Cricket: Cantabs rain on ND party

Northern Knights fast bowler Trent Boul. Photo / File

Torrential rain for 48 hours might have swamped New Year's Eve celebrations at Mt Maunganui but the party was in full swing back at the Canterbury's hotel after the unlikeliest of wins in the Twenty20 competition yesterday.

Unlikely because 100mm of rain fell on Tauranga yesterday, swamping roads, drenching holidaymakers and forcing partygoers to hunker down indoors. Both teams were eager to play with the log-jam at the top of the HRV Cup standings but were resigned to sharing the points before the cloud lifted late in the afternoon, signalling game on and a five-overs-a-side shoot-out.

The Northern Knights were probably wishing the rain had stayed as Canterbury lashed 49-4 in their five overs after former Black Caps allrounder Brendon Diamanti's 13-ball 29. Northern were abject in their chase for the points and were never in it, scratching their way to 33 for three in their five overs after openers Brad Wilson and Daniel Vettori - his first game back since pinging his hamstring three weeks ago - got it horribly wrong at the top.

The win boosts Canterbury to joint top on the HRV Cup table with Otago and Auckland while the Knights have one win from four outings and languish back in second-last, leaving skipper Scott Styris to label the loss as the side's worst of the season.

"You've still got to go out and do the basics well, whether it's 20 overs an innings or five. We didn't, Canterbury did and that's why they came out on top. It's the effort that counts, not winning or losing and, frankly, we were embarrassing in the field with those dropped catches. We should have been chasing 35 not 50, and if that was the case we would have won easily."

Left-arm seamer Trent Boult went for nine in the game's opening over as city council contractors pumped water off the roads leading to the Bay Oval ground. Diamanti clubbed his runs in blitzkrieg fashion, although he was dropped twice in the third over bowled by Anton Devcich, the first when wicketkeeper Peter McGlashan failed to get a glove on a skied shot and again two balls later when Devcich made a meal of another miscued drive.

Vettori's re-entry with the ball was fruitful when his solitary over netted two scalps - Andy Ellis and Rob Nicol.

But, needing 10 runs an over from the start, Wilson could barely locate the ball and Vettori didn't find the middle of the bat in the opening two overs. By that stage the Knights were almost hoping heavy rain would return, with Diamanti conceding one run from the bat in the third over.

Meanwhile, in Queenstown, an explosive century from Brendan Taylor wasn't enough for Wellington to beat Otago, who made relatively short work of the Firebirds' good score of 170 for three in their HRV Cup Twenty20 cricket match yesterday. The Zimbabwean import smacked 101 off 58, an innings that included eight fours and five sixes, but watched on as Otago cruised past Wellington's total with eight balls to spare.

Dimitri Mascarenhas (41 off 25 balls), Aaron Redmond (48 off 42) and Brendon McCullum (36 off 20) put Otago in a strong position before Craig Cumming (29 not out) and Neil Broom (10 not out) completed the job. They doused the threat of Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who went for a relatively miserly 20 runs for one wicket in his four overs, but were often brutal on the rest of the Wellington attack. Earlier, Wellington's Grant Elliott had provided good support to Taylor with a knock of 49 not out from 31 balls.

Otago now have 10 points on the HRV Cup table and are joint top with Canterbury and Auckland.