By CRAIG TIRIANA
If it weren't for a few dot balls Bay of Plenty would have been enjoying a rare outright win over Hamilton in the Fergus Hickey competition last night.
Instead Bay captain Graham Aldridge, who took a career best eight for 29 in Hamilton's first innings, was wearing a brave face after his side went within four runs of scoring the 183 they had been set for victory by the visitors to Te Puke Domain.
"I guess, at the start of the game, a first innings over Hamilton would have been good. In a way we were lucky to get first innings and almost unlucky not to get an outright," Aldridge said after his side finished at 179/6.
The Bay strangled themselves when victory had looked a formality with former Black Cap Lorne Howell punching and driving his way to a crisp maiden half century for the Bay and sharing breezy partnerships with firstly Jono Bolt (38) and then Ryan King (36).
The hosts went into the final hour needing to score 84 from 17 overs with Howell and King at the crease and seven wickets in hand. But eventually the result slipped away.
King was wastefully run out going for a third run when the Bay moved to 142/4 and his replacement, Eugene Moore, uncharacteristically struggled to lay bat on ball as the overs ground down.
Moore was finally bowled, having a head up swish in the penultimate over, leaving Howell to face with nine runs needed for the outright points from the final over.
The chase was basically over when Howell, adopting a baseball sluggers stance for the last rites, was bowled for 71 off the first ball by Ben Winslade.
Howell batted at No 4 and had been at the crease for 152 minutes, facing 110 balls, nine of which were despatched to the boundary.
Aldridge and Mat McLaughlin had no choice but to go for a couple of big hits but they could only scramble five of the required nine runs.
The hosts were guilty of some poor cricket over the closing overs when the batsmen went for big hits rather than working the ball into the many holes for ones and twos. However, Aldridge defended the approach, particularly from Moore who threw the bat at the ball with little success.
"Eugene [Moore] struggled a bit but he'll learn from that. In the first innings he did the same and batted brilliantly," Aldridge said.
Moore top scored with 45 as the Bay snuck past Hamilton's first innings of 169 with last pair McLaughlin and Josh Syms at the crease.
They put on 32 runs for the final wicket, taking Bay from 158/9e - 160/ at stumps on day one - through to 190.
Aldridge took a further two wickets in the Hamilton second innings, giving him his first back-to-back bags of 10 wickets at any level after he helped skittle Poverty Bay in Bay's opening Fergus Hickey game.
During his first innings performance Aldridge bowled a fantastic length, gaining a lot of help from the pitch to reduce Hamilton to 30/6 before top scorer Lance Martin (83) and Gareth Irwin rallied with a 76-run partnership.
Hamilton's batsmen handled their second innings better and moved to 203/9 when captain Nathan Daley declared, setting the Bay 183 from 45 overs.
Scores
Hamilton 169 (L Martin 83, G Irwin 22; G Aldridge 8-29) and 203/9 (B Hatwell 48, G Robinson 39; M McLaughlin 3-55, A Hoogstraten 2-36, G Aldridge 2-44)
Bay of Plenty 190 (E Moore 45, J Boult 32, R King 32; A Robson 4-63; B Winslade 4-37) and 179/6 (L Howell 71, R King 36, J Boult 31; B Winslade 2-54).
Bay fall short of outright win
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