CRICKET- Northland makes it two against rivals

We're flying high here at Northland Cricket at the moment with two wins over Hamilton under our belt ... Graham Barlow, cricket managerNorthland Cricket is in celebration mode with two wins over arch-rivals Hamilton notched up in consecutive weeks.
Following in the footsteps of the senior team last weekend, a young and inexperienced Northland second XI beat a visiting Hamilton side by three wickets to take the lead in the Basil McBurney one-day series.
"We're flying high here at Northland Cricket at the moment with two wins over Hamilton under our belt, firstly the A team and now the B team," NCA cricket manager Graham Barlow said.
"Hamilton are normally the team to beat and they were a bit older and more experienced than us, so it was a very good win for such a young side."
Heavy overnight rain delayed the start of Sunday's match at Kaipara Flats and the contest was reduced to 46 overs an innings.
Hamilton got off to a good start but two high school students, who are part of a sizeable contingent of under-17 players in the Northland side, broke through to disrupt the visitors' innings.
"Two of our youngsters, Curtis Cherrington and Dexter Buchanan, stopped them from getting a good score," Barlow said.
Cherrington came in at second change and his outswingers took out the Hamilton danger men.
The Kamo High School student, better known for his batting, pressed his claim as an all-rounder by taking three wickets for nine runs.
Kaipara medium pace bowler Buchanan then replaced Cherrington to finish with the best figures of the match, 4/29. Rory Darkins took 2/5 while Nic Breslan bowled well for his 1/40 as the visitors scored 144.
Wicketkeeper-opener Todd Beehre continued his good run of form with the bat, which saw him selected into the Northern Districts under-17 squad last week, to anchor the chase.
He scored 52 before finally being dismissed with about 20 runs needed.
Apart from Harry Darkins scoring 20 in an important partnership with Beehre, no one else was a major contributor to the total, with the rest of the Northland team chipping in enough runs for the three-wicket win.
Beehre's dismissal triggered a late run of nerves with a few late wickets falling - robbing Northland of an even more emphatic victory.
Also on Sunday, City's chances of improving on their good 2007 form in the national club championships faltered at the first hurdle - in a bowl-off.
The team was hoping to repeat last year's achievement of representing Northern Districts at the final at Cornwell Park.
They were happy to draw Counties club Karaka, after they had beaten them comfortably in a pre-season game, but Sunday's rain in Whangarei meant play never got under way.
Instead, a bowl-off was used to find a winner and, despite getting off to a good start,City lost 5-4 after 10 bowlers were used by each side.