Spirited North come up short

A fine century by Ben Williams couldn't quite get Northland close enough to Hamilton's first-innings total and the prize of a Hawke Cup Challenge for 2011 was taken away by the visitors.
Northland dismissed Hamilton for 351 yesterday morning at Cobham Oval after they added just 30 runs to their overnight score. But those 30 runs proved to be vital as Northland were dismissed trying to push the pace in the final overs of the day's play after Williams, Rhys Farrand and Henry Cooper batted them into a position to earn an unlikely victory.
With the game heading for a thrilling finish with 108 runs required off 102 balls with seven wickets in hand, Williams celebrated his century but he was out a few balls later and that proved to be a blow that Northland never really recovered from as the wickets fell steadily and runs became harder to find.
Captain Brett Hood said the team were disappointed after coming so close but had little to blame themselves for in a good game of cricket.
"When you end up chasing 350 on the last day against a good attack on a low, slow wicket, it's always going to be difficult but I thought the boys put in a fairly spirited attempt but obviously we just came up short," he said.
Northland were perhaps guilty of trying to hit boundaries off the Hamilton spinners in the final 10-15 overs of the match, when singles were much easier to come by. They were dismissed with the best part of four overs still left to be bowled after a spirited 10th-wicket partnership of 34 between Ben Hyde and Jake Phillips was finally broken.
"It was a good game of cricket between two fairly evenly matched sides. If we were to be hard on ourselves, we let ourselves down at crucial times in the field, little chances that we couldn't quite take ... and as it turned out that turned out to be important when we were 20 or 30 runs short [in the chase]," he said.
It was hard work for Northland in the field in the heat on Saturday and they were unable to stop the Hamilton middle order cashing in on some runs after winning the toss and bowling. Nick Horsley (87) and top-scorer Brooke Hatwell (106) fortified the innings with Owen Ivins chipping in with a handy 48 to see Hamilton to stumps at 321/8.
It proved to be slightly too many runs to chase down in the time they had remaining.
However, Hood was full of praise for the way his batsmen approached the chase.
"Ben's innings was close to being one of the best 100s I can remember in a Northland side but before that Rhys [Farrand] was outstanding in setting up a platform and then Henry showed us he's got a fairly wise head on young shoulders - all three of them played well - unfortunately it was us older guys that failed to bat around them," he said.
The Northland side start their 2011 representative programme ahead of time next week with a two-day Fergus Hickey game against Waikato Valley and Hood expects Northland to show the same passion they showed during the Hamilton match.
"We'll be chasing maximum points, we've got a good team culture and the boys are keen to get back next week and make amends for this week's result," he said.