The Auckland Aces have gotten their Super Smash season off to a positive start this afternoon after beating last season's runner-ups Canterbury Kings by 27 runs.
After losing the toss and being sent in to bat, Auckland's talented opening combo of Finn Allen and Martin Guptill came out firing in the early overs.
Allen looked at his destructive best with a couple of large sixes at Eden Park's No.2 but the fireworks show was cut short after a faint top edge on a shorter ball from Angus McKenzie carried through to the keeper and saw him depart for 26.
With Sean Solia in-and-out for just nine runs soon after thanks to a brilliant caught-and-bowled by Canterbury captain Cole McConchie, Aces skipper Robbie O'Donnell came to the crease looking to reignite his side's innings with Guptill - and he did just that.
O'Donnell finished with an unbeaten 54 from 38 deliveries as he collected seven boundaries, including four maximums, and was backed up by Guptill who scored 47 off 29.
The former Black Caps opener was cruelly denied a Super Smash 50 after a bizarre dismissal, technically being bowled by Michael Rippon after a failed sweep led to the ball getting caught up on his body, dropping off him and managing to hit the wickets while Canterbury was appealing for LBW.
A late flourish from keeper Cam Fletcher [24 off 15] in his first match against his former province set Canterbury a target of 186 - a reachable goal thanks to the short boundaries at Eden Park's Outer Oval.
But Canterbury got themselves into trouble early in their chase as last season's wooden spooners picked apart their top order piece-by-piece, including opener Chad Bowes being dismissed for just one run and McConchie departing for a duck.
That left the Kings in damage control at 19/3 with four overs not even bowled and searching for a counterpunch.
Enter Mitch Hay.
Despite the early wickets, Hay came out aggressive and attacked the Auckland bowling, with five boundaries.
But Auckland found a response with Ben Lister making the crucial breakthrough as he sent the middle stump flying with a pinpoint yorker to shut down Hay at 43 from 25.
When Nikith Perera also sent the off stump flying to remove Rippon for his first-ever Super Smash wicket, Canterbury were again thrown back onto the ropes at 115/6 with the required run rate creeping above 10 an over.
And so Canterbury found another response, this time in the form of debutant Bevon Jacobs.
Jacobs picked up where Hay left off, smashing the ball all around the park as he rocketed to 42 runs from just 19 balls.
It made for nervous times for the hosts as Canterbury had suddenly clawed the match back to just 29 runs needed from the final 18 balls but Auckland had one last Ace up their sleeve in veteran Jimmy Neesham.
Neesham bowled Jacobs cleanly to stop the 21-year-old from scoring another run before claiming the final two wickets back-to-back moments later as Canterbury were all out for 158.
"Great to kick this competition off with a win at home," O'Donnell said.
"You've just got to control what you can and try and execute - that's something we've been talking about the past couple of weeks, backing yourself to execute and it showed.
"Once we took a bit of pace off the ball, we ended up picking up those last wickets quickly."
Neesham finished with Auckland's best figures as he took three wickets for 26 runs while Rippon finished as Canterbury's best bowler in the losing effort, taking two wickets for 27 runs in his four overs of work.
The women's Super Smash opens later this afternoon as the Hearts and Magicians play at the same venue as part of a domestic double-header.
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