As Georgie Pie Super Smash made its much-anticipated debut at Whangarei's Cobham Oval, the SKYCITY Northern Knights delivered just the result that the Kauri Country crowd hoped for: an exciting 12-run victory over the visiting Canterbury Kings.
Scorecard
For the second game in a row, Kings skipper Ronnie Hira was left a frustrated man after having won the toss.
He put the Knights in, then watched as their potent lineup eased into their work at run-a-ball pace, cobbling together their partnerships before pinch hitting BLACKCAP Corey Anderson strode in and smacked a majestic domestic T20 career best of 42 off just 18 balls — including three sixes on the spectacular ground, to give his team the edge.
Until then, Ed Nuttall, in just his second Georgie Pie Super Smash appearance, might have thought he had done well to knock off both Knights openers — swashbuckling captain Daniel Flynn and the belligerent Anton Devcich — in just his second over.
But it was stopping Anderson’s onslaught in the 16th (Henry Nicholls taking the catch) that arguably brought him the greatest relief as he completed his complement for his new personal best of 3-30.
Nicholls swung into action again to assist in running out Daryl Mitchell, who had pumped up the volume in Anderson’s wake for a quick 24 off 13 balls at the death; while the quick Logan van Beek (3-36) and the reliable hands of Peter Fulton had earlier combined to dismiss both Dean Brownlie and the sweet-timing, big-hitting paradox that is Irish cricketing rockstar Kevin O’Brien.
Holding the Knights to 172/8 would keep the Kings in with a sniff, but someone needed to go big.
A likely contender was import Aiden Blizzard, making his first Georgie Pie Super Smash appearance of the season as he rejoined his purple cohort, the savvy opener surging to a 53-ball 69.
Spinner Devcich had delighted in having his opposite number Hira caught off his first over, and eventually came back to snuff out the batting Blizzard on the last delivery of the 17th. Fulton, meanwhile, had been snaffled by a classy lunge in the outfield from O'Brien.
At 137/5, at that moment the Kings needed a further 36 runs off the last three overs, a thriller on the cards if they could just keep the momentum.
Veteran finisher Andy Ellis threw himself into the task with an unbeaten 21 off just 13 balls, including two sixes, again an attack that comprised three spinners and just two pacemen — but sharp ones in Ben Laughlin and Scott Kuggeleijn.
Two more full-blooded hits against them and the match would have been snatched, but the Kings’ raid on the Knights’ castle stopped when they couldn’t quite clamber over the last rampart, thwarted at 160/6.
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