An opening partnership of 188 runs after being put in to bat by Otago Country between century maker Craig Davies with 129 and Jeremy Liddy 69 put the South Canterbury cricket team in a dominant position for the rest of the match in their final Hawke Cup match of the season. Unfortunately no one told Otago Country and the match went right to the wire.

The match began with Otago Country needing first innings points to tie with North Otago at the top of the table, and therefore win the right to challenge for the Hawke Cup because they had beaten North Otago in pool play. This probably impacted on their decision to play to their strength and bowl first, but a South Canterbury side playing for pride soon took control of the game and never looked back.

Davies second consecutive Hawke Cup century was chanceless as he and Liddy took their time to get used to the bounce at Aorangi, but after they had got themselves in the shot making from the pair blossomed and when they went to lunch the score was 149 with Davies (88) in sight of his ton, while Liddy had just brought up his half century.

It was hard work for the Country bowlers, although perhaps they are more used to the heat, but eventually the breakthrough came when Liddy was out caught for 69. Davies then lost his next two partners cheaply, perhaps a reflection on their four hour wait with pads on before he finally fell for 129.

Country perked up, but then poor catching did not help their cause as Alexander McKenzie made 47 after a couple of early chances, Glenn Matthews 21, and then Andy Scott made the most of his return to the team with an impressive 45 not out and was looking for his fifty when he ran out of partners. South Canterbury by now had posted 376 and left plenty for Country to do.

Runs on the board build their own pressures and Matthews and Craig Hinton soon made breakthroughs including the night watchmen for a duck to have Country reeling at 30-3 before eventually finishing the day at 56-3.

Day two dawned even hotter and the South Canterbury side was set for a long day in the field. The first three hour session only heralded one wicket when Hinton removed Brendan Domigan the Otago Country captain for 45 but James Pyle at the other end seemed in little trouble, and with new partner Fraser Wilson had put Otago Country right back in the match when they went to lunch with the score 226-4 and Wilson 83 not out and Pyle 67 not out.

Lunches tend to benefit fielding sides and this time it was no different as Wilson played inside the line and was bowled by Todd Elliotte for 91. A few runs later and Pyle played lazily at a delivery outside off and was caught by Elliotte at first slip off Hinton and suddenly the South Canterbury heads were up and the eagerness could be seen. Matthews trapped Petre lbw and at 296-8 South Canterbury were back in charge.

The ebbs and flows of the game continued however, as edges were spilled, or more often than not didn’t quite carry and Otago Country got themselves back into the favourite’s position as Cameron Rutherford and Ronnie Kotkamp put on a big partnership and went to tea only needing another 46 runs.

After tea Elliotte brought his main strike bowlers back on as South Canterbury looked for a breakthrough, but it didn’t come until Otago had 371 on the board and only required a further seven runs to make use of the tickets to the final they had already booked.

Hinton bowling his 35th over in a huge day at the office caught the edge of Kotkamp’s bat and it flew low through to keeper Andy Scott who was up to the task and took the catch. The batsman hung around as he was uncertain if it had carried, but the umpires confirmed his demise which brought No 11 Ben Purvis to face the last five balls of the Hinton over while Rutherford, now 58 not out, could only watch from the far end.

Hinton knew he had to be online and make Purvis play and his first delivery was right on the spot rapping the batsman’s pads. The whole team went up in appeal, the umpire obliged, and Otago Country was dismissed for 371 giving South Canterbury the first innings win and Hinton his fifth wicket.

A great end to an intriguing cricket match and perhaps also a fitting farewell to captain Todd Elliotte after 101 games for his province, although he would probably have liked the five more wickets he needed to bag 300. The first season in the new zone did not go well for South Canterbury finishing second last, but this match will have given them a lot more confidence heading into next season.

Scoreboard

The first day’s play in the penultimate round of the Tweedy Cup, while not notable for the standard of cricket with the rep players away, was notable for a number of firsts as players and veterans stepped up to fill in places.

