Date-stamped : 11 Feb97 - 10:16 31 December 1996 Germon Hunch Squeezes ND by Geoff Longley Lee Germon played a hunch sending Northern Districts into bat and the Canterbury cricket captain's move paid handsome dividends in the Shell Cup match at Lancaster Park yesterday. Northern Districts felt the backlash of Canterbury losing its previous match to Wellington as the home team's seam bowlers reduced the visitors to 93 for seven. Northern recovered to 166 for nine but it was little more than a token target for Canterbury which passed the score three wickets down in the 34th over. Germon said that 95 per cent of the time he would bat first at Lancaster Park -- it is such a good batting strip. However, Germon detected some moisture in the wicket being used for the third successive one-day game, and with the humid, overcast conditions prevailing, gave Northern first use. "I don't know what it was exactly, it might have freshened up a bit with the covers or had a bit of water but it looked like there was a bit of life there. "We then talked about our bowlers using it by bowling into the pitch more rather than along it as we have perhaps been guilty of at times." Canterbury's pace bowling attack responded admirably to instructions, slicing the top off Northern's vaunted top order to have it 38 for four by the 16th over and ex-New Zealand batsman Shane Thomson retired hurt with a badly bruised finger. The damage could perhaps have been worse had second slip Nathan Astle held a first-over edge from Blair Pocock off Warren Wisneski's bowling. Geoff Allott, Michael Sharpe, and Chris Cairns all placed pressure on the Northern batsmen and wicketkeeper Lee Germon led by example behind the stumps, gloving the dismissals of Bryan Young and Mark Bailey, the second a superb grab low down. After that, Canterbury was swiftly into Northern's middle order. Chris Harris chimed in with the wickets of Alex Tait and Craig Ross with successive balls and the game had slipped from Northern's grasp by the 33rd over. Robbie Hart and No. 10 Scott Styris performed a creditable salvage job in batting out the overs, adding 67 for the eighth wicket. Hart finished with a Shell Cup best of 56 from 80 balls. Canterbury began batting as if Cyclone Fergus was bearing down upon it with Nathan Astle rocketing the side to 49 from seven overs. After he was out for 35, Canterbury slowed as Harris and Stephen Fleming were generally watchful against the left-arm slow bowling combination of Matthew Hart and Daniel Vettori. Chris Cairns then offered the 4200-strong crowd some entertainment with a blistering unbeaten 36 from 27 balls including three fours and three sixes, to finish the game with a flourish. Points with games played in parenthesis: Wellington 11 (7), Canterbury 10 (7), Northern Districts 8 (7), Auckland 6 (6), Central Districts 5 (6), Otago 0 (7). NORTHERN DISTRICTS B Pocock run out..........................23 B Young c Germon b Allott..................4 S Thomson retired hurt.....................0 M Bailey c Germon b Sharpe.................0 M Bell b Harris...........................22 M Hart b Cairns............................0 A Tait c Astle b Harris...................24 R Hart run out............................56 C Ross c Fleming b Harris..................0 S Styris b Priest.........................18 D Vettori not out..........................4 Extras (lb5, nb6, w4).....................20 Total (for 9 wkts, off 50 overs).........166 Fall: 22, 27, 37, 38, 74, 93, 93, 160, 166. Bowling: W Wisneski 5-0-33-0 (nb4, w4), G Allott 10-3-24-1, M Sharpe 10-3-23-1, C Cairns 7-1-19-1 (2nb), C Harris 10-2-28-3, M Priest 8-0-34-1. CANTERBURY N Astle c Pocock b M Hart.................35 D Murray c R Hart b Ross..................16 C Harris not out..........................52 S Fleming c M Hart b Ross.................22 C Cairns not out..........................36 Extras (b2, lb1, nb2, w1)..................6 Total for 3 wkts (off 33.5 overs)........167 Fall: 49, 59, 109. Bowling: C Ross 10-1-35-2, S Styris 3-0-26-0 (2nb), M Hart 9.5-4-42-1, D Vettori 8-0-38-0, A Tait 3-0-23-0 (1w). Umpires: D Quested, P Williams. Result: Canterbury won by seven wickets. Man of the Match: Chris Harris (Canterbury). Source :: The Christchurch Press (http://www.press.co.nz) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)