Cricket: Collapse ends cup campaign

Joey Yovich

Northland dreams of Hawke Cup success didn't survive a second innings batting collapse yesterday which saw them easily beaten by Manawatu at Fitzherbert Park in Palmerston North.

It was a bitter blow for Northland who had held the upper hand in the three-day match until their final innings " when things started to go badly wrong.

Northland started the final day at a precarious 10/3 chasing 227 to win. The poor start from the top order the previous evening proved to be a bad omen for the rest of the innings, as wickets tumbled in rapid succession and Northland were finally dismissed for a paltry 93 from just 36.4 overs

Team manager Darron Goodwin was at a loss to explain the collapse.

"One minute you're on top and the next minute you're not. It's a bit hard for everyone at the moment but it's just the way cricket goes sometimes, unfortunately," he said.

"The lads will learn from this, it's hard for them and the coaching team, they've trained and worked really hard all throughout the year to get in a position to challenge and you've just got to put it behind you now and use it as a learning tool for the future," he said.

While not many of the current squad have played in Northland's last Hawke Cup challenge, there was no lack of experience in the Northland ranks.

Northland started the day with a fair measure of confidence with two batsmen who had a wealth of first-class experience between them, Brad Wilson and Neal Parlane, at the crease. Parlane was caught and bowled by Mason without scoring while Wilson went for 14, bowled by Navin Patel after facing 41 balls. Joey Yovich also went for a duck, Tyler Lortan 1, Rory Christopherson 4, Kurtley Watson 16, before Henry Cooper was the last wicket to fall for a sturdy 44 off 66 balls, leaving Cody Andrews unbeaten on 4.

"We never gave it a chance to build an innings - we kept on losing wickets at vital times. There was nothing wrong with the wicket but there were a few nerves flying around and no one really took the responsibility of digging their way out of it," Goodwin said.

Northland started the match by winning the toss and putting Manawatu in to bat on a slightly green surface, rolling them for just 68. Northland had established a lead of almost 100 runs by stumps on Friday, thanks to a lower order revival by wicket-keeper Rory Christopherson (53no) and number-10 Cody Andrews (22).

The pair added only one further run on Saturday before Manawatu batted again, this time reaching a respectable 328 with Mitch Renwick top-scoring on 56.

Cody Andrews was the most successful of the Northland bowlers, taking 5/63 off his 19 overs to match Kyran Dill's five-wicket haul from the first innings.

A disastrous start to the chase saw Dill called in as the night watchman after Ben Hyde was out for 2 and Brad Kneebone for 4. Dill lasted for nine balls before he was dismissed bringing Parlane to the wicket.

Manawatu spinner Patel finished with six wickets in the second innings to be the pick of the bowlers.

It was a dispiriting end to a great adventure but Northland has a good squad and will aim to try and perform well in the rest of their representative fixtures this season to begin the task of nailing down another Hawke Cup challenge for next year.