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| Marcel McKenzie |
A late Sunday morning attack on the Southland batsman bought the North Otago Hawke Cup cricket team close to a win in Invercargill - but not close enough.
Six wickets in the space of 19 runs gave the visitors every chance of winning the vital Hawke Cup fixture after the batting had again let North Otago down, but an unbeaten 44-run seventh-wicket Southland partnership sealed the victory to bring Southland level with North Otago on 24 points.
North Otago batted first in the two day fixture and the brotherly opening pairing of Geoff and Craig Smith failed to get the good start on the newly-laid Southland Boy's High School track.
Shaun Haig again made a start, top-scoring with 23, while Tim Wilson, who had flown down from Invercargill for the match, made 20.
North Otago's strength this season has been in the bowling department, and northing changed in that regard when Southland batted.
The North Otago continued to chip out Southland batsmen, with Craig Smith and James Lovelock grabbing three wickets each and Tim Wilson a brace, in restricting Southland to 138.
North Otago made a better fist of the second innings, but captain Marcel McKenzie would have been hoping for more than the 144 runs North Otago compiled.
The hard-hitting Mark Patterson put away the shots for a while and collected a very valuable 49 and Shaun Haig proved his worth with 44, but again there was a lack of support for the pair.
Team manager Tony Gray said Patterson played well on a pitch that got lower and slower as the match went on.
"Guys like Mark Patterson batted superbly, last night and this morning," Gray said.
This left Southland with a target of 80 to collect maximum points from the match.
But it all went pear-shaped for the hosts when six wickets went down between 20 and 23, largely thanks to four wickets from Jarrod Waldron and two from Craig Smith.
Enter Mark Billcliff, who could comfortably bat higher in the Southland team if need be.
He and Shaun Fitzgibbon guided Southland through to the total, which Gray said was an inadequate total anyway.
"We didn't have enough to defend", Gray said.
Despite this, there were plenty of positives to take away from the match.
"I thought overall it was a very gutsy effort from North Otago," he said.
"Hopefully we can keep this group of players together."
Southland and Central Otago still have to play each other twice, and any points for Southland from either of those matches would be enough for the side to progress to a match against the winner of the Canterbury region zone elimination competition.
Short Scorecard(s)
Representative - Hawke Cup - Zone Series
North Otago vs Southland at Southland Boys High School, Invercargill
North Otago 74 ( S.B. Haig 23, T. Wilson 20, Murphy 3-19, Billcliff 3-20, Hodson 2-8, Turner 2-23 ) & 144 ( M. Patterson 49, S.B. Haig 44, J.M. Waldron 14, Turner 4-40, Murphy 4-40 )
Southland 138 ( S.M. Fitzgibbon 28, R. McGillivery 21, H. Skelt 18, B. Sutherland 12, M. McClean 12no, S. Murphy 11, J.H. Lovelock 3-18, C.M. Smith 3-33, T. Wilson 2-12 ) & 83-6 ( M. Billcliff 39no, J. Homer 15, S.M. Fitzgibbon 11no, J.M. Waldron 4-21, C.M. Smith 2-17 )
Southland won by 4 wickets.
Full scorecard for the match
Player Pages:
Tony Gray | Shaun Haig | James Lovelock | Marcel McKenzie | Mark Patterson | Craig M Smith |