Kiwi No.11 smashes amazing unbeaten 150

A No.11 batsman with a previous highest score of 25 has hammered an unbeaten 150 in a remarkable last-wicket partnership during a representative match in New Zealand.

Hamilton duo Freddy Walker and Anish Desai combined for an unbeaten 10th wicket stand of 220 in their Northern Districts Cricket Association match against Bay of Plenty at Galloway Park, just five kilometres east of Seddon Park, the venue for the Chappell-Hadlee series decider between Australia and New Zealand on Sunday.

Hamilton were 6-93 at one stage in their first innings and were 9-189 when Walker joined number three batsman Desai at the crease.

Walker, who had scored just 54 runs in six previous innings in the local competition over the course of three seasons, then unleashed a barrage of boundaries to turn the match on its head.

The left-hander hammered 23 fours and a six on his way to 150 from just 125 deliveries, and which point his side declared their innings closed at 9-409.

Desai, who had earlier held firm as the other six members of Hamilton's top seven fell for single-figure scores, struck 20 boundaries of his own to finish unbeaten on 165 from 231 balls.

It's not clear if their unbroken 220-run stand is a competition record, but the rarity of a last-wicket stand of that magnitude is clear when viewed in the context of international cricket.

The Test record for a final-wicket partnership is the 198 scored by England's Joe Root and Jimmy Anderson against India in 2014 at Trent Bridge, the same venue where Phillip Hughes and Ashton Agar famously added 163 for the last wicket the previous year.

But the mark of 220 is well short of the all-time record in first-class cricket, the 307 runs added by New South Wales captain Alan Kippax and No.11 Hal Hooker in the Sheffield Shield Boxing Day clash against Victoria in 1928.

NSW were 9-113 in that match in reply to Victoria's 376, including the wicket of a young Donald Bradman for 1, when No.4 batsman Kippax (20 not out at the time) was joined at the crease by Hooker.

The pair then combined for an extraordinary partnership before Hooker was dismissed for 62, with Kippax finishing unbeaten on 260.