Wilson inspires Districts second time around

Brad Wilson said a poor first innings batting performance had ironically helped Northern Districts secure a win over Wellington at Cobham Oval and give them fresh belief that they can defend their Plunket Shield title.
The Kaipara Flats batsman was one of the heroes of yesterday's unlikely win after he and BJ Watling scored a record-breaking Northern Districts' opening partnership of 274, allowing the Knights to comfortably chase down 384 on the final day of the sixth round Plunket Shield match.
"A poor batting performance in our first innings was a blessing in disguise.
"If we have batted like that we wouldn't have picked up six points, and we might have focused on eeking out two points [for the first innings lead] and the game would've fizzled out," he said.
Wilson said the match was an advertisement for the four-day game and put them well in the hunt for this year's title.
The pair started their chase yesterday morning on 11 and managed to withstand early pressure by Wellington, and by lunch had caught up with the required run rate, reaching 175 in just 45 overs. The afternoon session was just as profitable and the game was as good as won when Wilson was dismissed for 151.
ND were 312/1 and when Watling struck the winning runs with a six, there was still time to spare for several more overs. Watling finished with an unbeaten 164 and Hamish Marshall scored 58 off just 55 balls to complete a memorable nine-wicket win.
Watling and Wilson's 271 easily surpassed the previous best opening partnership for ND - set by Michael Parlane and Matthew Bell in the 1994-5 season against Central Districts.
"It's something that we were aware of. When we got to about 140, I said to BJ that the record was 160-odd, so we set out to break it from there," he said.
Wilson's innings was his highest first-class score to date and his second century in successive matches after he scored 100 not out in the second innings against Auckland in the last round.
He said the hard work had been done getting through the morning session.
"It's the sort of wicket that once you've got in on, batting becomes quite easy and they set quite attacking fields so boundaries kept coming and that made it easier to find a rhythm," he said.
The opener said the batsmen needed to work on their first innings scores but the result had given ND the belief they can again win the four-day title.
Northern Districts now sit in second place in the competition - just two points behind leaders Central Districts after they drew with Canterbury.
In this morning's World Cup match in Delhi, Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe by 139 runs in a Group A game.
Scores: Sri Lanka 327-6 in 50 overs (Tillakaratne Dilshan 144, Upul Tharanga 133, Chris Mpofu 4-62, Zimbabwe 188 all out in 39 overs (Brendan Taylor 80, Dilshan 4-4)