North Otago batsman Ben Cant was the thorn in the side of Otago Country cricket fans as the home side bowed out of contention to challenge for the Hawke Cup with a first innings loss in Alexandra over the weekend.
Cant fell agonisingly short of a double century when he was out for 197, caught off the bowling of Marcus Frost, but his effort saw the visitors through to a formidable first innings total of 351 on day one.
His effort with the bat was a record score, surpassing Sean Eathorne (172) and Ash Flannery (172), and his partnership with Sean Conlan (51) of 145 is the highest seventh wicket partnership surpassing Kelvin Mansfield and Ashley Flannery’s 134 in 1989.
North Otago was eventually all out with Frost picking up a bag of five wickets for 68 runs from 17 overs.
Otago Country had time on day one to bat and at stumps was 91 for two, opener Chris Beck scoring 61.
On day two, Otago Country needed to pick up first innings points to stay in contention to top the Southern zone standings but it was all out for 208, 143 runs short of the target.
A shortage of runs in the middle order proved a big problem but Jarred Andrew's 53 along with Beck's half century brightened up a disappointing day overall.
Both Duncan Drew and Stephan Grobler took three wickets for North Otago.
Country's second turn at bat meant scoring fast was the key but at 240 for four and cruising along nicely, it was evident the home side would not win the match outright and the game was cut short.
Short Scorecard(s)
Representative - Hawke Cup - Zone Series
North Otago vs Otago Country at Molyneux Park, Alexandra
North Otago 351 ( B.C. Cant 197, S.M. Conlan 51, N.G. Smith 37, J.B. Smith 13, G.R. Cameron 12, D.J. Drew 11, M. Frost 5-68 )
Otago Country 208 ( C. Beck 61, J. Andrew 53, R. Anderson 31, S. Windle 15, M. Frost 13no, A. Hubber 13, D.J. Drew 3-25, S.F. Grobler 3-57, N.G. Smith 2-25 ) & 240-4 ( J. Andrew 102no, M. Goldstein 51, K. Paterson 42no, C. Rutherford 19, C. Beck 12, S.F. Grobler 2-60 )
First innings win to North Otago
Full scorecard for the match
Team Pages:
North Otago 2013-2014 |