Northland's senior men's cricket team are Northern Districts T20 champions after beating Counties Manukau in the Brian Dunning trophy competition yesterday.
The Northland team, who breezed past Bay of Plenty and Hamilton on Sunday and Monday, won by 14 runs through the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method as rain interrupted their game against fellow trophy contenders Counties Manukau yesterday morning at Owen Delaney Park in Taupō.
Just as rain had cut their morning game short, Northland's final game against Waikato Valley in the afternoon was cancelled and were then crowned rightful holders of the Brian Dunning trophy.
Winning the toss and batting first for third time in three games, Northland's batting innings against Counties Manukau started in the worst possible fashion as Monday's centurion Henry Cooper was caught after four balls without scoring.
Suddenly in recovery mode, Northland's innings looked very different from the high-flying totals of 212 and 213 on Sunday and Monday. Sunday's centurion Ollie White was dismissed for just two as Northland were struggling at 60 for 3 after 9.2 overs.