Cricket: CD come up short again

Jamie How dug deep but it wasn't enough. Photo / Getty

Stags coach says homework vital before Volts clash

It's back to the drawing board for the Central Districts Stags after they lost their second hit-and-giggle match in Hamilton yesterday.

The Devon Hotel-sponsored side came up 25 runs shy in trying to overhaul the Northern Districts Knights' total of 4-166 at Seddon Park in round two of Georgie Pie Super Smash matches.

"We're obviously disappointed. Every time we've been on the crease there's been an expectation and pressure to win," CD coach Henrich Malan said last night.

However, Malan hastened to add it was only the second game out of 10 in the abbreviated white-ball competition.

Captain Kruger van Wyk and his men will jet off to Dunedin for their next T20 match against the Otago Volts on Thursday.

The Stags were in the hunt for their first victory this summer with the Volts and the Wellington Firebirds.

The Firebirds succumbed by five wickets to table-topping Canterbury Kings on Saturday.

The Volts were on the receiving end of a 106-run flogging at the hands of the Auckland Aces.

However, the Firebirds beat Volts by three wickets last night in the last match of the round at Seddon Park.

"We'll do our homework on the Volts and we should be up for a good match," Malan said.

The Stags bowlers yesterday took some stick with Black Caps speed merchant Adam Milne again the pick with 1-19.

Spinner Ajaz Patel was the only other wicket taker with 2-38, but he joined Seth Rance, Ben Wheeler, Kieran Noema-Barnett and George Worker in offering Christmas gifts a little too early after they all went for more than eight runs an over.

Malan said the very nature of T20 meant when opposition batsmen forged partnerships and had wickets in hand towards the death then bowlers would become the sacrificial lambs.

In a game where speed can kill and bowlers inevitably become roadkill, the pragmatic would argue taking some pace of the ball - unless you have the dexterity and economy of Milne - is prudent.

Left-arm spinner Marty Kain, of Nelson, comes to mind but Malan said he had been out with injury.

"Marty Kain's not 100 per cent ... but we'll put him through a fitness test tomorrow and assess things forward from there," Malan said.

The batting from CD made some incremental gains from their first loss to the Kings but essentially it still needs substantial improvement in posting defendable totals or overhauling targets.

Just as they didn't against Canterbury, the Stags top-order batsmen failed to capitalise on loose deliveries to convert them into boundaries or sixes.

Malan said the batsmen were working hard on that aspect, including those at No7 and down the order.

Asked if the wicket made life difficult, he said it might be a little two-paced. "But as professional and first-class cricketers, whatever the surface we should be able to change our game and use our skills."

ND's Travis Birt (68 runs), Dean Brownlie (35) and Daryl Mitchell (35no) provided the platform for their total.

In CD innings, Van Wyk was unbeaten on 35 after Jamie How (29) and the opening pair of Worker and Ben Smith contributed 19 each to the collective's failed cause.