Leading the way was Grant Watt with two ‘firsts’. Known as an opening bowler, it would have been a surprise to the Timaru team when he strode to the wicket alongside Ryan De Joux to open the batting for Celtic, something he certainly has never done before. Perhaps he made the wrong career choice as a youngster, because Watt went on to chalk up another first by scoring a senior fifty and being the main contributor in an opening partnership of 94 on a difficult track.

Timaru were short of regular bowlers and when captain Hayden Butler broke down in his fourth over, their situation was marginalized even further, but aided by a ‘bowlers pitch’ with variable bounce and popping from one end it was still always difficult to bat and much more enjoyable to bowl on.

Robbie Rankin stood up for his team and was rewarded with his first senior 5 wicket bag after bowling steadily for 15 overs, while Josh Smallridge also bowled well to take 3-23 and they were well supported by 154 gullies (the combined age of the three fielders fielding there) in the field.

At one stage Celtic lost seven wickets for 24 runs before Jarrod Wooffindin and Willie Scott with a 56 run partnership got some respectability back to the score with Scott also achieving his highest senior score (27) along the way and eventually Celtic ended with a very respectable 182.

Timaru’s chase for first innings points was soon in disarray as they slumped to 53-6, and options such as declaring as soon as they had passed the follow on were discussed. The main reasoning behind this idea was to be able to get well into the Celtic batting lineup on this difficult pitch before the return of the Celtic rep players next week, negating the chance for some to bat.

However some lusty blows by Grant Bishop who finished 44 not out meant that Timaru batted through to the end of their innings and with 136, were only 46 runs behind. Batting a second time, Celtic had to take care over their batting order as they tried to protect returning players, but when stumps was called they had lost both Ryan and Ants De Joux but at 67-2 have already established a 113 run lead and would look favourites to add another outright win to their season.

In Geraldine, Star are pressing hard for first innings points after half centuries to Paul Arkinstall and Chris Anders helped them to 193-7 when the declaration came. In reply Geraldine led by Michael King with 56 are 141-6 with another 10 overs left before they have to declare, so it would seem likely that Star will get first innings points, but may struggle to have time to achieve an outright result to keep them in contention for the final, especially when there is no real incentive for Geraldine to declare behind.

In probably the game of the round Waimate and Temuka squared off in Temuka and an outright to either team would move them to outright second.

Waimate batted first and scored 172 with three batsmen scoring in the thirties, while Temuka’s Paul Coles with three wickets was well supported by Dillion Lees, Michael Geddis and Ritchie Preston with two apiece.

In reply Temuka have wickets in hand as they chase first innings points, but their scoring has been slow and with the score 119-5 with only eight overs to bat before the compulsory declaration, may also look at declaring behind, but not before Richard Opie currently 47 not out has a chance to score a fifty.

Next weekend will be very interesting as teams position themselves for results, but it seems likely that the second finalist will not be known until the end of the last round.

Honours Board:
R Rankin 5-41
M King 56
C Anders 54*
G Watt 52
P Arkinstall 52

Score sheets

Celtic’s quest for a triple crown in senior cricket has started well after a superlative fielding display in poor light and drizzle enabled them to easily quell the Star challenge in the final of the Twenty20 competition played at Aorangi Oval on Saturday.

Weather that gave the finals ‘four seasons in one day’ made every match different. In the earlier playoff matches, the Timaru vs Geraldine match was probably the most exciting for the spectators with the outcome and 3rd place for Timaru only decided on the last ball, while the playoff to avoid last spot between Waimate and Temuka had the best time of day to play in glorious sunshine and this was reflected in the scores as Waimate scored 175, the highest team score of the day, and kept Temuka to 156.

The final match did not get under way until 5.00pm after scheduling hiccups meant games had gone well over time. Celtic won the toss and immediately followed what had already proved to be a winning formula for the day by batting first.

The much anticipated showing of Ryan De Joux and his ‘rhino bat’ came to little after the Star tactics of opening the innings with Todd Elliotte’s off-spin and the medium pace of Mark Evans worked well as Celtic slumped to 13-2. Elliotte bowled out and ended with very good figures of 1-18 off his four overs.

