Match C: Canterbury v Otago at Albany, 17 Nov 2001 CricInfo Live Report

Match C: Canterbury v Otago at Albany, 17 Nov 2001
Lynn McConnell

Otago innings: Otago 1st innings, Otago 2nd innings,
Canterbury innings: Canterbury 1st innings, Canterbury 2nd innings,

OTAGO FIRES UP TO BEAT CANTERBURY WITH BALL TO SPARE

Otago ended up winning an unlikely thriller with Canterbury when rain put the pressure on both sides to decide who would advance in the last stages of the State Max competition at North Harbour Stadium at Albany today.

The second innings was reduced to six over affair which hit Canterbury harder as the side most affected by the rain break. But it did not help itself by failing to score enough in its first innings.

Andrew Hore got Otago off to a flying start when taking a Max four for eight runs from their reduced over innings.

Craig Cumming glanced four to fine leg off the third ball and Hore was back to face the fifth ball which was a chest high full toss which struck a painful blow on the arm and was called a no ball. Two singles followed as Otago were 16/0 off the first over.

Stephen Cunis did well to concede only five runs from his final over of the game to leave Otago 21/0 after two.

Ryan Burson bowled the third over and had six runs off the first four balls before gaining Cumming's wicket for 13 and with no runs off the last ball Otago had 27/1 after three overs.

Chris Harris came on for the fourth over and with three full tosses the batsmen could only take singles but off the fourth, Hore got one right where he wanted it and it went over the Max zone for a timely 12.

Otago went into the last two overs needing 20 runs. Immediate disaster struck when Andrew Hore backing up from the bowler's end ran himself out after Brendon McCullum drove the ball back to bowler Burson who threw down the wickets with Hore out of his ground.

McCullum did superbly under tight bowling pressure from Burson to take three twos and then hit a four to mid-wicket off the last ball, leaving Otago needing 10 runs from the last over.

Craig Pryor took two off the first ball from the Harris and then exchanged singles before the fourth ball was flicked behind square to the boundary.

Then off the penultimate ball Pryor straight drove a lofted shot into the Max zone to tie up the win and finish the innings with 15 runs off four balls.

CANTERBURY FIRE IN LATTER STAGES

Canterbury staged a bold recovery after rain to set Otago a target of 64 to decide who will advance in the State Max cricket tournament at the North Harbour Stadium in Albany today.

The game was reduced by two overs for each team in the second innings as the result of rain.

But only 2.2 overs into the second Canterbury innings it rained heavily and the game was further reduced to a six-over affair.

Canterbury was 31/1 at that stage with Warren Wisneski having 12 off six balls and Brad Doody was nine not out.

McMillan suffered the worst over of his tournament when having 19 runs coming from his first over of the innings.

Two balls after the resumption, Doody was caught at cover off Walmsley and off the next ball Wisneski was also caught at cover to leave Canterbury 32/3.

Peter Fulton avoided the hat-trick with four edged past slips and in partnership with Harris he kept the score moving through the fourth over and with two overs left Canterbury were 46/3.

Fulton was run out off the first ball off the fifth over and with four byes the main contributor they went into the last over on 53/5.

Harris started the last over in emphatic style, straight-driving the first ball from Pryor into the Max zone for an eight. Pryor bowled a wide and Cleighton Cornelius cover drove a superb boundary and at the end Canterbury were 73/4, a target of 64 to win for Otago.

OTAGO LEADS BY 10 RUNS ON FIRST INNINGS

Otago failed to grasp a significant chance to embarrass Canterbury in their State Max match at North Harbour's Albany Stadium today.

Having held Canterbury to 85/4, Otago could only reply with 95/5.

Otago made a much better start than Canterbury. The danger man, Andrew Hore worked in well with his younger partner Brendon McCullum to have 18 on the board after two overs. Hore signalled his intent off the last ball from Warren Wisneski's first over for six over mid-wicket.

However, Stephen Cunis struck in the third over, his second when McCullum lobbed an easy chance to Carl Anderson at extra cover to depart for three. Hore ran quickly to cross before the catch was taken to face the next ball which was edged for four. Off the next ball a hard hit chance was dropped by Wisneski and two runs were taken, a fact Hore celebrated by putting the next ball over extra cover for six.

