Northern Districts have secured a 21 run victory over Central Districts in their third round match at the Provincial A tournament in Lincoln.
It looked like Central were in control for much of their pursuit of Northern’s 308, but lost late wickets to be held to 289 for eight.
The reply revolved around Greg Hay, who showed wonderful form for Central with 102 from 114 balls. He found plenty of cameos to help him out at the other end, but the steady flow of wickets slowly cause the required run-rate to climb.
Just as Central tried to accelerate they lost a number of wickets and continued to fall behind the asking rate.
Young Connor Neynens did his valiant best with an unbeaten 47 from 27, but it was to no avail. Hay’s heroics came to an end in the penultimate over and Northern claimed the points.
It was a joint effort with the ball for Northern, with two late run outs also helping to limit Central.
Earlier, two batsmen had made scores in the nineties and a handful of others starts to see Northern surpass the 300 mark.
Opener Joe Carter, who recently played for the New Zealand Under-19 team, made a brilliant 94 from 105 balls. His fine display was backed up by Jono Hickey, who also fell six short of his century and went at just over a run a ball.
The pair put their side in a strong position and Northern took advantage. Jono Boult finished off the innings nicely with 36 from 26 in an innings which featured five fours. It took Northern to 308 for six.
It was tough work for the Central bowlers, with Andrew Lamb expensive, but picking up two more wickets to add to his tally.
The win gets Northern their first points of the tournament.
