Wizards vs Volts Dec 2011

The South Canterbury Cricket Association (in conjunction with the CCA) again put on a successful top level cricket match at our home venue of Aorangi Oval.

With temperatures in the mid twenties, blue sky, and 2000 + in attendance, the Twenty20 match between the Otago Volts and Canterbury Wizards lived up to all expectations, and the SCCA are sure the families and spectators who came along found they were thoroughly entertained with Black Caps players like Brendan & Nathan McCullum, Dean Brownlie and Rob Nicol as well as International players like Yasir Arafat and Dimitri Mascarenhas also playing.

Match Story
Canterbury Wizards’ overseas player, Yasir Arafat, earned his pay-cheque, by holding his nerve and bowling a tight final over to give his team a hard-fought six-run win over the Otago Volts in domestic Twenty20 cricket action at Timaru’s Aorangi Oval yesterday.

The Volts needed 11 runs to win from the final over, but the Pakistani allrounder restricted them to just five.

Earlier, the boundary rope saw plenty of action as Canterbury scored 198 for 7 from their 20 overs thanks to 14 sixes and a bounty of cameo efforts from their top and middle-order batsmen.

A match high of 77 from Neil Broom looked to be enough to see the Volts record their second victory of the competition, but bowling figures of four for 43 from Canterbury’s young pace bowler Matt Henry and the skillful death bowling from Arafat saw the Wizards restrict them to 192 for eight and avoid back-to-back defeats in the opening two rounds.

Rob Nicol top-scored for Canterbury with 44, he also took two wickets with his spinners and two catches in the field.

Andrew Ellis and Brendon Diamanti put on 49 runs in three overs for the sixth wicket for Canterbury after their innings looked to have stalled in the middle overs.

Off-spinner Nick Beard was the pick of the Otago bowlers, as he finished with one for 21 from four overs, when the majority of his fellow bowlers came in for some harsh punishment. Canterbury hit 14 sixes in their innings while Otago hit seven.

Otago looked set for the win after Broom and Jimmy Neesham (17) put on 70 for the fifth wicket while keeping up with the required run-rate of 10 an over.

However, when both departed off consecutive deliveries from the bowling of Henry in the 18th over, Canterbury seized the momentum to win the match.

Below is a gallery of random photos taken during the day. Special thanks to Hayden Leonard from HLPhotoz for allowing us to use some great close-up action shots of the stars in action.

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Grant Elliott celebrates his century at Aorangi Oval

Canterbury was eventually buried under a mass of Wellington runs in their Ford Trophy one-day cricket match at Timaru’s Aorangi Oval.

The Wizards fell 33 runs short of Wellington’s meaty 307 for five, being dismissed in the 47th over yesterday. It was the Wizards’ first loss in four one-day matches – with two rained out – while it was Wellington’s first success.

A sublime 103 from Firebirds captain Grant Elliott steered his team to victory, with the former Black Cap giving a timely reminder of his talent, hitting seven fours and five sixes in his 84-ball innings. Elliott was the architect of a late-innings flourish, after the visitors had strolled through to 146 for three after 36 overs.

Elliott found good support from Harry Boam (65), as the pair shared in a 146-run fourth wicket partnership, from just 91 balls. Earlier, Michael Pollard (33) and former Canterbury player Michael Papps (39) made a safe start, putting on 69 for the first wicket.

Wizards all-rounder Andrew Ellis and medium-fast bowler Ryan McCone made runs hard to come by after captain Peter Fulton won the toss in overcast conditions on a good batting pitch.

Ellis finished his 10 overs with two for 47, while McCone was one of many Canterbury bowlers to receive some late punishment and finished with two for 66.

Elliott and Boam feasted on some sloppy bowling from the home team near the end of the innings, with regular full tosses resulting in boundaries on the small ground.

Canterbury’s run-chase was almost successful on the back of many minor contributions, but in the end, they lacked an Elliott-like contribution.

Tom Latham top-scored with 57, while Ellis was the key late in the innings before being dismissed for 40 in the 46th over.

Canterbury were behind the asking rate from the outset and at 68 for three in the 16th over, it looked like the match was getting away from the Wizards.