After three overs, Otago were 31/1 and Hore had 27 of them. A moment of controversy occurred from the first ball of Wisneski's second over when an appeal from wicket-keeper Gareth Hopkins resulted in umpire Brent Bowden giving Hore out. He stood his ground and was clearly unhappy with the decision.

Chris Gaffaney had a long wait to face his first ball but once getting the chance was quickly into his stride, with one cut shot for four from Wisneski which was beautifully played.

Craig Cumming launched into a huge drive against Stephen Cunis and was bowled for eight runs. But Craig Pryor played a lovely cover drive for four off the last ball of the fifth over to bring up the 50 off 30 balls - two overs quicker than Canterbury managed.

Pryor continued to move the innings along in the sixth over with an elegant off drive into the Max zone for eight runs off Ryan Burson.

Chris Harris was introduced for the seventh over and conceded five runs off the over and then when being no-balled was able to ensure no run was taken from the free hit ball.

The later order slow-down continued in the eighth over as Burson held the score to 76/3.

Pryor managed a Max hit for four runs off Harris but was then run out off the next ball with Otago one run short of the lead in the ninth over.

Cleighton Cornelius bowled the last over and did a fine job in containing the scoring rate and keeping Otago under 100 runs. The last wicket fell off the last ball of the 10 overs to see Otago 95/5 with Chris Gaffaney 18 not out.

Cunis bowled three overs and took two for 30.

CANTERBURY MAKE POOR BATTING START

Conditions were cooler at Albany's North Harbour Stadium today when the second day of the State Max cricket tournament started at 9.45am with the winner take all match between Canterbury and Otago.

Otago came into the game with bowler Evan Marshall injured leaving it with only 11 players to chose from and no-one able to fill the designated fielder provision.

Overnight rain had no effect on the ground which has won high praise as a venue and which is likely to feature more prominently in future cricket planning, especially for the Auckland Cricket Association. It is to be one of the venues for the International Cricket Council Under-19 World Cup in January.

Canterbury batted first in overcast conditions with the outfield slightly slower than yesterday, the result of the overnight rain.

Kerry Walmsley opened the bowling and was straight onto a tight line, conceding only five runs and then the pick of bowlers on show yesterday, James McMillan did even better by restricting the Canterbury openers Darren Reekers and Brad Doody to singles while also bowling Reekers for 2.

Only nine runs came from the first two overs but the ante was raised in the third, when Walmsley conceded two wides, worth two runs each and off the last ball of the extended over he conceded the first boundary of the innings when Doody speared one over the slip cordon to the boundary. Canterbury were 23/1 after three overs.

Mark Hastings edged a ball from Craig Pryor to the boundary wide of slips and then later in the fourth over glanced four to see Canterbury take 12 from the over.

The introduction of David Sewell again slowed the scoring rate and he conceded only four runs in the fifth over as Canterbury went into the second half of the innings at 39/1.

Only one run came from the bat in the sixth, bowled by Craig Cumming, and the only ray of hope in a faltering Canterbury effort were four byes conceded by wicket-keeper Simon Beare.

Sewell removed Hastings for 15 with the first ball of the seventh over with Canterbury stuck in quicksand at 44/2.

Canterbury gained a bonus from umpire Doug Cowie in the seventh over when it was a seven-baller, but despite that, it was the first ball of the eighth over before Canterbury posted their 50, a four slashed by Doody wide of the 'keeper.

However, next ball he was caught on the point boundary and while Warren Wisneski hit the first Max boundary of the game for eight, he was caught at wide long on the next ball and Canterbury went into the ninth over on 62/4.

It proved the most productive of the innings, with 16 runs coming, eight of them from leg byes, and two, the result of a hilarious example of mis-fielding as the Otago fielders provided some Keystone Kop material.

Unfortunately for Otago that continued into the final over bowled by Pryor. However, tight bowling restricted Canterbury to a less than substantial 85 by the end of the innings. Harris was 14 not out and Peter Fulton five not out.

David Sewell was the pick of an accomplished Otago bowling effort with one for nine from his two overs. Cumming took two for 14, McMillan one for 14, Pryor none for 17 and Walmsley none for 19.