CRICKET - Little joy as Northland fall well short

A good all-round performance by Jason Morgan gave supporters something to cheer about on an otherwise gloomy day as the Northland development team were defeated by their Bay of Plenty counterparts on Sunday.
Morgan took two wickets and scored a timely 90 runs to bolster his side's chances in the match but in the end Bay of Plenty won the Basil McBurney contest comfortably.
The day started poorly for Northland and the setbacks kept on coming.
The covers had blown off the Cobham Oval wicket on Friday night, allowing the rain to make the pitch unusable for Sunday's match.
The match was then transferred up to one of the artificial tracks at Kensington, and Northland sportingly offered to bowl after the Bay side baulked at bowling on the wet surface.
They were made to suffer for the gesture though, with the Bay savaging them by dispatching ball after ball to the short boundaries, finally reaching a massive 308 in the shortened 40-over match.
Geoff Symonds top-scored for the Bay with 87, while Jamie Kay was the best of the Northland bowlers with 4/43 off his eight overs but Morgan's two wickets from four overs also helped the cause.
Northland had to push hard for a win but soon lost wickets and the impetus for a successful chase.
Morgan's 90 runs formed the backbone of the Northland innings, with Lance Jessup's cameo of 29 at the end helping them to 217 in the their 38 overs - after they were penalised two overs for their slow bowling rate in the first innings.