An 80-run fourth wicket partnership between Latham and Shanan Stewart (39) gave them stability, but not the run-rate required to mount a challenge.

It wasn’t until Ellis and Brendon Diamanti (41), in his Canterbury debut, came together that the boundaries started to flow.

Their efforts left Canterbury in a position to challenge, needing 80 runs off the last 10 overs.

However, when Elliott combined with Boam to dismiss former Central Districts allrounder Diamanti in the 41st over, the run-rate climbed and the lower-order batsmen could not maintain the momentum.

Former Black Cap pace bowler Andy McKay was the pick of the Wellington bowlers, taking four for 63 to mop up the tailenders.

Below are some photos from the match courtesy of Hayden Leonard

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South Canterbury retained the Ron Biggar Memorial Trophy with a nine-run win over Mid Canterbury in their 50-over cricket match at Aorangi Oval.

South Canterbury coach Bruce Carlaw gave the performance a pass mark but admitted it was far from perfect.

The home team had moments of complete control with both bat and ball, only for things to fall away in the middle overs of both innings.

South Canterbury got off to a fast start, thanks to Richie Preston who was in no mood to hang around.

He raced through to 37 from 26 balls before he was bowled by Des Kruger. Jeremy Liddy joined his fellow opener in the pavilion three overs later.

Craig Davies, who has an average of 375 at club level, looked out of sorts scoring one off 16 balls.

Ed Kilbee and captain Dan Laming combined for 74-run fourth-wicket partnership.

Kilbee passed 50 and was looking to accelerate. He hit a four and a six off consecutive balls from Rhys Phillips, and tried to replicate it on the next ball but only managed to present an easy catch from a top-edge.

It sparked a middle-order collapse.

South Canterbury went from 150 for three to 156 for seven in the space of 27 balls, as Laming saw wickets tumble at the other-end.

He found support from Craig Hinton, and accelerated the score over 200 in the closing stages.

When he was dismissed for 66 with five overs remaining, South Canterbury had to readjust their target and look to bat out their overs, eventually making 227 for 9.

Opening bowler Richard Print finished with 2 for 38 from his 10 overs, while Phillips also impressed on a batsman’s wicket, taking 2 for 29 from his 10 overs.

Left-arm fast bowler Craig Hinton produced a terrific opening spell to bag three Mid Canterbury wickets early.

The first wicket in South Canterbury colours for Roncalli paceman Ben Watson had the visitors on the ropes at 34 for four.

After Hinton had bowled his 10 overs straight and conceded just 27 runs, his back-up seamers looked largely non-threatening.

Dan Laming, Kevin Teahen and spinner Davies all struggled early and Kruger and Dan Thomas went about rebuilding the innings.Kruger was eventually run out for 25, but Thomas continued to accelerate the scoring.

He found support in Richard Print (28) and Jono Print (30 not out).

Mid Canterbury needed six runs an over for the last 10 overs.

The key moment came when Thomas was caught on the mid-wicket boundary by Mark Tutton, after playing a needless shot, from the bowling of Sam Carlaw, for 74.

It was one of Tutton’s three catches on return to the top side.

South Canterbury had their noses in front from that point, and while Mid Canterbury fought until the last over, when they needed 15 runs, South Canterbury prevailed.

Bruce Carlaw said his middle-order batsmen suffered from poor shot selection.

“That comes from the added pressure.

“Some of the guys made some poor shot selections and I’m sure that is a result of them not being pressured at club level,” Carlaw said.

He said he was happy with the efforts of Watson and Hinton but said others needed to step up.

South Canterbury play Christchurch Suburban in a one-day match next weekend in Christchurch.

Scoreboard

Below you can see the 2011/2012 Draws for the coming season including a One Day match and a T20 match to be played in Timaru at the Aorangi Oval.

Plunket Shield

HRV Cup

MEN’S 1-DAY COMPETITION 2010/11

Graham Broker (2nd from right seated) former CEO of the SCCA gets to enjoy a match at last

Below and on the next page you can view some random photos from the One Day match played between Canterbury and Otago at Aorangi Oval on Feb 2nd 2011.

The match was won by Canterbury and you can read a report here Report

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