Cricket: Controversy mars last day of match

NEW PLYMOUTH - There was little love lost between Central Districts and Wellington at the end of their drawn Shell Trophy cricket match at Pukekura Park yesterday.

At tea on the fourth day, both teams had manipulated the game to a point where a result seemed possible.

But with nine overs remaining and Central Districts needing 100 runs to win, Central Districts coach Dipak Patel conceded the draw.

Wellington had seven players fielding on the boundary and were often guilty of bowling down the leg side.

"You could say I'm unhappy with the way the game was played on the last day," Patel said. "A game like that is not doing cricket any good. It's very disappointing."

Two balls before Patel called his players in, new batsman Jacob Oram was shoved by Wellington bowler Richard Petrie as he was taking a run.

Petrie, who was censured by New Zealand Cricket for breaching its code of conduct against Central Districts in January, was spoken to by umpire Gary Baxter, who later said the matter had been dealt with on the field.

The draw left Central Districts sharing second place with Northern Districts, four points behind leaders Auckland.

"If [Wellington] had wanted to play a proper game of cricket it was always on, but we were not going to give wickets away when we didn't have to," Patel said. "They wanted to play a game of cricket, but they had eight or nine fielders on the boundary. We wouldn't say they played proper cricket."

- NZPA