Auckland 156-3
CD 155-9
ND 130-9
Canterbury 127-9
Auckland and Northern Districts scored important victories yesterday, though in contrasting styles.
Auckland hammered HRV Cup leaders Central Districts by seven wickets with 10 balls to spare, but the real drama was at QEII Park in Christchurch where ND first conspired to butcher what should have been a soft run chase, then pulled off a stunning win with a six off the final ball.
Needing 15 for victory and the last pair at the crease, Bradley Scott (20 not out) and Brent Arnel (three not out) took 11 from the first five deliveries before Scott hit the final ball from Ryan Burson over long on for six.
ND will gladly take the win but must be wondering how it ever got to that point. Chasing a modest 128 they slumped to 75-8 with offspinning allrounder Rob Nicol the destroyer, taking 5-22 from his four overs.
It was not until Tim Southee pummelled 32 from 16 that ND came back into the match.
Things were more by the book at Colin Maiden Park, where league leaders CD came apart at the seamers.
Auckland defied convention by winning the toss and fielding, stacking their side with seven genuine bowling options. CD, on the other hand, had a deep batting line-up, but relied on five seamers to do the bowling job. With import Graham Napier struggling to land the ball, they were doomed.
"I like to have bowling options. I like to be able to chop and change and mix things up," said Auckland captain Gareth Hopkins of the decision to stack the bowling. If that turned out to be an inspired decision, it would have come to nothing were it not for the unbeaten 124-run partnership he enjoyed with Scott Styris (45 off 36). The pair did nothing, also, to contradict the theory that you have more deliveries up your sleeve than you think in Twenty20.
Although midway through the chase for 156 the run rate had lifted to more than 10 per over, Hopkins (71 off 44) said he never felt it had reached panic stations. "This game shows that if you have two batters who are in, you can always catch up later on," Hopkins said.
"I was sitting up there with the boys and I was saying if we were chasing 50 off the last five overs I would be happy. It's just one boundary an over. Ten an over in Twenty20 cricket is just like seven an over in one-day cricket - it's gettable. Tens is nothing to be scared of at all."
Especially not when you're being fed thigh-high full tosses, as Hopkins was by Napier. Twice he smashed over the midwicket fence, the second effort clean out of the ground.
Earlier, CD's disappointing 155-9 was founded on Mathew Sinclair's 54-ball 69. Despite batting right down to No 10, nobody else could get going.
Otago's match against Wellington at Dunedin was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
Points table, B6
