Legendary Wellington offspinner Jeetan Patel will grace the Basin Reserve turf one last time when the Firebirds take-on the Central Stags in the Dream11 Super Smash tomorrow afternoon.

The 39-year-old will bring a career that has spanned almost twenty years to an end to begin his transition into coaching – continuing his spin bowling consultant role with England Cricket for their upcoming tours of South Africa and Sri Lanka.

Patel made his debut for Wellington in a Shell Trophy first-class match against Auckland at Eden Park Outer Oval in 2000, tomorrow will be his 309th appearance for his hometown – the second most of all time, behind his good mate Luke Woodcock.

Patel went past 500 wickets for Wellington against the Canterbury Kings on Sunday and is the fourth all-time leading wicket taker in first-class cricket for Wellington with 333, behind Mark Gillespie, Evan Gray and Ewen Chatfield.

He lifted the four-day State Championship in 2004, the Ford Trophy in 2014 and two T20 championships in 2015 and 2017.

‘’I’ve been hugely privileged to be able to represent Wellington for almost twenty years – this game has given me so many enjoyable moments and the Firebirds and the Cricket Wellington logo is something that is very important to me,” said Patel.

The Firebirds are unchanged for the match after opening their Dream11 Super Smash campaign with a convincing six-wicket win over the Kings on Sunday.

Play gets underway in Wellington tomorrow from 4.10pm.

Wellington Firebirds squad | Dream11 Super Smash | v Central Stags

Michael Bracewell (c)

Hamish Bennett

Fraser Colson

Devon Conway

Jamie Gibson

Jimmy Neesham

Ollie Newton

Malcolm Nofal

Jeetan Patel

Michael Pollard

Rachin Ravindra

Logan Van Beek

Dream11 Super Smash

Wellington Firebirds v Central Stags

Wednesday 18 December, 2019 | 4.10pm

Basin Reserve, Wellington

Article added: Tuesday 17 December 2019