Canterbury and Auckland remain the only two unbeaten teams in the 2012-13 National Women’s Under 21 Tournament having both picked up victories in the second round.
Auckland’s bonus point win over Otago leaves them one point behind Canterbury, who picked up their own bonus point victory over Wellington. Meanwhile, Northern Districts defeated Central Districts by four wickets to bring up their first win of the tournament.
Otago’s Polly Inglis produced the top score of the day with 71, while Auckland made the highest total of the tournament so far with an imposing 297.
Round three kicks off tomorrow from 10:00am, with all matches live-scored on www.blackcaps.co.nz.
Auckland v Otago
Auckland remain on track to make it five years in a row, having beaten Otago by 120 runs to claim a bonus point win.
A solid all-round performance with the bat lifted Auckland to 297 for eight from their 50 overs. In reply, Otago were restricted to 177 from 46.5 overs.
The pursuit revolved around Polly Inglis, who made 71 from 103 deliveries. However, the loss of her partner Millie Cowan (39) in the 25th over brought about a collapse and effectively ended the southerners‘ chances.
Tayla McDonald showed some resistance with 18 not out, but in the end she was left stranded as Otago succumbed to their second loss.
Lauren Down was the biggest threat with the ball and finished with three wickets from her eight overs for 20.
Earlier, Auckland’s opening pair of Sarah Carnachan and Arlene Kelly had put on 86 for the opening wicket. Kelly was the first to go in the 19th over, run out for 43.
Carnachan continued on and brought up her 50, but her impressive innings came to an end when she was bowled by Tayla McDonald on 61.
The middle-order backed up the good start made by the openers, with an unbeaten 46 from Georgia Guy pushing Auckland to within three of the 300 mark.
Otago had limited success in the field, but the chief wicket-taker was Mandy McDonald who had figures of three for 59 from nine overs.
Central Districts v Northern Districts
Northern Districts picked up their first win of the tournament with a four wicket win over neighbours Central Districts.
Central were dismissed for 168 in the first innings after 43.4 overs. In reply opener Katie Johnson top-scored for Northern with 56, helping her side surpass the target and claim a comfortable victory.
At 91 for three Northern’s pursuit looked to be well on track, but three quick wickets inside two overs left them susceptible at 135 for five.
An unbeaten sixth wicket stand of 35 between Jo Taris (18*) and Kate Anderson (14*) sealed the victory for them though, with the winning runs coming up after 42.4 overs.
Sarah Cowan backed up her good performance with the ball from yesterday, with figures of three for 50 from 9.4 overs.
Earlier, Central had been unable to create a valuable partnership, as Northern took regular wickets to keep them on the back-foot.
Opener Sonya Thompson top scored for her side with 37 and was supported by a number of small cameos from her team mates to put a score of over 150 on the board.
Alisha Rout snared three wickets, while Brooke Halliday and Tia Robinson took two apiece.
Canterbury v Wellington
Canterbury successfully chased down Wellington’s 141 with two wickets in hand to open the tournament with back-to-back victories.
Only three players managed to make starts for Wellington, as they were dismissed after 42.2 overs. In reply Canterbury were unconvincing, but did enough to surpass the total after 36.4 overs.
The majority of the work in the chase was done by Kayla Murray (30) and Jacinta Savage (30), who together put on 51 for the third wicket. Murray was the first to go, but cameos from Courtney Buckman (20), Hannah Linton (15*) and Kirsty Nation (16) saw the side home.
Deanna Doughty was the best of the bowlers and claimed figures of three for 39 from ten overs.
Earlier, Leigh Kaperek had contributed 45 to Wellington’s total in what was a near solo effort.
The top three batmen all failed to make double digits, handing Canterbury the momentum early on. Kasperek and Florence Marshall (16) put on 28 for the fifth wicket, but that was as good as it got for Wellington, who lost wickets frequently.
An unbeaten 11 from Umaya Ranaweera at the end of the innings bolstered them past the 140 mark, but it was always short of what they would have hoped for.
The wickets were shared amongst the Canterbury bowlers, but the biggest threat was Hannah Malloch who finished with figures of three for 22 from 10.
Points table:
Canterbury 10
Auckland 9
Wellington 5
Northern Districts 4
Central Districts 0
Otago 0
