The Northern Districts Under 16 cricket side has taken out the North Island provincial tournament held at Owen Delaney Park in Taupo last week. ND posted an unbeaten record against their age-group counterparts from Auckland, Wellington, and Central Districts.
Each team played the other sides in a round-robin 2-day format with ND securing 1st innings points in each of their games, enough to take the North Island trophy from last years winners Central Districts. The ND side included 5 players from the Bay of Plenty region – James Boyd, Myles Timoti, Gareth Wallace (all Tauranga Boys College), Jonty Keaney (Rotorua), and Shannon McSkimming (Taupo).
Northern squared off against Central Districts in Round 1 with ND posting a challenging 1st innings total of 332/9 declared. CD made a spirited attempt at the run-chase but were never really in the hunt and they eventually conceded 1st innings points to ND, closing their innings at 235/9. Northern used the remaining time in the match for some valuable batting practice.
In Round 2, Northern Districts took on Auckland in a typically competitive match. Batting first again, ND were in early trouble at 4/36. Bolstered by a hard-hit 74 from ND's player of the tournament, Scott Tallott, and some invaluable tail-end batting from Myles Timoti and Sean Daniels, Northern were eventually dismissed for 189.
Auckland were in the ascendancy at 123/4 until James Boyd took 2 crucial middle-order wickets. Even so, with 4 wickets in hand at lunch on the 2nd day and only 28 needed to take 1st innings points, Auckland were still in the box-seat. However, ND came out firing after lunch and wrapped up the Auckland innings for 171, with ND securing the points to remain top of the table.
The final round saw ND pitted against Wellington. ND won a critical toss and inserted Wellington on a fresh pitch. Wellington were dismissed for just 103 in the 37th over of their innings with the ND bowlers sharing the spoils. Aside from a small hiccup losing 2 wickets just shy of the Wellington total, ND were never in doubt to take 1st innings points.
Wellington however showed they were not out of the match entirely and finished off the ND innings quickly on Day 2 limiting the lead to just 72 when it looked like Northern might push on to a big total. Ben Shilton was the Wellington star taking 7 wickets in the ND 1st innings and backing it up with a further 3 in the 2nd dig to finish with a rare 10-wicket match haul.
Pumped up from their bowling effort, Wellington showed they were a much better batting side in the 2nd innings declaring on 221/9 setting ND a chase of 150 in 25 overs for the outright win. In the end, Northern were forced to shut up shop after losing early top-order wickets in the run-chase to ensure they maintained their overall unbeaten record. In the end, that was enough to hand Northern Districts the trophy for 2012.
ND showed they were the most consistent side during the week which augers well for the future of Northern Districts cricket which covers 8 sub-associations from Northland down to Poverty Bay. Contributions were made from all of the players during the week and the side benefited immensely from the coaching of Bay of Plenty senior player Ben Williams.
Results: North Island Under 16 Cricket Tournament - Owen Delany Park, Taupo.
ND Under 16s vs CD Under 16s
ND 332/9 dec (Dane Thompson 74, Scott Tallott 70, Sam Turner 53, Gareth Wallace 40) and 73/4 defeated CD 235/9 dec (Shaan Singh-Parhar 2/15, Myles Timoti 2/43) on 1st innings.
ND Under 16s vs Auckland Under 16s
ND 179 all out (Scott Tallott 74) and 105/5 (Sam Clotworthy 50) defeated Auckland 171 all out (Matt Wallbank 4/34, Shaan Singh-Parhar 3/14, James Boyd 2/49) on 1st innings.
ND Under 16s vs Wellington Under 16s
Wellington 103 all out (James Boyd 2/9, Matt Wallbank 2/13, Sean Daniels 2/20) and 221/9 dec (Shannon McSkimming 4/78, Jonty Keaney 2/21, James Boyd 2/51) lost to ND 175 all out (Jonty Keaney 48, Scott Tallott 45) and 96/6 on 1st innings.
Submitted by Phil Kai Fong.
(Photo supplied - Phil Kai Fong)
Back row (from left): Jarron Mason (Manager), Gareth Wallace, Scott Tallott, Dane Thompson, Jonty Keaney, Matt Wallbank, Sean Daniels.
Front row (from left): Sam Clotworthy, James Boyd, Shannon McSkimming, Sam Turner (Captain), Myles Timoti, Shaan Singh-Parhar, Ben Williams (Coach).
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