After a disappointing opening day total washout, the NZC Gillette Men's Under 19 nationals got underway successfully with the second-round one-dayers in Lincoln on Sunday, 8 January 2023.
All three toss-winning captains elected to bowl first after the previous day's dampening, an easy decision for Wellington skipper Kevin Weerasundera on Bert Sutcliffe Oval against Northern Districts.
• Wellington Under 19 beat Northern Districts Under 19 by 5 wickets
Bert Sutcliffe Oval
Weerasundera was last season's top wicket-taker in the tournament with 15 victims, and he collected his first two wickets of this season's Gillettes as his side dismissed ND U19 for 209 in the 48th over of the first innings.
He had excellent assistance from left-arm spinner Yash Singh-Kalsi who opened his account with 4-40 off his 8.2 overs, with Elliott Seddon picking up 2-42 off his nine.
Batting at five, Riley McCullum had top-scored for ND, narrowly missing out on a half century with his 48. He shared one of just two half century stands in the innings, with the other being a 59-run opening stand between Kade Smith (29) and Rikesh Patel (41).
Needing an RPO of 4.18 in the chase, Wellington lost their first wicket at 40/1 and suffered a middle order collapse that had them in trouble at 107/5.
Opener Peter Bonar had provided an important 47 at the top, but Cullen Hilton-Jones claimed him as his second wicket in the 16th over, then Lucas James struck twice in the 19th to pull the rug out.
Muhammad Abbas was left with a big job to regain the tiller batting at four, but did it handsomely - scoring the first century of this year's tournament in his first-up knock.
Abbas finished unbeaten on a fine 101 not out off just 68 balls, including 14 fours and two sixes, to make sure his side brought home a good victory in 32 overs neat, after sharing a match-winning unbroken stand of 104 with Weerasundara (33 not out) for the sixth wicket.
• Central Districts Under 19 lost to Auckland Under 19 by 8 runs
Lincoln Green
It was an enthralling thriller for the defending champs on their first day of action - but not the result they wanted.
Tyler Annand's 4-39, and a run out as well for the Hawke's Bay youngster, was the highlight for Central Districts after new skipper Jonty Fleck put the strong Auckland side in.
Auckland made an excellent start with an opening stand of 61 proving tough to break - before Angus Lyver broke through in the 16th over.
But the remaining Auckland opener, James Nelson, ploughed on to reach 63 in a knock of more than two hours to underpin Auckland's total of 242/9 in ther 50 overs.
Lachie Stackpole also annoyed CD with a sticky run-a-ball 46 at five, but the rest of the line-up fell cheaply as Annand began wreaking havoc on the lower order.
Faced with a chase of 243 at 4.86, CD had lost both openers to left-arm seamer Harry Cullen-Hieatt at 39/2 in the ninth, leaving Sam Cassidy and Jake Jonas to rebuild.
The pair did just that, putting on a 75-run third-wicket partnership before both men were dismissed just shy of a half century.
Auckland then chipped out a string of regular wickets to have CD 166/8 before wicketkeeper-batter Logan Ryniker-Doull (a run-a-ball 46) and Annand (27 not out) fought back with a 62-run stand for the penultimate wicket.
After the loss of Rykniker-Doull, the last pair very nearly got CD across the line in a nailbiting last stand before Cullen-Hieatt claimed the winning wicket in the 45th over to complete an outstanding 3-17 off his seven overs. Aaryan Prasad also claimed three wickets as the Aucklanders celebrated a tight opening win.
• Canterbury Under 19 beat Otago Under 19 by 46 runs
Lincoln No.3
Canterbury took out a southern derby after having been sent in that morning by rivals Otago.
Opener Max Clarke top-scored for the hosts with a half century (54) and it would be supplemented by important contributions from first drop Aarush Bhagwat (45) and 47 from Cam Paul down the order.
Otago captain Thomas O'Connor meanwhile made a strong start of his own with a four-fa first up, taking 4-42 off his nine overs, including two maidens.
Every run would count for the Cantabrians as they looked to exert pressure on Otago to defend their good total of 257/9.
Otago strung together starts and partnerships at the top, trying to steady the early wobbles as they picked their way to 138/3.
But once the fourth wicket fell in the 27th over of the chase, Canterbury seized the advantage as they took regular wickets through the back overs, eventually bowling out Otago for 211 with eight overs to spare for a comfortable victory.
