Brad Kneebone was just one short of a century. Photo / File
Brad Kneebone's dismissal, one run short of his century, proved to be a bad omen for Northland as they slumped to their fourth successive opening round loss at the Brian Dunning Memorial One Day competition in Taupo.
Kneebone and Ben Hyde (45) put together a good opening partnership of 126
after Northland won the toss on Sunday. Henry Cooper (62) and Tyler Lortan (35no) also came to the party with the bat to see Northland through to a good score of 278/4 in their 50 overs.
The score should have been enough but their bowling and fielding simply weren't good enough to contain a good Bay of Plenty batting line-up and the home side's Brett Hampton smacked Lortan for six to reach 284/5 with nine balls to spare.
The team's coach and head selector, Stephen Cunis, said the loss didn't stem from a lack of effort but rather a lack of polish with the ball against a good Bay of Plenty batting line-up.
"We didn't quite get it right, our concentration wasn't where it should have been and we bowled four or five good balls in an over but the other one or two were poor balls and easily hit for four," he said.
