A run here, five, six over there, so what's the difference?
After all, the Central Districts Stags' final one-day match yesterday against the Northern Districts Knights in Whangarei was always going to be a dead rubber, considering their play-off hopes were dashed long before.
That CD didn't finish dead last (Wellington had that honour after losing to Auckland by 67 runs) was in itself an endearing conclusion to a mediocre limited-overs season that yielded just one win until yesterday's five-run victory over ND at Cobham Oval.
But how painful that one run must be for No 5 batsman Tim Weston, unbeaten on 99 with Doug Bracewell 5 not out, when CD amassed 246-7 in their allotted 50 overs.
The 28-year-old right-hander from New Plymouth was the first to admit it would have been nice to make his maiden ton in domestic one-dayers after 31 matches but, it seems, Weston is of the Misbah-ul-Haq ilk.
"To be honest, I'd rather have 99 and a win then push to 100 and register a loss," he said last night before catching a flight back before going back to the same venue for the resumption of round four of the four-day Plunket Shield campaign that undefeated CD are leading.
A circumspect Weston, after opener Peter Ingram scored 64, felt he could have played a few shots better from the 102 balls he faced while at the batting crease for 113 minutes.
"It was a reasonably decent total but we could have done with about 15 to 20 more runs," he reflected after carving 10 boundaries and putting one over the rope for six.
ND, despite opener BJ Watling's 113 not out and Hawke's Bay-born No 7 Peter McGlashan's 69, came up shy on 241-7 in their run chase.
While the first 40 runs were run a ball, the introduction of spinners meant Weston had to toil for the next 20 runs.
Seldom do middle-order batsmen have the comfort zone to kick on when they come into an innings.
"The power plays and death overs allow us to play from the hip a little, so I was able to catch up," he said, agreeing the win was a dead rubber but emphasising the importance of taking a winning edge into the Hawke Cup match for Taranaki against Hawke's Bay in New Plymouth for the bragging rights to minor association supremacy.
Weston singled out teenage seamer Adam Milne for his 2-37 off 10 overs, including three maidens.
"Milney had a tough match for New Zealand [in the Twenty20 against the touring Pakistanis] and then return to play for CD," he said of the 18-year-old right-armer who took some stick on debut amid concern from CD coach Alan Hunt that he was too young to be exposed to that calibre of batsmen in a protracted, batsmen-heavy format of the game.
However, the Manawatu bowler said the T20 internationals had quite the opposite effect on him.
"I gained a lot of confidence and experience but I've had a couple of nigglies since," he said of shin/calf muscle injuries keeping him off the park.
Conversely he saw the benefits of Hunt's concern, considering time is on a youthful Milne's side.
Yesterday, the bowler was delighted to hit the right areas on a slow and variable Cobham Oval pitch, where he expected a marathon spell in CD's next round of shield match on February 17.
Canterbury, Auckland, Otago and ND are in the preliminary finals on Sunday, with the losers from the top two qualifiers having another life against the winners of the bottom two.
Unbeaten Weston ends on 99
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.