Ri
WELLINGTON U19 v AUCKLAND U19
Auckland, Canterbury and Northern Districts are off the mark after a gripping first day of results at the NZC Gillette Men's Under-19 Nationals.
Auckland U19 and Wellington U19 were locked in a struggle to the death on Lincoln Green where the Aucklanders managed to prevail with a one-wicket victory, chasing down their target of 227 in the 36th over while Wellington was gutted not to pick up the final tailend wicket after a double strike in the last few overs of the game.
Ryan Tsourgas had gone bang-bang to reduce Auckland from 218/7 to 218/9 but Aaryan Prasad and Harry Sixton clung on and managed to scramble the last nine runs needed for a key victory against the defending champions.
Earlier the pair had both picked up wickets after Auckland elected to bowl but it was teammate and Sixton's fellow opening bowler Harry Cullen-Hieatt who did the lion's share of the damage with 4/28 off his 8.4 overs.
Earlier, Wellington's total had been set up at the top by opener Henry Christie and first drop Alex Thompson who came so close to a century on opening day before he was bowled in 98. The pair had shared a 132-run stand for the second wicket before Auckland got to fight back with wickets.
Auckland's chase was more a team affair as the batters strung together partnerships, Howick-Pakuranga's Lachie Stackpole top-scoring with a half ton exactly.
CANTERBURY U19 v CENTRAL DISTRICTS U19
Coached by Central Stags icon Kieran Noema-Barnett for the first time, Central Districts fought hard to chase down a big total on Lincoln No.3 but couldn't quite overcome Canterbury's good tally of 301/9 on the smallest of the three tournament grounds.
CD captain George Mowat had sent in the strong Canterbury line-up in, Canterbury Country Hawke Cup rep Robbie (Robson) Foulkes opening the batting on his home turf and getting his side off to an excellent start with his 95 at run-a-ball pace.
PHOTO | Emma Breitmeyer
Foulkes grew up playing countless hours of backyard cricket with his older brother Zak who is already making strides as an emerging allrounder for the Canterbury men's team.
After a 57-run partnership for the opening wicket and a quick 26 with captain Cam Paul who has already been called into the Canterbury senior side this season, Foulkes built a 114-run partnership for the third wicket with Matthew Hocquard (67) that made sure the hosts would get a defendable total on the board.
Palmerston North's Jett Donald-Charnley eventually stopped Foulkes from reaching three figures and went on to 4/65, but the horse had bolted.
Runs at then top gave CD a fighting chance in reply, Jaiden Meyer (65) and Ethan Campbell (70) putting on 82 for the second wicket, and then Campbell going on to put on 90 with captain Mowat (34).
But just as in the first innings, the bowlers would fight back. George Gunn, one of several Lincoln Uni students in the team, had the anchorman Campbell caught and from there Canterbury began to wrest control.
Gunn finished with 4/47 off his 10, CD going down fighting - but 23 runs short - in the penultimate over.
OTAGO U19 v NORTHERN DISTRICTS U19
The livestreamed match on Bert Sutcliffe Oval was another entertaining game between two teams determined to get their tournament off to a positive start.
ND elected to bat and, despite a half century from opener Tayden Smit, Otago got on top early with valuable wickets.
Mason Clarke had made the first breakthrough with just the second ball of the innings, but Otago was made to wait two hours for the other opener's wicket, Smit departing at 165/5 with 17 overs to go.
The star turn for ND was Seb Heath who produced the first century by any team at this year's nationals, and what a showcase it was: 126 off just 96 balls as he boosted the run rate and helped get his side to 282 before they were all out in the last over.
Zac Cumming had finished with 4/47 for Otago, and would bat four in the chase with an offering of 31. Several batters in the Otago team got good starts but no one went on, as ND chipped away and eventually walked off the field satisfied by a hard-fought 40-run victory, having dismissed the southerners for 242 in the 48th over.