Unfortunately for Star this brought Craig Davies to the middle to join his captain Andy Scott and they quickly set about resurrecting the innings as Davies got the scoreboard ticking over on his way to 52 and the pair added 82 runs before Davies was well caught on the boundary by Phil McGregor. Scott continued on to make a solid 36 before Michael King made up for an error and took the second chance offered.

Star made another breakthrough shortly after when McGregor again took a catch on the deep mid wicket boundary, but this only brought the Laming brothers together. The nemesis of many opposing teams over the years, today was no different as they added 47 runs in better than even time to allow Celtic to post 162, a very good target as the overcast conditions meant light at best was now poor, with the scorer’s light showing out like a beacon.

Star’s chase began well with young openers Simon Ward and Alexander McKenzie beginning confidently. However just as McKenzie looked to be going well he was bowled trying to make room for himself by Sam Carlaw and the first wicket fell at 28. In the final wash-up this turned out to be the best Star partnership as the team struggled to break the tightening Celtic stranglehold on the match.

Todd Elliotte was striking the ball well when the first of many brilliant catches was taken by James Laming diving full length forwards to catch a ball at square leg that if he had missed would most likely have meant a visit to the dentist to save his teeth. Craig Davies then joined the act to remove top scorer Ward for 22 with a caught and bowled and Star were suddenly 72-4.

Not wanting to let Star off the hook, Andy Scott made what turned out to be an ‘inspired’ change of bowler bringing Ants De Joux on to bowl what would become a devastating spell as he took 4 wickets for 4 runs off one and a half overs. He will argue it was his bowling prowess, but he would not begrudge the support of his fielders. First it was Dan Laming who decided he wouldn’t be outdone by his brother as he hurled himself parallel to the ground to take a great catch in his left hand and Andrew McRae was on his way back to the pavilion for 21.

James responded to his brother’s challenge by taking two more great catches on the boundary. That he could pick the ball up in flight, let alone catch it in the damp and dark conditions amazed the onlookers who by now only knew it had gone in his direction because he had dived, and then miraculously arose arms aloft to claim another scalp. Star was dismissed for 97 and a jubilant Celtic was soon celebrating their dominance after winning by 65 runs.

The play-off for 3rd place was played when the bitingly cold southerly wind was at its worst and Timaru batted first. Grant Brookland’s good season continued as he scored 30, but Kris Howes’ love for final’s cricket at Aorangi was again evident as he was the dominant batsman scoring an unbeaten 75 and helped his team to 160-7. For Geraldine Andrew Coombes returned his best senior bowling taking 2-19 off his four overs.

English pro Matt Barnes took the responsibility for the chase on and opened the batting for Geraldine. He lost his partner with 1 on the board but when the score was 45-3 he was joined by Michael King and together they got Geraldine into a position to challenge. The 93 run partnership was broken when Barnes was out for 75 but King continued on. Gary Muff came and went in the last over when the score had reached 156 and 5 further runs were still needed.

The experience of Howes (1-16) who bowled the final over was shown as King was generally kept off strike and although he brought up his 50 (like Barnes off only 35 balls) when the final ball came Geraldine still needed 3 runs to win, or 2 to enforce a bowl off, but unfortunately for them, the 1 run they scored meant they lost by 1 run.

Temuka asked Waimate to bat in the first game of the day and were 24-2 before Todd Bailey (37) and Glen Drake (26) got the score going. At 102-7 Waimate looked like posting a small total but then Jason Sew Hoy struck the fastest 50 of the day off only 22 balls and a 63 run partnership with Matt Devlin (30 not out) during the final six overs meant Waimate set 176 for Temuka to win.

Temuka began similarly to Waimate and were 74-2 at the 10 over mark similar to Waimate’s 68-2 at the same stage. Chris Opie (run out for 63) and Ritchie Preston (43) added 64 for the 3rd wicket, but when Preston was out after a 41 run partnership with Paul Coles the Temuka challenge wilted and gave Waimate the win.

