Cricket
By Kelly Exelby
OVER SHE GOES: Northern Knights allrounder Daryl Mitchell hits a six while Aces keeper Gareth Hopkins watches it sail over the fence. PHOTOS/JOHN BORREN071211JB12BOP
SOLID SHOT: Daryl Mitchell is all concentration in defence.
His dad was an All Black but 20-year-old Northern Knights allrounder Daryl Mitchell's ambitions lie with the Black Caps.
Mitchell, the son of former All Blacks coach John Mitchell, who is now based in South Africa, yesterday played a timely rescue mission with the bat, although it wasn't enough as the Knights slumped, winless, to the foot of the Ford Trophy one-day domestic competition after being trumped by the Auckland Aces at Mount Maunganui.
The Aces paced their chase to perfection at the Bay Oval, led by top order batsman Brad Cachopa's career-high 91, as they usurped the Knight's 241 with six wickets and 12 balls to spare.
Opener Hamish Marshall constructed a clever 110-ball 83 to rescue the innings after James Marshall and Brad Wilson fell to first-ball ducks, Marshall and Mitchell (48 off 76 balls) put on a vital 83 for the fifth wicket.
Anton Devcich hit a lusty unbeaten 55 from 41 balls but there was almost nil return from the tail as Bhupinder Singh, Kyle Mills and Bates ripped out the last four batsman for the addition of just 10 runs.
Mitchell got a run in Sunday's washed-out one-dayer against Canterbury after being summoned to Mount Maunganui from Gisborne, where he was lining up for Waikato Valley in a Fergus Hickey Rosebowl game.
"I'd just gotten out so I was a bit dark on myself then I got the call [to replace Joseph Yovich who is suffering delayed concussion] and was on a plane north a couple of hours later."
Mitchell was a surprise inclusion as one of the Knights' 11 contracted domestic players this season after a starring role last summer for ND under-23 at the national tournament, averaging 67 with the bat in five games. He's spent the past three years playing premier club cricket in Perth alongside former Australian opener Justin Langer.
He took a wicket yesterday, too, with his first ball, Hamish Marshall taking a sharp catch in the gully to get rid of Anaru Kitchen for 31, but Mitchell sees definitely sees himself as a batting allrounder rather than anything too fast or fancy with the ball.
Used to Western Australia's bouncy wickets, he played tidily off the back foot yesterday but felt he sold his wicket too cheaply when an innings of 80 or 90 runs beckoned that would have boosted the Knights closer to a more competitive total.
"We were probably 20 or 30 short at the end but you'll always say that when you lose. What it came down to was bowling too many loose balls there at the end."
Mitchell, who lives with his grandparents in Hamilton, played for ND as an age-grouper before the family upped pegs and moved across the ditch when his father landed the Western Force job.
The Aces began their chase yesterday on a quality wicket at snail's pace, with neither Cachopa nor Tim McIntosh in any hurry as the run rate immediately crept up past six runs an over.
But it was the perfect ploy as they kept wickets up their sleeve for the late innings acceleration.
Pint-sized Cachopa, 23, worked the ball mercilessly throughout his innings, easing to 91 before left-arm spinner Devcich removed him in the 41st over, shortly after Colin Munro was out for a whirlwind 32 in a third-wicket partnership that delivered 71 for Auckland.
Cachopa's departure put further pressure on the middle order as the run-rate reached 7.3 an over but the experience of Gareth Hopkins and Colin de Grandhomme prevailed, with de Grandhomme particularly punishing as they launched at the Knights' attack.
They whacked 31 runs from the 46th and 47th overs, with de Grandhomme finishing unbeaten on 38 off 26 balls including three big sixes.