Cricket: CD's seamingly great decision

Central Districts' left-arm spin Mitchell Claydon took 3-44 in the Stags' eight-wicket win over the Northern Districts Knights.

It was a minor matter of addressing the imbalance of the Central Districts Stags team yesterday and the outcome was majorly satisfying.

It came at the expense of the Devon Hotel-sponsored skipper Kruger van Wyk, relegated to 12th man, but there were no arguments following the resounding eight-wicket demolition of Northern Districts Knights in the Georgie Pie Super Smash Twenty20 match in New Plymouth.

CD coach Heinrich Malan said the idea was to include a fifth seamer in the equation for what appeared to be a dry wicket at the picturesque Pukekura Park and remove the burden on the top order to bowl an extra over.

Fortunately, ND won the toss and elected to bat at a venue where totals could be tough to defend.

"We wanted to bat first ... but the bowlers started well to set the tone," Malan said as the Knights made a messy 68-5 before unbeaten Corey Anderson (47 runs) and Tim Seifert (39 from 16 balls) saved the visitors' blushes to give them a sniff at defending 152.

"Smalley bowled really well," he said of the fifth seamer, Bevan Small, coming off a lengthy injury lay-off for his first domestic appearance this summer.

The Manawatu player took 1-18 off his four overs, including the vital wicket of ND captain Daniel Flynn.

In a nutshell, match captain George Worker didn't roll up his sleeves for left-arm spin while import Mitchell Claydon found some traction with his medium pacers to claim 3-44.

Said Claydon: "It's a tough place to bowl ... and it was our best bowling performance in the campaign so far."

In reply, the hosts chased down the total with 158-2 with 17 balls to spare.

Sri Lanka import batsman Mahela Jayawardene again showed why he is a cool customer, posting the highest individual T20 score this summer (97 runs of 59 balls, including 17 boundaries and two sixes).

"Having Mahela helps a lot. George was giving him singles and he was hitting them all over the park," said Claydon after fellow opening batsman Worker scored a shade more than a run-a-ball 39.

"We had flown in a wicket prepared from Sri Lanka so that Mahela could be represented," the jovial Australian-born, England-based import said.

Malan said Jayawardene's permanent class with another game-defining knock gave CD the licence to play a specialist seamer.

Left-hander Worker also delivered as captain.

"He's learned a lot from Krugs," Malan said, emphasising Van Wyk's captaincy in the previous six games also should be noted.

"The team isn't about one guy but all 16 of us and we got the formula right today."

From a coaching perspective, Malan is finding consistency before CD host the Wellington Firebirds at McLean Park, Napier, on Friday from 7.10pm in a televised game.

Claydon said: "All the games [with the final outing against the Canterbury Kings in Christchurch] are semifinals so it's not a bad way to play and today we got that start."

CD are fifth on the table but fancy their chances of making the cut.