Honours Board:
K Howes 75*
M Barnes 75
C Opie 63
J Sew Hoy 57
C Davies 52
M King 51*

Scoresheets

The South Canterbury Women’s Cricket team travelled to the heart of Central Otago on Sunday to play Central Otago in Oturehua.

Losing the toss, South Canterbury was asked to field in hot sunshine. All of the bowlers had some sort of success and were rewarded with the wickets being shared between them. The best of them being Rachel Clements who, when Central were all out for 95, finished with the fine figures of 4/9 off 6 overs. In only her second time at the bowling crease, Amy Beeby also bowled her left armers well and finished with 1 wicket and should have had another, but for a dropped catch.

As cricket games often go, when the team batting first only posts a low score, often the team chasing struggles and this was no different when South Canterbury began its run chase.

Courtney Buckman and Mellissa O’Brien got the visiting side off to a cautious start with an opening partnership of 16. When these two were parted things began to go horribly wrong for South Canterbury and they began to loose wickets at regular intervals. Keryn Ward (16) decided to only hit the balls she had to and found valuable alias in Clements (11) and Rowan Milburn (12).

They crept closer to the winning target but found the going tough as J Gibson with her slow off spinners made the 96 runs hard to get. In the end with 1 run need for victory the last pair of Kaitlyn Young and Beeby scrambled a run, much to the delight of coach/umpire, Richard Davidson and their team mates on the sideline.

The Celtic cricket team is looking for the first in a trifecta of crowns on Saturday.

Celtic head into the Twenty20 final against Star at the Aorangi Bowl as red-hot favourites.

As the traditional heavyweights of senior cricket over the past decade, Celtic have also booked a place in the 50-over against Temuka.

They look likely to contest the two-day Tweedy Cup final as well.

The free-scoring Twenty20 competition is a new one and no doubt Celtic will be keen to get their hands on the silverware.

Much could depend on in-form opener Ryan de Joux.

The hard-hitting batsman has torn apart attacks in the shortest form of the game, last week smashing 73 off only 27 balls.

The 35-year-old is averaging over 50 and loves the format of the game.

“It suits me down to the ground, it’s quick and I don’t get puffed,” he said.

“Seriously though, I believe it has helped others improve their game as it forces them to play off the block because they have to.”

Something of a character in the local club scene, de Joux has branded his own bat with his nickname: “Rhino”.

A cartoon on the bat has been dubbed “Demolition Rhino”.

He hopes it stays true on Saturday or admits he may get some stick.

Never afraid to have a word, de Joux has been on his best behaviour this season and has not fronted the judiciary, who he admits he is “on a first-name basis with”.

He will open the innings with wicketkeeper batsman Andy Scott in a strong top-order line-up, with youngster Sam Carlaw likely to bat at three.

Carlaw can get on with the job, as can Craig Davies, one of the province’s most prolific run scorers.

The side also have a handy bowling attack, with veteran Grant Watt and Willy Scott along with spinners Davies and Carlaw.

Also in the mix is medium-pacer Glenn Mathews, who has proved a valuable member of the side since moving down from Marlborough.

Davies is better known as an opening batsman in the longer form of the game but has proved a more-than-capable bowler, having polished his skills in England over the winter.

Star came from nowhere, having been bottom equal on the table to tie for second and go through by virtue of beating Timaru last weekend.

For the underdogs the form of opener Alexander McKenzie could prove pivotal.

Like de Joux he is a potential match winner.

McKenzie will open the batting with former Timaru Boys’ High School player Simon Ward, who has looked comfortable playing senior cricket.

The middle order has the experienced Andrew McRae, who chairs the South Canterbury Cricket board.

The slimmed-down Julian Blanchard has also proved handy with the bat.

The bowling attack relies heavily on Craig Hinton, but captain Phil McGregor has turned himself into a specialist Twenty20 bowler with quite an effect.

Tim Butler is also likely to get among the wickets if the game goes Star’s way.

There are two wild cards who could also turn the match if available.

Celtic’s Dan Laming has been out injured, but could make a welcome return, while Star can call upon South Canterbury captain Todd Elliotte.

Laming can be a devastating batsman while Elliotte can be equally effective with his offspin bowling and is also handy with the bat.

