North Otago, you would be forgiven for thinking the team may be feeling the edge as they look to maintain top billing in Zone 4 and keep alive their chances at a challenge against the Cup holders.

Flannery, who is feeling more and more comfortable in the senior team, will again have a role to play in Oamaru this weekend.

“I’m really excited.

“Ever since I started, all we’ve talked about is trying to get that Hawke Cup challenge.

“Everyone’s pretty pumped up to get a good outright win hopefully.

“It’s a pretty good team to be a part of.”

Mid Canterbury are all square on 16 points in the zone alongside Southland and Otago Country.

There will be added interest in how Country fares against South Canterbury in Alexandra which also starts today.

By Adam Burns © The Ashburton Guardian - 23 January 2021