Ben Watson took five wickets over the course of the weekend as South Canterbury beat Southland outright in their Hawke Cup clash at Aorangi Oval.
South Canterbury’s most in-form batsman says the young team he is carrying has the potential to challenge for the Hawke Cup next year.
Prabodha Arthavidu was the player for a crisis again, scoring 54 and 91, to get South Canterbury home over Southland in a tense low-scoring affair at Aorangi Oval yesterday.
Southland looked the stronger attack and took a first-innings lead of 42.
But after a solid second-innings bowling effort, Arthavidu was rarely troubled as he guided the team to a four-wicket outright win on the final afternoon.
With North Otago already guaranteed top spot in the zone and with it a Hawke Cup Challenge against Manawatu, there was little riding on the final match of the season.
But Arthavidu, who has now scored six half-centuries and one century this Hawke Cup season, said the win was still important for the team going into next year.
“What we have to remember is that apart from a few guys, this is a really young team.
“Most of the guys, myself included, are under 24 but throughout the season we have all shown that we can play at this level.
“If we train hard in the winter and come back with a similar mentality, we can dominate this zone for the next five years.”
One of the older players in the team, Craig Hinton, was welcomed back into the South Canterbury fold with a 13-over spell on the first morning.
He and fellow opener Ben Watson had the visitors 48-5 before half-centuries to Southland keeper Shaun Fitzgibbon and captain Jason Domigan got them past 150.
Hinton finished with 4-48 as Southland were bowled out for 181, a seemingly below-par score on a decent Aorangi deck.
South Canterbury were in trouble early in their first innings and never built a partnership of substance, eventually all out for 139.
Dan Smith was the chief destroyer for Southland with 5-47.
South Canterbury picked up one late on day one and then began the second day the better, Watson nabbing two in two balls.
At 55-5 Southland were becoming frustrated with Jamie Glenn cited by the umpires for complaining about a leg-before decision not going his way.
Fitzgibbon and Domigan again threatened to take the game beyond South Canterbury but a smart runout from Sam Porter broke the partnership and from there it was a matter of time.
Sam Carlaw knocked two pins out of the ground to finish with three wickets as Southland set South Canterbury a total of 188 for victory.
At 2-3 with Willy Stone out leg before, Sam Porter gone for a pair and Jacob Naylor losing his off-stump first ball, it looked a mountain to climb.
But Arthavidu, with help from boundary-filled 30s from Josh Dick (39) and Carlaw (35), was up for the contest and put Southland to the sword in sweltering conditions.
“Losing wickets early has been one of our troubles all year but I think the way we’ve played through it has been great,” Arthavidu said.
“When you are in some sort of pressure, you have to punch back, there’s no point getting bogged down.
“With these guys around me, I know they’re all positive batsmen, so all I have to do is rotate the strike to them and they will do the job.”
Arthavidu hardly hit a ball in anger on his way to 91 and when he did attempt to hit one out of the ground, it was to finish the game.
He charged and was bowled, young Liam Beck finishing what Arthavidu started with William Wright at the other end.
Scoreboard
| South Canterbury v Southland at Aorangi Oval Toss won by Southland who chose to bat. | |
|---|---|
| Southland first innings J Mckenzie b Hinton 13 S Ward b Watson 6 D Smith c Carlaw b Watson 0 S Fitzgibbon+ b Watt 57 J Glenn lbw b Hinton 2 J wadworth c Stone b Hinton 4 J Domigan* c Carlaw b Hinton 51 L McWilliam run out (sub) 7 B Andrews-Kennedy c Porter b Carlaw 28 J Hodson b Carlaw 3 M Gratton not out 0 Extras (b 2, lb 7, nb 1) 10 Total(63.3 overs) 181 Fall of Wicket: 10, 10, 32, 38, 48, 107, 138, 155, 176, 181. Bowling: C Hinton 21-8-48-4, B Watson 10-0-34-2, L Beck 5-1-19-0, G Watt 11-4-32-1, S Carlaw 16.3-5-39-2. | South Canterbury first innings W Stone b Andrews-Kennedy 4 S Porter lbw b Andrews-Kennedy 0 P Arthavidu c Ward b Smith 54 J Naylor c Ward b Smith 17 J Dick b Smith 18 S Carlaw c Hodson b Smith 7 W Wright c Wadworth b Smith 0 L Beck b Gratton 24 B Watson b McWilliam 2 C Hinton not out 4 G Watt lbw b Gratton 0 Extras (b 4, lb 4, w 1, nb 2) 9 Total (37.5 overs) 139 Fall of Wicket: 4, 21, 66, 85, 97, 97, 06, 117, 137, 139. Bowling: J Hodson 9-0-23-0, B Andrews-Kennedy 6-0-33-2, D Smith 11-1-47-5, L McWilliam 10-3-18-1, M Gratton 10-3-18-1, J Mckenzie 1.5-0-10-2 |
| Southland second innings J Glenn lbw b Hinton 5 J Mckenzie b Watson 3 S Fitzgibbon+ c Dick b Watson 0 J Wadworth run out (Porter) 24 S Ward c Porter b Watson 25 J Domigan* b Carlaw 11 L McWilliam lbw b Watt 27 B Andrews-Kennedy b Carlaw 13 J Hodson not out 16 M Gratton b Carlaw 0 D Smith c Wright b Hinton 11 Extras (b 4, lb 6) 10 Total(42.5 overs) 145 Fall of Wicket: 3, 20, 20, 42, 55, 75, 101, 113, 141, 145. Bowling: C Hinton 11-3-36-2, B Watson 7-0-42-3, G Watt 11-1-31-1, S Carlaw 13.5-5-26-3. | South Canterbury second innings W Stone c Fitzgibbon b Hodson 9 S Porter lbw b Andrews-Kennedy 0 P Arthavidu b Gratton 91 J Naylor b Hodson 0 J Dick c Hodson b McWilliam 39 S Carlaw c and b Smith 35 W Wright not out 12 L Beck not out 6 Extras (lb 4, w 2) 6 Total (for 6 wkts, 40 overs) 191 Fall of Wicket: 2, 2, 2, 88, 148, 185. Bowling: J Hodson 10-1-46-2, B Andrews-Kennedy 10-0-28-1, D Smith 6-0-39-1, L McWilliam 7-0-45-1, M Gratton 6-1-20-1, J Mckenzie 1-0-9-0. |
| Result: South Canterbury win outright. |