Central Districts have won the National Under 23 tournament for 2010-11 after beating Wellington in the final round of Twenty20 cricket, taking their total points haul to 14 across three formats.
In today’s final round at Lincoln, near Christchurch, Central Districts put in a strong team performance. After being put into bat they made 161 for seven and then bowled out Wellington out for 104 in 18.5 overs to seal a 57 run win.
The defence of Central’s total was led new ball bowler Andrew Mason who ripped through the top three batmen to have Wellington reeling at 31 for three – a position they were unable to recover from. Carl Cachopa snared three in the middle order before Roald Badenhorst also grabbed three to mop up the tail. Malaesaili Tugaga pounded a couple of late sixes to finish unbeaten on 23 but three was little resistance from the rest of the Wellington line up.
Earlier, James de Terte hammered three boundaries and three sixes on his way to 35 off 16 deliveries for Central and was one of number of batsmen to make a useful contribution.
Northern Districts picked up four points with a thrilling one run win over Auckland and vaulted into second place while Auckland remained winless. Brad Schmulian smashed 19 runs off the final over to take Auckland within sight of victory but was cruelly run out of the final ball with the score on 148-9 in pursuit of Northern’s 149-5 in a match reduced to 19 overs per side.
In the third match, Canterbury edged out Otago by 15 runs. Batting first, Canterbury dominated the Otago attack, led by aggressive opener Tom Latham who scored 48 off 36 deliveries and finished off by Tim Muir who lashed 39 not out off 17 balls to propel them through to 175-6. Otago made a useful fist of the run chase with Ryan Duffy making 47 but Canterbury spinner Martin Kain was the difference, taking five for 16 to help restrict Otago to 160.
Central Districts U23 v Wellington U23
Toss: Wellington won the toss and elected to bowl
Result: Central Districts won by 57 runs
Central Districts 161-7 (Bevan Small 32, James de Terte 35, Dane Cleaver 28; Malaesaili Tugaga 2-27) beat Wellington 104 all out (Stephen Murdoch 23, Malaesaili Tugaga 23*; Andrew Mason 3-13, Carl Cachopa 3-18, Roald Badenhorst 3-6)
Full scorecard: http://scoring.blackcaps.co.nz/livescoring/match1093/scorecard.aspx
Northern Districts U23 v Northern Districts U23
Toss: Northern Districts won the toss and elected to bat
Result: Northern Districts won by 1 run
Northern Districts 149-5 (Tamati Clarke 30, Daryl Mitchell 41, Jono Hickey 27; Ajaz Patel 2-30) beat Auckland 148-9 (Brad Cachopa 33, Dusan Hakaraia 33, B Schmulian 38; Tony Goodin 2-20, Jono Hickey 2-31)
Full scorecard: http://scoring.blackcaps.co.nz/livescoring/match1094/scorecard.aspx
Canterbury U23 v Otago U23
Toss: Canterbury won the toss and elected to bat
Result: Canterbury won by 15 runs
Canterbury 175-6 (Tom Latham 48, C Coffey 26, Tim Muir 39; Hamish Rutherford 2-18) beat Otago 160 all out (Mark Craig 28, Ryan Duffy 47; Martin Kain 5-16, Matt McEwan 2-28)
Final placings:
Download the full points table
1st - Central – 14 points
2nd – Northern Districts – 12
3rd – Otago – 10
4th= – Wellington – 9
4th= - Canterbury – 9
6th – Auckland – 2