The final is set to start at 4pm, with Temuka playing Waimate at 11am, followed by Timaru and Geraldine, ensuring an action-packed day at the Oval.

The draws for Junior Cricket are now online on the JAB Draws page

For those parents, supporters, players and coaches not sure how the Ashbury Park pitch numbering system works, you can see a diagram here

The  SOUTH CANTERBURY women’s cricket team got their Aotea Cup campaign off to a positive start with a tense four run win over Dunedin at Aorangi Oval.

In bitterly cold conditions yesterday, South Canterbury batted first and scored 157 for eight from their 40 overs, thanks to Rowen Milburn with 44 and Lisa Grant who made 39.

The pair combined for a match defining partnership, after the hosts had slumped to 77-6 at one point.

Dunedin appeared to be cruising to their target  with nine wickets in hand with under half the runs to get, but tight bowling by Amber Boyce, who took three wickets and Milburn, who showed her all round talent by bagging three, meant the squeeze went on the young Dunedin side and they were all out with the target in sight.

South Canterbury Cricket community development officer, Richard Davidson said he was pleased with the commitment the team showed in the field.

The experience of Grant, Boyce and Milburn, who have all played domestic cricket for either Otago or Canterbury proved to be the difference, he said.

The Aotea Cup is played between teams from Dunedin, Central Otago, Southland and South Canterbury.

South Canterbury’s next opponents will be Central Otago in Oturehua next weekend.

Coaches Report:

After winning the toss, South Canterbury got of to a slow start and was soon in trouble at the half way stage of their innings. With only 60 runs on the board they had lost 5 wickets. Only Courtney Hamel (11) and Courtney Buckman (15) got into double figures. All of the top order had trouble with the swinging ball and struggled to hit the ball into gaps. When Otago Spark, Lisa Grant (44) and retired White Fern Rowan Milburn (40no) came together they began to run the quick singles, (although this was to be Grant’s down fall as she tried this once too often and was run out). At the end of South Canterbury’s allotted 40 overs they had got through to a now respectful and defendable total of 157/7.

Dunedin’s turn at bat got of to a steady start against the new ball attack of Hannah Linton and Hamel who picked up the first wicket LBW with the total on 9.

Team mate of Grant in the Sparks and Dunedin captain, Kate Crowley kept the innings going by hitting the bad ball to the boundary. Her innings of 80 no made up of over half of Dunedin’s runs. With her at the crease the Dunedin were always going to go close. The run rate required always kept in toe with the balls remaining.

With the introduction of Milburn (3-22) and Amber Boyce (4-24) the chase was slowed down somewhat and the final over began with 8 run required for a Dunedin victory. The first ball of Libby Stuck’s over created a runout at the bowlers end resulting in South Canterbury wining by 8 runs.

The final six round robin matches of the inaugural Twenty20 competition were played on Saturday with the various results deciding final playoff places. While Celtic made no race of it with two wins and an early finish after Ryan De Joux struck 73 from only 27 deliveries to help them pass Geraldine’s score in only the eight over, the Star versus Timaru match effectively became a semi with the winner assured of the other final spot and fittingly the outcome was only know after the final ball was bowled well after 7.00pm at night.

Timaru were late getting back to Ashbury Park after their match in Temuka had run over time, and play never got under way until after 4.00pm, so the players and numerous spectators would have been pleased that it was the best day weather-wise this season.

Star won the toss and batted with openers Simon Ward and Alexander McKenzie continuing their form from the first game adding 42 for the first wicket. When McKenzie was second out for 36, the score was 60 but Star fell into the trap of not getting bat on ball to keep the scoreboard ticking over. They lost a couple of quick wickets before Andrew McRae was joined by Julian Blanchard and the run rate was soon picked up as the pair put pressure on the fielders and ran at every opportunity. McRae was eventually out caught for 26 and Blanchard left unbeaten on 14, but importantly they had helped Star through to a more competitive total of 132-7.

