Cricket: ND deny CD outright victory

CD bowler Ryan McCone (squatting) can't believe how close he came to getting out an ND batsman. PHOTO/Warren Buckland

WHEN every ball was met in defiance, players from both sides shook hands and the Central Districts Stags had said their prayers in the changing rooms with coach Heinrich Malan, the question had to be asked: "Did you bat too long before the declaration yesterday [Thursday]?"

The way table-topping Northern Districts were left poking and prodding on the batting crease on the final day of the four-day Plunket Shield match at Nelson Park, Napier, one wondered if a target of 450 would entice the visitors to free their arms. Every Knights player, bar opener Joseph Carter, got into double figures on oodles of deliveries.

"Absolutely not. If anything it made life very difficult for Northern Districts by keeping them out on the field," said CD's newly signed bowling coach, Ben Smith, who will roll up his sleeves for the McDonald's Super Smash T20 campaign starting early next month.

Englishman Smith, a former Stag, said another session and a day would have done the trick.

It was the sort of stuff that would make Nick Kelly (56no runs from 229 balls), Bharat Popli (60/189), Tim Seifert (29/99) contenders for the Mark Richardson "cramping" award in first-class cricket at the end of summer.

But CD skipper William Young soldiered on, making the stubborn ND batsmen face every ball past the 6pm deadline although it was pretty obvious the equation stopped favouring the gallant Knights even as early as tea.

The promise of victory was there. Even the rain stayed away but CD couldn't reel in 20 wickets in four days for the inevitable draw to leave them winless.

So did it leave CD feeling like they had lost?

Smith said CD played all the cricket and players felt "very content with the way they performed".

"It'll give them good momentum and confidence going into the T20s," he said ahead of their first match against Canterbury Kings in New Plymouth on December 4.

A century each to Dane Cleaver and Tom Bruce and a five-wicket haul for spinner Ajaz Patel were highlights.

Wicketkeeper Cleaver also took six catches in a game that pitted him against ND's Tim Seifert - the pair seen as successors to ageing Black Caps glovemen.

NZC yesterday revealed the quake-affected round four CD v Wellington game will not be replayed due to "logistical complications that have made the option of re-scheduling the match impractical".

The teams will be awarded five competition points each, based on the average tally of the total points (20) the other four teams collected during the round.

In other Plunket Shield matches yesterday, the Kings beat the Auckland Aces by 10 runs in Rangiora while the Otago Volts and the Firebirds had to settle for a draw in Dunedin.

That means ND retain their top-rung status while CD pull themselves up from last place for a perch above the Volts.

Standings: ND 59pts, Canterbury 49, Wellington 47, Auckland 41, CD 28, Otago 23.