Cricket: CD demolish dismal effort with bat by Northern

Central Districts completed an easy demolition job on Northern Districts at Horton Park, Blenheim, yesterday, the game ending at 3.16 pm on the third of the four days.

The second-round match in the State Championship ended when Northern Districts batsman Graham Aldridge hit a return catch from a rank full toss to offspinner Campbell Furlong, and that neatly summed up the batting efforts throughout the match.

Central scored 181 on Sunday. Northern replied with 160 and at stumps on Monday the hosts had crawled to 147 for nine in their bid to set a testing run chase.

Tailender Michael Mason hit a couple of boundaries when play began yesterday before being bowled by Joseph Yovich. His vital contribution of 44 runs was the highest individual score of the match.

Central were bundled out for 157, leaving Northern 179 to win in almost two full days. But the visitors were woefully short of the mark, being dismissed for 100, giving Central victory by 78 runs and the maximum six competition points.

Northern, the joint competition leaders, were expected to make up for missing out on first-innings points on a pitch that did not seem as difficult as the scorecards suggested.

However, Northern absorbed little from their first-innings capitulation and, from the time opener James Marshall departed for a duck - caught by Furlong at slip off Lance Hamilton - they never looked likely.

Left-armer Hamilton bowled superbly, extracting good bounce and pace at times and capitalising on the batsmen's hesitancy around off-stump, a factor which brought eight dismissals behind the wicket. Hamilton's 18 aggressive overs bagged an impressive haul of 4-15.

Mark Bailey showed some application and played a few pleasant off-side drives before falling leg before wicket for 31. Aldridge battled for more than an hour in making 21 but Northern were never comfortable against a persistent and accurate Central attack, backed up by some superb catching.

Mason gave excellent support to Hamilton, taking 3-26 from 12 lively overs.

Earlier, in Central's second innings, the Northern pace attack were equally effective.

Ian Butler grabbed three more wickets to record seven for the match while Aldridge weighed in with 4-45 from 18 overs.

Neither camp blamed the pitch - normally a batsman's paradise - for the low scoring.

Central coach Dipak Patel doubted 178 runs would be enough to defend but he praised his team's fighting spirit. Northern skipper Robbie Hart lamented his team's poor batting, attributing it in part to lack of recent match play.

* Canterbury overcame a brief scare to wrap up outright points against Otago at the Village Green in Christchurch late yesterday.

After dismissing Otago for 231 in their second innings, Canterbury were left needing 131 for the win.

Otago's bowlers battled hard and at 57 for four, Canterbury were looking rocky.

Then captain Gary Stead, with Aaron Redmond, steadied the innings. They added 55, and Stead's unbeaten 35 carried Canterbury to a four-wicket win.

Earlier, former test spinner Paul Wiseman did the damage as Otago tried to set a testing target.

Wiseman grabbed five for 99, with support from Ryan Burson's two for 33. Only Andrew Hore, following his first innings 50 with 70, showed much resistance.

Canterbury play Northern in Gisborne starting on Monday. Wellington host Central Districts.

* For a second consecutive day, Auckland's match against Wellington at the Basin Reserve was washed out yesterday.

Auckland will start the final day at 3 without loss in their first innings, in reply to Wellington's 238.