Bell breaks Wellington first-class run record

Wellington Firebirds captain Matthew Bell this week became Wellington cricket’s leading first-class run scorer. Bell moved ahead of previous record holder Bruce Edgar by one run during his Plunket Shield innings of 15 against the Central Stags in Napier on Tuesday.

Bell, who has played 156 first-class matches for Wellington since shifting from Northern Districts at the end of 1996/97, is immensely satisfied with the record.

“In terms of achievement this record is nice reward for all the hard work I’ve put in at the top of the order for Wellington over a number of years, “he said.

“I’ve been chipping away at it over several games this year and it’s been a hard slog this season so it’s hugely rewarding to have reached it.

“To top the achievements of one of Wellington’s and New Zealand’s most accomplished openers Bruce Edgar is also pretty special.”

Bell, who also holds the record for most first-class centuries for Wellington with 20, has scored the bulk of his runs at the top of the order, but a broken finger meant he was batting down the order in his record breaking innings.

“I knew I was close to the record when twelfth man Robbie Schaw came out with a message saying I was just three runs away. At the time we were nine wickets down but number eleven Michael Burns hung around long enough for me to score the required runs.”

Bell (9,811 runs) is also fast closing in on 10,000 runs in all first-class cricket.

Meanwhile, Wellington wicket-keeper Chris Nevin (4,817) could become the fourth Wellington player to reach 5,000 first-class runs. With two Plunket Shield matches remaining, Nevin is just 183 runs shy of this milestone.