Tailenders push Knights into semis

Tailenders Graeme Aldridge and Bradley Scott rescued Northern Districts from a late fightback by Central Districts to win their vital one-day cricket match at Cobham Oval on Saturday.
The victory, which assured the Northern Knights of a place in the semifinals this weekend, looked secure at the 30-over mark with Michael Parlane and Kane Williamson cruising at 143/2, chasing a target of 241 set by the Stags.
But a late attack of nerves hit the Knights' batting line-up and good bowling by the Stags' English allrounder Graham Napier gave the 500-strong crowd an exhilarating finale to the match.
Parlane lost concentration and perished on 45, while in-form Williamson failed to back up his 108 not out against Wellington on Wednesday when he spooned an innocuous full toss to Matthew Sinclair at mid-on after reaching 77.
The 19-year-old was disappointed with his dismissal but was making the most of his promotion to No3  and now must be knocking on the door of Black Caps selection.
"I'm feeling a lot more organised than I did at the start of the season and I'm just looking to play straight and watch the ball and bat through basically, and just recently it's been coming off for me," he said.
Fellow Black Cap hopeful Daniel Flynn scattered spectators on the upstairs balcony of the Spires Pavilion with a powerful six but perished in the 43rd over, part of a middle-order collapse that also saw Napier claim the wickets of Peter McGlashan (6) and captain James Marshall (26) to pull the Stags back into the game.
McGlashan's dismissal brought Whangarei allrounder Joe Yovich to the wicket giving him a chance to play the hero in his 100th one-day game for the Knights but Michael Mason failed to follow the script and cramped him up with a quick delivery, which Yovich lofted to Brad Patton at long-on.
His dismissal brought Aldridge and Scott together with 17 runs still required from 16 balls with just two wickets remaining. The equation worsened as Mason finished off a great over but a mighty six off the final ball of Seth Vance's 49th over gave the advantage back to the Knights and the winning runs were hit with three balls to spare.
Northern Districts captain  Marshall's relief was obvious after the match.
"That was a lot tighter than we would have liked. We were in control with Michael and Kane at the wicket but we panicked a bit at the end and got our shot selections wrong and probably were guilty of being a bit impatient and trying to win it too early and that gave them a sniff," he said.
Marshall said the side now wanted to push on into the top two of the competition by winning their final game against Auckland tomorrow. 
The Stags got off to a bright start in the first innings, seeing off the new ball bowlers, although Scott was unlucky not to have claimed a wicket or two in his opening spell as he regularly beat the bat. Yovich came on at first change and had Jamie How caught behind in his third over for 23.
George Worker (34) and Brad Patton (20) got starts but both were run out by wonderful examples of athleticism in the field by  Flynn. The Stags' best partnership of 90 between Sinclair (62) and Tim Weston (46) helped them set up the possibility of a good score but the brakes were applied by an accurate Knights spin attack of Bruce Martin, Williamson and Anton Devcich and when they tried to accelerate the run rate in the final 10 overs, they were both
dismissed by Aldridge, who returned for a vastly improved second spell.
A succession of wickets saw the Stags innings flounder, with only Kieran Noema-Barnett (26) reaching double figures as the rest of the side were dismissed on the final delivery of the 50th over for 240.
 
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