Martin heroics not enough for Northland win in Fergus Hickey Rosebowl

A great all-round effort from Bruce Martin, above, wasn't enough to fire Northland to victory over Hamilton in their Brian Dunning Trophy game. Photo / File

Eleven wickets and a second innings 37 runs from Northland's Bruce Martin wasn't enough to give the Bella Homes-sponsored side a victory over Hamilton in their Fergus Hickey Rosebowl game at Cobham Oval last weekend

Left-arm spinner Martin took 6/64 in the first innings and 5/ 97 in the second to give him excellent figures of 11/161 for the match. It was Martin spells with the ball in hand which restricted Hamilton from scoring early and kept their two innings scores under 200.

Northland were put into bat after Hamilton won the toss and with openers Christopherson and Luke Trigg going early, Ollie White combined with Ian Page to form a strong third-wicket partnership with the score at 20 for 2.

The pair added 83 before White was dismissed for 32, caught at square leg. Page and skipper Ben Hyde (28) then added a further 38 before Page was out for 50, and Northland's middle order collapsed from being 141 for 3 to 196 for 8. With Stacy Hyndman being absent, through illness, Northland were lucky to get through to 217 for 9, before Ben Hyde was forced to declare. Neal Parlane was the only middle-order batsman to show any real resolve and was the last Northland batsman dismissed for 39.

Hamilton started poorly in their first innings with Northland's Nathan Parkes taking a wicket in the first over. They recovered to add 34 for the second wicket before the Northland side took four quick wickets to take the score from 37 for 2 to 50 for 6.

Martin was the dominant factor in the collapse and had the Hamilton top order in disarray. Despite this, the visitors fought back through some aggressive batting from Fred Walker but Martin and Parkes mopped up the tail and Hamilton were dismissed for 143, Parkes taking 4 for 26.

With a 74-run lead, Northland then set about trying set a target for Hamilton to chase, giving the home side the chance to bowl Hamilton out and get outright points.

At 35 for 1, Northland were in complete control but through poor shot selection and consistent bowling, the home team again had a collapse and were in trouble at 68 for 6.

With Neal Parlane being retired hurt, with a ruptured Achilles tendon, Northland were effectively 68 for 7.

Enter Bruce Martin, who showed his all-round ability and along with Cullen Lowe (20), added 35 valuable runs for the seventh wicket. Martin added a further 64, in conjunction with Caleb Boswell-Smith, for the eighth wicket until Hyde declared, setting Hamilton 242 in approximately 35 overs.

Martin struck early in the second innings but a quick 51-run partnership for the second wicket had the game evenly poised. Northland set attacking fields to try and entice the Hamilton side into playing aggressively and although runs were flowing, the hosts were chipping away at Hamilton's resistance.

At 147 for 3, and with 11 overs remaining, Martin and Hyde combined to take five wickets for 18 runs in six overs. This meant Hamilton needed to hold on for the remaining five overs, with two wickets remaining.

For 30 balls, the Hamilton batsmen battled hard and the game ended in a draw, with Northland getting first innings points. In a game marred by batting collapses, the efforts of Martin in tandem with Parkes and Hyde was enough for Northland to take some consolation from the draw.

Northland next play Bay of Plenty on November 24 and 24 in Tauranga.