Cricket: Lennox poised for captain debut

Central Stags left-arm spinner Jayden Lennox is poised to lead the team for the first time this Sunday, appointed to captain the Stags' Ford Trophy campaign.

The 29-year-old from Hawke’s Bay takes over the role from 2023/24 captain Dane Cleaver, and says recent one-day skippers Cleaver and Tom Bruce will continue to provide sound advice as he grows into the role.

“I want to extract as much knowledge as I can out of our senior players — including Blair Tickner as a leader of our bowling group,” said Lennox.

“There’s no better way to learn than with mentoring from players who have a lot of experience in the area, and I’m really excited to be offered this chance to develop my leadership skills."

Head Coach Glenn Pocknall felt it was an ideal time to develop a new leader and voice within the squad, and rang Lennox during the preseason with the proposal.

“It was a phone call that took me by surprise,” Lennox recounts, “but after a good conversation, and having a little bit of time to think about it, I realised it was a golden opportunity for me to learn and grow, both as a leader and a person.”

In recent years, Lennox has captained Central Districts A; his club side Napier Tech; and occasionally Hawke Cup holders Hawke’s Bay when regular skipper (now Stags teammate) Angus Schaw was unavailable.

Lennox describes his captaincy style as ‘calm’.

“I think by keeping a relatively relaxed environment around you, that calmness rubs off on other people,” he said. 

“It’s a good state of mind for cricket — and for bowling, particularly.”

Central Districts High Performance Manager, Dave Meiring said Lennox has been shaping as a future Stags captain for some time.

“He has all the personal qualities, and the cricket brain has certainly always been there — he has led our Stags scouting for the last couple of years, and enjoys the tactical side of cricket.

“When we gave him some opportunities to lead CD A, we were really impressed by how he led on the park, what he did off the park, and the way he can speak to a group.

“Jayden’s the kind of person who leads not just through his words, but his actions.

“We think he has all the traits to grow into The Ford Trophy captaincy this season, with the potential to become a captain in the other formats, as well.”

The Stags’ next Plunket Shield captain is yet to be confirmed. 

The previous incumbent, Greg Hay, retired at the end of last summer as the team’s most successful and most capped first-class captain in their 74-year history.

“We have two different Head Coaches [Glenn Pocknall and Ben F. Smith] across the Plunket Shield and the Dream11 Super Smash who are at the forefront of making those leadership decisions,” said Meiring.

“For now, we are focusing solely on The Ford Trophy, with five rounds coming up before we switch to the red-ball Plunket Shield and then Super Smash.

“We’ll look at the other campaigns and discuss what that might look like when the time is right.”

The Ford Trophy opens this summer's fresh-look domestic schedule, the Stags to get underway at home on Sunday at New Plymouth’s Pukekura Park against the Auckland Aces, followed by a midweek Wednesday game against Northern Districts at the same venue.

“It’s a competition that holds a special place in my heart,” said Lennox who won the 2023 national title in this format with the Stags.

“It was the format in which I first started my journey with CD, and it was the first trophy I won with the team.”

With a number of fresher faces on the Stags’ contracted roster this season, Lennox thinks it’s the perfect time for his team to be kicking off a season with the one-day game.

“First-class cricket is quite unforgiving, so us playing the 50-over format is a good way to build up to that, with a little bit of a changing of the guard.

“I think it’s exciting.”

The Central Stags’ squad for Sunday’s first round at Pukekura Park will be named on Saturday.