South Canterbury beat North Otago outright by four wickets with wicketkeeper, Willie Wright hitting a four off Stephan Grobler to take South Canterbury to the required 134 with four wickets in hand.

South Canterbury won the toss at Aorangi Park and on a pitch which had a greenish tinge asked North Otago to bat first in the two day game. The decision appeared to be vindicated when North Otago lost its top three, Glynn Cameron(6), Jeremiah Shields(0) and Stephan Grobler(1) to be fifteen for three. Batting at four Duncan Drew in his twentieth season for North Otago and allrounder Ben Cant set about revitalising the innings. The pair added 66 for the fourth wicket before Cant was dismissed for 37. Drew remained to anchor the innings before he was dismissed or 56, the eighth wicket to falling at 130. Chris Ware(24) batting at ten and captain Jordan Horrell(15) added what were to be important runs before the side was dismissed for 171 in the seventy third over. Right arm fast medium bowler Ben Watson took four for 43, James Blackstock claimed three for 29 and Alex McDuff, making his debut took two for 23.

North Otago made early inroads into the South Canterbury first innings with openers, Simon Porter and James Laming both out with only eight runs on the board. Prabodha Arthavidu(51) set about resurrecting the innings with Jacob Naylor(48)with the pair adding seventy runs for the third wicket. The remaining even batsmen put up little opposition adding only a combined total of thirty runs before the tenth wicket fell at 138 giving North Otago a first innings lead of 33 runs. David Sewell and Ricky Whyte took three wickets each for North Otago while Ben Cant took two for 16 off seven overs and Chris Ware, one for 29 off his ten overs opening the bowling with Sewell.

At stumps on the first day North Otago openers Glynn Cameron and Lachie Kingan had faced just three overs without a run being scored. North Otago lost all ten second innings wickets in the first session on Sunday morning to battle through to 100 giving it an overall lead of 133. Only four of the North Otago batsmen reached double figures and two of these were tailenders. Stephan Grobler batting at four top scored with 25 but it was right arm medium pace bowler, Grant Watt, who took the honours for the home side. Watt who was bracketed with Kevin Teahen made the most of his opportunity when Teahen failed a fitness test and Watt took six for 13 off 10.1 overs. James Blackstock took three for 35.

North Otago had opener Sam Porter out to the third ball of the South Canterbury second innings but James Laming(32) and Prabodha Arthavidu(38) producing a much needed second wicket stand of 51 runs before Laming was dismissed. South Canterbury slumped to 69 for three after losing Arthavidu and Sam Carlaw(0) with the total at 75 and the dismissal of Jacob Naylor at 69 added to the increasing North Otago pressure. Wicketkeeper/batsman Willie Wright was to be South Canterbury’s saviour as he thumped an unbeaten 42 in an unbeaten seventh wicket stand of 37 with Ben Watson, hitting seven fours and a six. Stephan Grobler with his leg spin brought North Otago back into the game with four for 12 off six overs .

Short Scorecard(s)

Representative - Hawke Cup - Zone Series

North Otago vs South Canterbury at Aorangi Park, Timaru
North Otago 171 ( D.J. Drew 56, B.C. Cant 37, C.J. Ware 24, A.J. Horrell 15, B. Watson 4-43, J. Blackstock 3-29, A. McDuff 2-23 ) & 100 ( S.F. Grobler 25, J.H. Shields 19, R.I. Whyte 15no, C.J. Ware 14, G. Watt 6-13, J. Blackstock 3-35 )
South Canterbury 138 ( A. Prabodha 51, J. Naylor 48, S. Carlaw 11, R.I. Whyte 3-20, D.G. Sewell 3-71, B.C. Cant 2-17 ) & 134-6 ( W. Wright 42no, A. Prabodha 38, J. Laming 32, S.F. Grobler 4-40 )
South Canterbury won by 4 wickets
Full scorecard for the match

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