Cricket: Doull inspires thrilling win

By TERRY MADDAFORD in Hamilton

England got the workout but not the result they were looking for when beaten by an inspired Northern Districts side last night.

With opener Nick Knight helping himself to a stylish century, the visitors amassed what they must have reckoned a match-winning 288 for six after being handed first use of the WestpacTrust Park pitch.

In normal circumstances that might have been the case but few would have counted on Simon Doull's rapid-fire, career-best 80 as the home side dissected the English attack.

With Michael Parlane, too, playing the way he does it best, Northern whittled the target away eventually winning with three wickets and five deliveries in hand.

English openers Knight and Marcus Trescothick showed a determination to profit from everything in the no pressure tour opener. They helped themselves to nine from the second over and had 28 in the bank after five.

Trescothick, in particular, keen to play the ball early and dispatch it wherever. The quick-fire start continued through 10 overs - 55 runs for no loss.

Robbie Hart's first bowling change brought some success when Graeme Aldridge had Trescothick taken at first slip by Grant Bradburn for 38.

His departure encouraged Knight to take the initiative. He shrugged off Michael Vaughan's paltry contribution - a deserved wicket for Ian Butler - before combining with Graham Thorpe in a 98-run, 70-minute third wicket partnership. Knight and Thorpe added another 30 in the next five overs before Thorpe failed to clear Matthew Hart at deep square leg giving Aldridge just reward and a second wicket.

Owais Shah and Knight thumped 68 from just 39 balls for the fourth wicket at which point Knight's 193-minute, 125-ball stay was ended by Joseph Yovich. His 126 runs included 10 boundaries and four sixes.

If Northern should have been overawed, nobody told Doull. He and James Marshall, after a rain-delayed start, ripped into it.

Andrew Caddick's second over was a mixture - three dots and 6, 4, 6 as Doull warmed to the challenge. Darren Gough and Matthew Hoggard, who had shared the new ball with Caddick, fared no better. Hoggard six overs for 54 (and Marshall's wicket when taken down the leg side by Trescothick), Gough's first five went for 27.

After reaching 82 from 10 overs and bringing up the 100 with another Doull boundary from the fourth ball of the 12th over, Northern staggered a little as Doull holed out for 80 from just 47 balls, in an innings which included 11 fours and two sixes and earned him his highest one-day innings in 76 matches.

Doull's departure brought something more conventional as Parlane and Hamish Marshall added 65 in just under an hour for the fourth wicket.

While Northern's batting, for the most part was assured, the English fielding too often was not. There was some poor ground work and sloppy throwing, twice conceding fives.

Parlane hit 50 from 72 balls and kicked on from there. He helped himself to a four and a six from successive deliveries from one Paul Collingwood over but fell short of the victory target at 79 after he and Bradburn had added 90. Bradburn finished it with a six off the first ball of Jeremy Snape's fifth over.