Timaru’s chase began steadily, but the loss of Grant Brookland early on slowed the accumulation of runs as the batsmen struggled to connect. Gerald Piddock answered his sideline critics who were hoping he would run himself out by eventually getting the pace of the pitch and putting bat on ball and capped off a good double for the day by top-scoring with 39.

Peter Grady, Tim Mackle and Kris Howes all made double figures, but Timaru continued to slip behind a comfortable run rate to chase. Craig Hinton (2-19) made it difficult for the batsmen at one end, while captain and Twenty20 bowling specialist Phil McGregor was the thorn in the Timaru side taking 3-21 from his 4 overs at the other end, and when McGregor began the final over, Timaru still needed nine runs to win. A couple of dot balls, a couple of runs, a wicket and suddenly the equation became 6 runs off 3 balls. McGregor then helped keep everyone on edge by bowling a wide. Finally it came to the last ball and No 10 Josh Smallridge facing his first ball had to hit a boundary to force a tie and bowl-off, or hit a six to give victory to Timaru. He swung hard, he connected, but although the ball dribbled to mid wicket it was never going over the boundary and Star took the honours after two wins on the day elevated them from bottom equal to second equal on points with Timaru and they get to go through to the final because they won this round robin match.

In the other matches played on the day, Celtic beat Waimate in a match where players were more worried about their safety than the opposition bowlers after they had to play on an inadequately prepared pitch apparently due to confusion over the draw. Nevertheless, in a format of the game that is meant to encourage free scoring, this was the second time that the pitch had been sub standard, particularly affecting the Waimate team who played on it both times and who would not be pleased after having to travel for every match in the Twenty20 to be playing cricket in unpleasant and dangerous environments.

Celtic came away victors after scoring 103-6 in reply to Waimates’s 101-7 but had looked in trouble at 76-6 before Glenn Matthews saw them safely home with 24 not out. Perhaps the only other people who enjoyed the pitch were Sam Carlaw who took 5-18 and the wicketkeepers with two stumpings each.

Star’s early match was against Geraldine. Geraldine batted first and soon it became the Phil Lill day as he opened the batting and tore into the opposition bowlers. The first wicket fell in the 11th over when Michael King was out for 11, but Lill continued on, clearing the front leg and playing mainly in an arc from mid wicket to long on before being run out for 67. Ben Millar added an unbeaten 27 to help Geraldine post a seemingly good total of 139-6, leaving Star a run chase of 7 an over.

Simon Ward and Alexander McKenzie opened the batting and almost did the job on their own as Ward scored his first senior fifty before being run out for 57. McKenzie scored his first fifty this season and went on to be 63 not out when Star won in the final over.

Geraldine’s match against Celtic began well with Lill again in great form and they may have been hoping to set Celtic a large chase after being 41-0 after three overs, but when Lill departed for 42, again it was only Ben Millar with 31 who scored many runs and Geraldine were all out for 118. Spin again proved to be the Celtic strong point and this time it was Craig Davies with 4-15 who did the damage and Andy Scott added three more stumpings to his haul to give him 5 for the day.

While Geraldine appeared to be enjoying their day out, their bowlers would have had heads hung low on the trip home after not getting a wicket in two matches, as the only opposition dismissals were two run outs.

The other two matches were played in Temuka and the home team started the day needing two wins for a chance to make the final. In the first game Timaru batted first and went on to score a good total of 154-6 with Piddock 35, Zane Sanders 32 and Robbie Rankin 22 not out leading the way. Michael Geddis was the best Temuka bowler with 3-21.

Despite losing two quick wickets in reply, opener Les Humphris continued his fine T20 form with another half century (60) and in the tail Dillon Lees with 33 not out helped get Temuka very close, but in the end they were 8 runs short after scoring 146-8. Ranking and Kris Howes with three wickets each led the Timaru attack.

Temuka played Waimate in their second match in what was probably a precursor to the finals playoff for 5th and 6th next weekend and Temuka have the early bragging rights after winning. Next weekend the three finals will be played consecutively at Aorangi Oval, beginning mid Saturday morning and finishing with the Celtic vs Star final mid afternoon.

