Bevon Jacobs has produced one of the great innings in New Zealand domestic cricket, smashing an unbeaten 202 from just 137 balls for the Auckland Aces against Otago in the Ford Trophy on Thursday. His knock, studded with 21 sixes, powered Auckland to 334 for eight in their 50 overs at Eden Park.
Jacobs came in at number four and turned his maiden List A hundred into a double century with astonishing hitting. He struck seven fours alongside his 21 sixes, and five of those maximums came in the final over of the innings. He sealed the double century itself with a six, a fitting finish to an innings that grew more destructive the longer it went on.
The numbers put the innings in rare company. His 21 sixes are the most ever hit by a New Zealand batter in a List A innings, and he fell only two short of the world record of 23, set by Australia's D'Arcy Short when he struck 257 from 148 balls for Western Australia against Queensland in Sydney in 2018. Jacobs is only the fourth New Zealand batter ever to record a double century in List A cricket, after Jamie How in 2012, Martin Guptill in 2015 and Chad Bowes in 2024.
Jacobs, 24, was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and is a right-handed batter who now plays for Auckland after moving from Canterbury. He has already played 16 Twenty20 internationals for New Zealand, averaging 31.9 with two half-centuries, and his power hitting has marked him out as one of the most exciting young batters in the country.
The innings continues a strong run of form. Only weeks ago Jacobs scored more than 135 runs in New Zealand's five-match Twenty20 series against India, holding his own against the world champions. He has also been recruited by the Brisbane Heat for the coming Big Bash season as cover for Tom Curran, who will miss the first three games — a sign of how highly his ball-striking is rated in Australia too.
The Ford Trophy is New Zealand's domestic 50-over competition, and Auckland's total of 334 for eight left Otago facing a steep chase. Jacobs' innings did most of the damage: his 202 not out accounted for well over half of his side's runs, and the acceleration at the end, including those five sixes in the final over, lifted Auckland from a strong position to a commanding one.
For New Zealand's selectors, the timing is hard to ignore. The Black Caps have just named their squad for the Test series against India without Kane Williamson, and while Jacobs is a white-ball specialist for now, an innings of this scale in the longer format of the domestic game will only strengthen his case for a bigger role across formats. Domestic double hundreds have a way of changing conversations about a player.
Jacobs' innings also says something about how one-day cricket is changing in New Zealand. The List A record books were once dominated by accumulators; now a batter can clear the ropes 21 times in a single innings and still be two sixes short of the world record. The balance between bat and ball in the 50-over game has shifted decisively towards the batters, and Jacobs is the latest to take full advantage.
Otago's reply was under way as the day wore on, with Auckland's bowlers charged with defending a total their batter had made look far bigger than it might have been. Whatever the result, Jacobs has already given the Ford Trophy its innings of the season — and given New Zealand cricket a new name to watch.
