A seventh-wicket partnership of 110 runs between Joey Yovich and Tauseef "Taz" Satti helped Northland cricketers celebrate an unlikely victory over their old rivals Hamilton in a 50-over match at Cobham Oval.
The pair came together with Northland staring an embarrassing defeat in the face at 55/6 yesterday.
But against a fired-up
fast bowling attack on a seaming wicket, they turned the game around and helped Northland to reach 189/7 in their 50 overs.
The score gave the bowlers a chance to bowl the visiting team out and that's what Northland did. In a thrilling conclusion to the game, Hamilton were dismissed for 175 in 49.2 overs.
A relieved Northland skipper, Tim Anderson, was thrilled at the way the game had turned out after he had lost the toss and the side had been put into bat.
"Joey (59) and Taz (65no) played a great innings and that allowed us a sniff and then when we looked almost out of it with (Anton) Devcich batting well, the momentum shifted again when we got him out and got on a roll," he said.
With Northern Districts middle order specialist Devcich at the wicket, Hamilton's points looked safe but once he was dismissed - stumped by Ian Page off the captain's bowling - the visitors began to lose confidence and fall behind the required run rate.
Yovich and Satti were again prominent with the ball with Satti finishing with 3/31 off 9.2 overs and Yovich 1/19 off his 10. Anderson was the other main wicket taker with 3/38 off eight overs, with Jake Phillips also taking a valuable 2/27.
The win was a shot in the arm for a campaign that has not always been so lucky, taking Northland to two wins and two losses so far this season.
"At this level if we're not in the running for a Hawke Cup Challenge, then the next best thing is beating Hamilton, so we're stoked," he said.
Northland's win was so much better after their strong batting line-up - featuring three ND top order specialists - failed to fire.
"I don't think it was loose batting, they've got a great pace attack and the wicket was seaming heaps and they bowled very well and made the most of it and that put us in deep trouble,' Anderson said.
Brad Wilson was the only top order batsman that managed to hang around. He looked as though he had made it through the worst, before being dismissed a few balls before drinks, for a hard-earned 21.
His wicket meant Northland were teetering dangerously with five down for 52 runs but things looked even bleaker when Chris Page went for a duck.
This brought Satti to the wicket to join Yovich and after the pair survived an early run out opportunity that was blown by the Hamilton keeper, Nathan Daley, they then applied themselves to see that Northland would at least get to bat their 50 overs.
They then began to shape a partnership that would give them a chance of bowling Hamilton out.
They reached 110, before Yovich was bowled for 59 by Devcich as he tried to push the pace in the latter part of the innings.
The pair survived for an hour and 22 minutes and faced 151 balls.
Jake Phillips joined Satti in the middle and added another 24 runs to see Northland to 189/7 in their 50 overs, with Satti top-scoring with 65 not out.
Northland
B Wilson c Bettley b L Martin21
A McDowell c Daley b Baker3
J Marshall c Daley b Mathieson0
I Page lbw Baker4
J Yovich b Devcich59
C Page c Hatwell b L Martin0
T Satti not out65
J Phillips not out9
Extras28
--
Total (for seven wickets)189
(50 Overs)
FOW: 1/9 (McDowell), 2/9 (Parlane), 3/14 (Marshall), 4/38 (I Page), 5/52 (Wilson), 6/55 (C Page), 7/165 (Yovich).
Bowling: A Mathieson 10 3 26 1; J Baker 10 2 14 3; C English 1.4 0 4 0; L Martin 6.2 0 32 2; M Dodunski 1 0 7 0; B Martin 8 1 28 0; K Bettley 7 0 36 0; A Devcich 6 0 31 1.
Hamilton
G Bell lbw Wilson35
B Martin lbw Phillips10
A Devcich st I Page b Anderson59
L Martin b Satti11
B Hatwell c I Page b Anderson26
A Verma c Yovich b Anderson0
M Dodunski c I Page b Phillips6
N Daley c Anderson b Yovich5
C English not out1
J Baker b Satti2
Extras20
--
Total 175
(49.2 overs)
FOW: 1/28 Martin, 2/81 Bell, 3/108 L Martin, 4/113 Hatwell, 5/154 Devcich, 6/154 Verma, 7/163 Dodunski, 8/169 Bettley, 9/173 Daley, 10/175 Baker.
Bowlers: J Yovich 10 0 19 1; J Kay 6 0 18 0; T Satti 9.2 1 31 3; J Phillips 9 1 27 2; B Wilson 4 0 23 1; T Anderson 8 1 28 3; R Darkins 3 0 20 0.
J Kay (Northland) and A Mathieson (Hamilton) were the non-batsman.
Northland win by 14 runs.
A seventh-wicket partnership of 110 runs between Joey Yovich and Tauseef "Taz" Satti helped Northland cricketers celebrate an unlikely victory over their old rivals Hamilton in a 50-over match at Cobham Oval.
The pair came together with Northland staring an embarrassing defeat in the face at 55/6 yesterday.
But against a fired-up
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