The North Otago cricket team lost its 50 over match against Otago Metropolitan at Milner Park, Oamaru yesterday.
North Otago's bowlers did a fine job dismissing Otago for 164 but their batsmen did not perform and managed to score only 87 runs in their allotted overs.
North Otago won the toss and sent Otago in to bat in brilliant sunshine and on wicket that didn't offer too much assistance to the bowlers.
Sean Tracy and Paddy Bleach opened the attack and soon had Otago's Peter Dobbs and Ian Billcliff back in the pavilion.
Billcliff fell to a slower ball from Bleach and Dobbs got an edge of Tracy and was well taken low down in the slips by John Hills.
Alan Bligh came in at the fall of the first wicket and scored 40 runs in 58 balls and featured in two partnerships with Jeff Grubb and Paul Campbell.
However, when Bligh fell to a fine catch by Nigel Cartwright, on the long on boundary, and Dave Shackel was run out after a mix up with Mallender, the Otago innings faltered and they lost their last five wickets for only 33 runs.
A good display of bowling, in particular by Bleach and Tracy, backed up by some tidy work in the field put North Otago into a strong position at lunch.
Alan Sandri and Dave Reid opened the batting for North Otago but never really looked settled against some lively bowling by Mallender. Sandri was caught being the second over trying to hook a short ball from Mallender and the next three wickets fell in rapid succession.
It was not until Mike Dodd came in and went on the attack that North Otago looked to have any chance of winning. Unfortunately Dodd fell to a brilliant diving catch by Vaughn Johnson on the long on boundary before he got established.
Bleach and Todd Patton continued to play positively but the damage had already been and it would have taken an innings of Lance Cairns proportions for the home side to reach the required total.
Otago's bowlers performed well, producing a good line and length, although Mallender was the only one that looked dangerous, getting several balls to lift sharply.
However, North Otago's disappointing total was more a result of some slightly tentative batting by their top order batsmen.
North Otago can still take a lot of credit for their bowling performance and can look forward to their U-Bix Cup games with some degree of confidence.
Short Scorecard(s)
Representative - Friendly -
Dunedin Metro vs North Otago at Milner Park, Oamaru
Dunedin Metro 164 ( A. Bligh 40, N. Mallender 27, J. Grubb 24, D. Shackel 17, V. Johnston 12, S.R. Tracy 3-13, M.J. Dodd 2-53 )
North Otago 84-7 ( T. Patton 14no, P.D. Bleach 13no, M.J. Dodd 12, Johnson 2-11, Jones 2-17 )
Dunedin Metro won by 80 runs
Full scorecard for the match