A courageous, thrilling tenth wicket stand carried Otago Country through to a victory which looked far from likely when the ninth wicket in its second innings fell with the total at 56 ,43 runs short of the winning target of 99 set by North Otago. But cometh the hour cometh the tail enders in the form of Tom Myles(20 not out) and an injured Liam Cotton(27 not out) who carried Otago Country to a one wicket win over North Otago. Cotton, the Otago Country wicketkeeper had suffered a knee injury on the first day suffered a badly bruised finger on the second day.

Otago Country won the toss on Saturday and put North Otago in to bat on the new cricket block at Centennial Park. With long boundaries extended by the length of the grass in the outfield North Otago found runs hard to come by with Craig Smith (37) the only one to handle the conditions. North Otago was dismissed for seventy four in the forty first over. Otago Country was dismissed in its first innings for ninety eight giving it a twenty four run lead on the first innings. Bowling for North Otago Francios Mostert took three for 26. It was interesting to note that North Otago and Otago Country between them hit only five boundaries in the two first innings. In Ashburton where Mid Canterbury was playing South Canterbury twenty eight boundaries were accumulated, twenty two to South Canterbury and six to Mid Canterbury. An indication of the comparative length of the outfield grass. North Otago went to stumps on the first day nine without loss but early on the second day lost wickets regularly to be ninety for eight at lunch on the second day with Jeremy Smith( 37 not out), defiant, giving the home side a lead of just sixty six runs with two wickets in hand. Smith brought up his half century after lunch before North Otago was dismissed for 122 leaving Otago Country the task of scoring ninety nine runs to win with a maximum of sixty overs remaining. Smith was unbeaten on 52.Bowling for Otago Country Tom Myles took four for 54 and Tim McCormick took three for 17.

North Otago looked to have the game under its control having Otago Country 56 for nine late on the second day with ample over remaining but despite the efforts of Francois Mostert(4/34), Nathan Smith(3/29) and Craig Smith(1/32) Otago Country's tail did the business.

In the other zone four Hawke Cup elimination games South Canterbury beat Mid Canterbury by an innings and forty five runs. Mid Canterbury batting first was dismissed for 79 and South Canterbury replied with 211 with Prabodha Arthavidu top scoring with 80. Mid Canterbury was dismissed in its second innings for 87.

Short Scorecard(s)

Representative - Hawke Cup - Zone Series

Otago Country vs North Otago at Centennial Park Oval, Oamaru
North Otago 74 ( C.M. Smith 37, T.C. Myles 4-20, M.J. Knox 3-15, F.A. Wilson 2-5 ) & 122 ( J.B. Smith 52no, J.L.N. Naylor 14, N.G. Smith 12, T.C. Myles 4-54, T.J. McCormick 3-17, M.J. Knox 2-14 )
Otago Country 98 ( S.R. Pringle 17, T.J. McCormick 14, L.J. Cotton 13, M.J. Knox 12, C.M. Smith 3-26, N.G. Smith 2-17, B.J. Fleming 2-21 ) & 100-9 ( L.J. Cotton 27no, T.C. Myles 20no, B.J. White 14, J.D. Homer 12, F. Mostert 4-34, N.G. Smith 3-29 )
Otago Country won by 1 wicket
Full scorecard for the match

Team Pages:
North Otago 2016-2017 |