Honours Board:
R de Joux 73
P Lill 67
A McKenzie 63*
L Humphris 60
S Ward 57
S Carlaw 5-18

Score Boards

The following dates are trial dates for the Yr 5 & 6 and the Yr 7 & 8 representative teams which will be picked to represent South Canterbury.

Yr 5 and 6 Trial: Tuesday February 9th – 6.30pm – Graeme Blanchard Centre

Yr 7 and 8 Trial: Thursday February 11th – 6.30pm – Graeme Blanchard Centre

All players who are eligible and would like to try out for these teams should be at the Graeme Blanchard Centre prior to 6.30pm on the appropriate evening.

If you are unable to be at your trial, please contact the South Canterbury Cricket office and leave your details. Ph (03) 686 3377

Craig Davies was again the toast of the South Canterbury team after his second innings century helped them to draw their Hawke Cup match in Oamaru against North Otago over the weekend after being 227 runs behind on the first innings. Davies batted for 279 minutes and faced 250 balls on his way to making 156 as he steered South Canterbury to safety.

South Canterbury won the toss and asked North Otago to bat first on the Centennial Park pitch which only the weekend before had drawn complaints due to poor preparation from the Southland coach after his team was beaten outright.

However, for South Canterbury the pitch didn’t seem to show these demons as North Otago progressed along at a steady rate. Kevin Teahen took the first three wickets to fall continuing his like for North Otago scalps from the pre-season match, but it was skipper Todd Elliotte playing his 100th match who sparked the South Canterbury hopes after taking two wickets in three deliveries to have North Otago 150-5.

Unfortunately North Otago soon took back control as their Otago representative player Sean Eathorne again showed his liking for South Canterbury bowlers with another century (his previous was in the Mark Parker Memorial match) and this time he found support from his No7 as they added 118 runs before South Canterbury’s Craig Hinton made the next breakthrough, and this helped North Otago to post 344.

South Canterbury’s reply began steadily if not spectacularly and day one finished with the score at 86-5. Unfortunately the dawn of day two did not bode well as SC slumped to 117-9 when they were forced to declare because an injured Dan Laming was unable to bat properly and retired hurt.

Batting a second time the South Canterbury batsmen proved to be much more resolute with Davies leading the way and he had good support from Matt Barnes (39) in a 78 run partnership for the second wicket and then later he added 58 runs with fellow centurion (of a different kind) and captain Todd Elliotte who scored 63 as SC firstly chased down the huge deficit to at least make North Otago bat again. They achieved this first target by tea for the loss of only 4 wickets and then had to bat most of the last session to make sure North Otago were not in a position to make a successful run chase, and eventually the match finished in a draw.

South Canterbury after a much more polished performance managed to bat most of the day and had scored 358-8 when stumps were pulled. This should buoy their confidence as they go into their final match at home on February 20th against Otago Country who will be playing their third match in as many weekends and with Country looking for a good result to help them win the Hawke Cup, a strong effort by South Canterbury will be eagerly watched by both North Otago and Southland.

Elliotte said he was pleased with how his team fought in the second innings.

“We looked at the way we played in the first innings and it was just a matter of knowing we had to pull our socks up and say `hey, we’re playing for South Canterbury here’.

“We knew we had to bat for most of the last day and the guys really dug in.”

The South Canterbury captain said losing Laming to a possible side-strain during North Otago’s first innings affected the balance of the team.

“He (Laming) can usually tie up an end pretty well; losing him meant we were left with three fast bowlers and two spinners.

“He’s also a vital part of our batting lineup at No4.”

Elliotte said taking two quick wickets with the ball in the first innings eased any nerves he had about his 100th game.

“The bowling went well, but being dismissed for a duck (0) in the first innings wasn’t great.”

He said he enjoyed being able to contribute to the second innings fightback, by scoring 63.

“We knew we had to bat all day, but when Craig (Davies) and I were out there, we knew we could do it, and the rest of the guys did a really good job lower in the order.”

He said the team would take a lot of confidence from the performance into their next game against Otago Country, knowing they can spoil Otago Country’s chances of progressing further in the Hawke Cup.

Score Board