North Otago slumped to its second straight outright loss of the Fuji-Xerox southern zone elimination cricket competition yesterday, losing to Mid Canterbury by eight wickets at Centennial Park.
The loss came after Central Otago inflicted an innings defeat on North Otago last weekend and coach Bruce Sewell said after yesterday's game he was disappointed his side had not learnt from that game.
"I'm disappointed in our performance. We talked last week about playing at this level and having to take time at the crease when we're battling but it's not working at the moment.
Once again the talented, young top order failed to produce runs with the side being bowled out for 170 and 141, leaving the bowlers only modest totals to defend.
"We thought the pitch was worth 300 runs plus but poor shot selection cost us badly, " Mr Sewell said.
"Our top order is strong but we fell apart and put too much pressure on our lower order and the bowlers. It proved to be the major difference between the two sides," Mr Sewell said.
Mid Canterbury won the toss and sent North Otago to bat on a flat, greenish pitch. The home side begun well with openers Glynn Cameron and Aaron Dawe producing a solid start to be 36 without loss after the first hour.
However North Otago then lost six for 62 as the middle order crumpled to be 98 for six after the dismissal of Craig Wilson for nine.
Neil Rushton then held up one end and scored a dogged 46 to help North Otago to 170 all out an hour after lunch. Mid Canterbury's left-armer Chris Bell was the chief destroyer taking four for 37 of 13.3 overs.
Mid Canterbury showed what could be achieved on the wicket as they set about chasing the North Otago total. At 99 for two the visitors appeared in strong position. However bad light caused the players to leave the field and then heavy rain spelt an early end to the day's play an hour early.
The Mid Canterbury batsmen begun yesterday where they left off and did not lose another wicket as they overhauled North Otago's total and declared 16 runs ahead. However North Otago had its chances, dropping opener Lyall Jemmett twice as he went on to make an undefeated century.
"I though it was very sporting of Mid Canterbury to declare when they did. They could have easily have tried to put 150 on us and shut us out of the game but they made a contest of it," Mr Sewell said.
North Otago's second innings began badly with batsmen out for zero with no runs on the board and once again the slide began. AT 52 for six it looked like an early finish was likely but an 84 run partnership between Craig Wilson (46) and Stephen Neill (46) pulled North Otago to 136 before the last four wickets fell for just five runs.
Once again Bell was accurate picking up five for 29 off just eight overs. North Otago only managed to bat for 43 overs.
Mid Canterbury were left chasing 125 to win with more than one and a half sessions to score them.
The top order again fired as opener Eddie Gorman (45) and first-drop Ian Sutcliffe (59 not out) steered Mid Canterbury to victory. In two innings Mid Canterbury lost only four wickets compared to North Otago's 20.
Despite North Otago's loss Mr Sewell praised the opposition and was looking toward the next game for his side to improve.
"They made a good job of grounding out the win, and looked a good side with good all round ability. We've got a month off before our next match so we'll side down and analyse what we've doing and try to improve."
However he did not rule out possible changes to the team.
Short Scorecard(s)
Representative - Fuji Xerox Cup - Zone Series
Mid Canterbury vs North Otago at Centennial Park, Oamaru
North Otago 170 ( N.W. Rushton 46, D.J. Drew 23, G.R. Cameron 17, M. Wilson 16, A. Lemon 16, A. Dawe 12, Bell 4-37, Forde 3-34, Harrison 3-39 ) & 141 ( C. Wilson 46, S. Neil 46, D.J. Drew 18, N.W. Rushton 14, Bell 5-29, Harrison 3-51, Forde 2-37 )
Mid Canterbury 186-2dec ( L. Jemmett 101no, G. Breach 40no, I. Sutcliffe 15, E. Gorman 11, A. Lemon 2-51 ) & 128-2 ( I. Sutcliffe 59no, E. Gorman 45 )
Mid Canterbury won by 8 wickets
Full scorecard for the match