ND women find reason to smile

Northern Districts finally had cause for celebration in their end-of-year women's cricket series with Canterbury, avenging two agonising losses with an eight-run victory in the second one-dayer in Whangarei.
After suffering a Twenty20 loss on a boundary count-back on Tuesday and then conceding the winning run on the last ball of  Wednesday's first one-dayer, Northern dragged themselves off the foot of the table on Thursday by closing out a morale-boosting victory despite Canterbury captain Amy Satterthwaite's valiant unbeaten 92.
Satterthwaite took guard in the third over and was left stranded in the 49th when counterpart Kate Pulford's third wicket ended another close-run contest.
Crucially for Northern, Satterthwaite, who clipped 10 boundaries during her 110-ball stay, was denied tangible support. Once Amber Boyce departed for 27 when the score was 77 only two of the middle and lower order made 10 as Canterbury were dismissed for 194 with six balls remaining.
Nicola Browne anchored ND's 202 for eight with an unbeaten 93 from 98 deliveries including 10 boundaries.
Northern improve to fifth on 10 points, Wellington lead with 19 after six rounds. NZPA