Round four review
Canterbury picked up a bonus point victory in the Lincoln University National Under-19 Tournament today, extending their lead to four points over their closest rivals.
The leaders saw off Northern Districts by eight wickets, while second-placed Central Districts picked up a 37 run win over Auckland. In the other fourth round One Day match Otago fell to Wellington by 33 runs.
Otago had looked in control of the match at 100 for two while chasing Wellington’s first innings total of 220. However the dismissal of opener Tom Griffin for 57 started a collapse from which they would not recover, with the southerners eventually dismissed after 46.5 overs for 187.
Earlier, a seventh wicket stand worth 138 between Rakitiha Weerasundara (80) and Tyler Johansson (53*) had revived a desperate situation for Auckland who had been 76 for six. Weerasundara was dismissed off the third last ball of the innings to leave his side seven down, but they still finished with a respectable score of over 200.
Canterbury on the other hand maintained control of the competition by cruising to their target of 152 in the 28th over.
Dylan Goldstone (62) was the top scorer in the pursuit, while co-opener Ben Ward (38) was also influential. Although neither managed to see out the match, they effectively ensured Canterbury would remain on top of the table.
It followed on from the good work done by their bowlers to dismiss Northern for 151 after 47.4 overs. Cameron Gibbons made a crucial 58, but apart from cameos from opener Thomas MacRury (31) and tail-ender Tom Clout (33) the batting line-up failed to fire.
It was an all-round display with the ball from Canterbury, but Hamish Robertson was the top wicket-taker with three scalps in his ten overs for 37.
The most exciting match of the day though went to Central’s encounter against Auckland, where a 198 run opening stand carried the former to 307 for seven in the first-innings.
Henry Collier (106) and Brynn Cleaver (100) both had matches to remember and made sure Auckland would have their work cut out for them, while Graeme Tyron slammed 38 off 18 to add the finishing touches.
Auckland’s response was a valiant one, with openers Sachin Varianth (56) and Ben Horne (83) putting on an opening stand of 125. Shawn Hicks continued to give his side hope with 48, but outside op the top three no-one could get going and in the penultimate over they were all out for 270.
The tournament moves to the fifth round tomorrow, before the teams take a rest day on Monday.
Points table:
Canterbury 27
Central Districts 23
Auckland 15
Otago 13
Northern Districts 12
Wellington 10
