CRICKET - Bright start at trial for 55-over game

A new hybrid game of cricket was trialled on Saturday in the Northland premier grade and initial reactions have been good.
Northland Cricket Operations manager Graham Barlow said the 55-over competition got off to a bright start on Saturday with Maungakaramea and Onerahi-Central claiming outright wins and Onerahi-Central claiming extra points in their drawn match with Whangarei Boys' High School.
The idea came after Northland teams played two one-day competitions last year.
"We wanted to try something different as well as keeping what we've got," Barlow said.
The scoring system is based on a similar competition now played in the Bay of Plenty, that was introduced to replace the two-day competition.
"The competition has gone down very well there but the scoring system is very elaborate," he said.
There are no restrictions in the game other than it is 55 overs per innings. Bowlers can bowl as many overs as their captains wish and to win you must bowl the other side out or reach the target score set in the first innings and pocket 25 points.
There are a variety of points available for the teams if there is no outright winner. For example, if the side batting second gets within 25 runs of the win, they get eight points while the bowling side gets four.
"I think it will take teams a while to get their heads around playing this game and that's really why it's a bit of an experiment at the moment, we'll look at the feedback over Christmas and see how we go," Barlow said.
Certainly the bowlers held sway in two of the matches with Kamo having no answer for Andy Pratt's bowling as they were dismissed for 121. Pratt finished with 5/27 from 12 overs with five maidens. Ian Page top-scored in the chase with 75 with City claiming a seven wicket win.
Maungakaramea paceman Charlie Hopkins also claimed five wickets, taking five for 40 off 18 overs to knock over the Kaipara top order. Only late resistance from number-eight Jake Phillips (55) saw them struggle to 131 in 41 overs. Mark Child top-scored for Maungakaramea with 46 in the six-wicket win.
In the other premier grade match the bat dominated the ball with Onerahi's Greg Strydom belting 100 including eight fours and six sixes. Aaron Bradley (50), Nick Breslin (43) and Harley Dyke (41) also got among the runs as they amassed 327/6.
Stephen John top-scored for WBHS with a 90, while Henry Cooper scored a half-century as the students hung on to claim points in the draw.