Ben Hyde got together with Ian Page and turned the ship around. Photo / File
Ben Hyde got together with Ian Page and turned the ship around. Photo / File
After a win on the final day of the Northern Districts one-day tournament in Taupo, the Northland senior cricket team have ticked all the boxes to be confirmed as the region's Hawke Cup challengers for 2014.
Northland defeated Poverty Bay by 81 runs in their final match on Tuesday but,just as importantly, the Bay of Plenty, their rivals for the Hawke Cup Challenge, fell to their second defeat in two days at Owen Delaney Park.
An elated coach Stephen Cunis said that the rain-shortened game against Poverty Bay was no pushover and had brought out the best in the team.
Batting first, Northland lost their batting mainstay of the last two matches, Bradley Kneebone, cheaply.
Henry Cooper and Neal Parlane soon followed for ducks and Northland were in a spot of bother at 60/3.
"It started feeling like deja vu, like last year when we lost to Poverty Bay until Ian Page and Ben Hyde got going and there were some good partnerships and smart batting after that to take us to a tidy score," Cunis said.
The partnership between Hyde (43) and Page (41) turned things around before Tyler Lortan (35) and Rory Christopherson (43no) finished the salvage job and Northland reached 231 in their 46 overs.
The bowling attack then produced their most complete performance of the tournament, ripping out the heart of the Poverty Bay innings to have them all out for 150 in just 40 overs. Cody Andrews again spearheaded the attack, taking 4/21 from 8.5 overs, while Lortan endorsed his all-round credentials with a valuable 2/30.
Cunis said it was big deal for the team to earn a Hawke Cup challenge - the chance to challenge for district association supremacy in New Zealand Cricket.
"It hasn't happened for Northland for quite a while and it's an incredibly difficult challenge to earn because of the standard of the competition. Bay of Plenty, Counties and Hamilton in particular are all very strong and I think this is the strongest competition in district association cricket, so to get a challenge is simply outstanding," he said.
Counties-Manukau produced the upset of the day by bowling Bay of Plenty out for a paltry 132 as they chased 189 for the win.
