Southee opens and gets side off to smashing start

Black Cap Tim Southee proved he was a force to be reckoned with the bat as well as the ball, when he opened the batting for Maungakaramea alongside Dean Child in the first round of Northland club cricket's Twenty20 premier grade competition at Kensington Park.
Batting first, Maungakaramea got away to a flying start on Saturday in game one, reaching  145-4 against last year's T20 champions Kaipara Flats.
Southee was one of his side's top scorers, smacking  37 before Kaipara's Wellington import Kevin Forde caught him  off the bowling of Matt Taylor.
Child managed 13 runs before he was dismissed by Tauseef Satti, while No3 batsman Brett Hood was run out for 25 and Mark Southee was stumped after racking up 19 runs.
At the end of the Maungakaramea's innings, Joseph O'Sullivan on  37 and new professional Finlay Brooker on  1 were not out.
Henry Foy was useful for Maungakaramea in Kaipara's innings, snatching three wickets in his four overs and helping restrict Kaipara's batsman to 106. 
Top scorer  for Kaipara was Jacob Phillips, returning to the fray  after a spell away and the bowling allrounder will  be vying for Northland selection.
Maungakaramea's strong start was halted in their second game of the day when, after making 133, City chased them down to win with  134-3 to make up for their earlier one-run loss to Onerahi-Central. James Merry said it was not a bad outing for the opening day of the season, although the overall performance was hard to judge in the showery and slippery conditions.
"Our batting was good - we had players - Joseph O'Sullivan and Brett Hood - who batted well in both games."
Hood was run out for 49 during Maungakaramea's match with City, a defining moment in the game which went downhill after that, Merry said.
"Tim (Southee) and Dean (Child) went great in the first game but not so well in the second (Southee scored 1  and Child made 11) and it was a hard day for our bowlers as it was so slippery." 
Kaipara turned the tables in their second match, defeating Kamo who made 114-8, by eight runs.
Whangarei Boys' High School had a cracking start to their T20 campaign, winning both their matches.  Batting first against Onerahi, the schoolboys mustered up a modest  123-6 but showed potential with the ball when they bowled out their more experienced opponents  for 73 in 15.4 overs, winning by 50 runs.
They followed up the victory reaching 168 against Kamo, with Ben Hyde hitting 74 runs. Kamo were sent home licking their wounds after scoring just  62-5 in their 20 overs, with a very solid schoolboys' bowling performance led by new professional Richard Kaufman with 2-9 off 4 overs.
The T20 competition continues at Kaipara Flats with each side playing two games on Saturday, followed by one more round on Sunday before the final.