A magnificent innings of 172 from North Otago allrounder Ashley Flannery guided North Otago to a convincing first innings win over South Canterbury at the Aorangi Oval in Timaru at the weekend in a U Bix Cup elimination game.
South Canterbury won the toss, a decision it was to rue later in the day, although early on in the North Otago innings it looked to have been very much the right decision. Graeme Johnson and Allan Sandri both fell to South Canterbury opening bowler Greg De Joux in fourth and sixth overs of the innings to see North Otago 6 for the loss of two wickets.
John Hills and Derek Walker added the neat 50 for the third wicket before Walker was dismissed for 25.
Hills sent 6 runs later to leave North Otago 62 for the loss of four wickets after two hours of play.
Ross Ward, making his debut, joined Flannery who had come to the crease with the fall of Walker's wicket, but Ward added only 3 runs before the 5th wicket fell at 77.
Michael Dodd joined Flannery shortly before lunch immediately took a four off the first ball he faced. Flannery and Dodd went through to lunch with Flannery on 25 and Dodd 29 and North Otago improving slowly at 123 for five wickets.
After lunch Flannery and Dodd dominated the bowling with Dodd finally out for 57, but not before the pair had added 117 runs for the sixth wicket and taken North Otago to a respectable 194 for six.
But then the floodgates opened as Kelvin Mansfield and Flannery flayed the South Canterbury bowling adding 134 runs for the 7th wicket in a mere 84 minutes before finally the great innings of Flannery came to an end when he was judged leg before wicket to De Joux and his innings closed at 172.
Flannery's first 50 came up in 111 minutes off 116 balls.
The second 50 was from 50 balls in 55 minutes while his 150 was brought up off 188 balls in 193 minutes.
Flannery in all was at the crease for 219 minutes for his brilliant knock, which included 18 fours and seven sixes.
Such was Flannery's confidence that he went from 82 to 118 all from boundaries.
He reached his "ton" with successive fours then hit three successive sixes to rattle through to 118.
Mansfield and Norm McKenzie maintained the tempo and added a further 82 for the 8th wicket before Derek Walker declared the innings closed at 410 for eight scored in 403 minutes.
Mansfield was unbeaten on 58 and McKenzie was on 34.
Greg De Joux took 3 for 76, Bruce Carlaw 3 for 75 off 32 overs, while Derek Todd claimed 2 for 59.
Opening its first innings at 6 o'clock on Saturday evening, South Canterbury was soon in real bother as opening bowler John Crombie claimed the first two wickets, with South Canterbury adding only 16 runs.
Spinner Norm McKenzie came into the attack and took the wickets of Lindsay Hewittson and Jason Paul, with the South Canterbury total of 27 for the loss of four wickets.
On the second day Barry Ward and nightwatchman Derek Todd set about rehabilitating the South Canterbury innings, adding 120 for the 5th wicket before Todd was out to give McKenzie his third wicket, for 56.
Ward went 18 runs later and although John Davies (43) showed resistance, the South Canterbury innings closed with 240 runs on the board.
The pick of the North Otago bowlers were Todd Patton who took 4 for 21 off 14 overs, and Norm McKenzie who off 24 overs and 2 balls finished the innings with 4 for 100. John Crombie the other wicket-taker took 2 for 39 off his 14 overs.
Forced to follow on, South Canterbury batted through until 6 pm on the final day and at that stage was 183 for 4, just 13 runs in front of the North Otago first innings total.
South Canterbury batted with more freedom in its second visit to the crease with Robbie Vincent making and unbeaten 81, while Greg De Joux was dismissed for 53.
North Otago's first innings total of 410 is the highest recorded in a representative fixture, while Ashley Flannery's innings of 172 is believed to be the highest ever recorded by a North Otago batsman.
Next weekend North Otago meets Central Otago at Centennial Park in a two day match.
With the records that were available at the time of publishing North Otago's first innings was the highest innings total. Records since then have subsequently found that it was two runs short of the record set in 1928.
Short Scorecard(s)
Representative - U-Bix Cup - Zone Series
South Canterbury vs North Otago at Aorangi Park, Timaru
North Otago 410 ( A. Flannery 172, K.J. Mansfield 58no, M.J. Dodd 57, N.W. McKenzie 34no, E.J. Hills 26, D.J. Walker 25, Carlaw 3-75, de Joux 3-76, Todd 2-59 )
South Canterbury 240 ( R. Ward 68, D. Todd 56, M. Winnington 43, J. Davies 34, T. Patton 4-21, N.W. McKenzie 4-100, J.B. Crombie 2-39 ) & 183-4 ( R. Vincent 80no, G. De Joux 53, G. Shackwell 29 )
First innings win to North Otago
Full scorecard for the match