KEY POINTS:
Northern Districts have a deserved reputation as the richest talent nursery in New Zealand cricket but it was two veterans that handed them their fourth State Shield and their first since the 2004-05 season.
You can't beat experience, and all that.
Graeme Aldridge, 31, and Joseph Yovich, 32, were the key figures in a match in which defending champions Otago seemed determined to give themselves as little chance as possible.
In one of the more bizarre approaches to a run chase witnessed, captain Nathan McCullum and 'big-hitting' import Dimitri Mascarenhas decided to effectively block out ND's two
spinners, Kane Williamson and Bruce Martin, in the hope of smashing the seamers out of the park during their final powerplay.
They shared a partnership of 45 in 18 moribund overs with Mascarenhas, famous for smashing four sixes in a 14-ball 31 when playing a Twenty20 international for England at Eden Park last season, scoring 17 off 70 balls. McCullum was better (33 off 50) but culpable also in failing to inject a sense of urgency.
As it was, if they had just got out of the way and let Ian Butler have more time to mount a chase, they may have got close. The former ND speedster scored 44 runs from 23 deliveries,
giving Otago a glimmer of hope where they deserved none.
Williamson, at 18 perhaps the brightest hope in New Zealand cricket, did not have a great day with the bat but he excelled with the ball, taking 0-23 off 10 well-directed overs of offspin. His eighth, ninth and 10th overs were maidens but even he conceded he was surprised Otago did not chance their arms earlier.
"I guess so, yeah," he said. "It was really hard out there. Nathan McCullum only went for 20-odd as well so it was not easy to hit the spinners. But with us having two spinners they really had to have a go. That's 20 overs they lost, really."
While Graeme Aldridge bagged the figures of the match with 5-39,
including the early wickets of Shaun Haig and Greg Todd, it was the spin
of Martin and Williamson who
ensured victory.
A gutted Butler said it was pointless second guessing the tactics after the event and offered an explanation for why Otago had batted like they had.
"From the sidelines it definitely
looked like it was harder to score off the spinners. If we had more wickets in hand we might have had a go but we were already five down so we couldn't afford to lose any more."
In truth, Otago would have been gutted to have been chasing that many in the first place.
With boom young batsmen BJ Watling and Williamson scoring 28 and 13 respectively, the Marshall brothers
Hamish and James scoring eight and 13 and veteran Michael Parlane, the most prolific scorer in domestic one-day cricket history, just 18, the home side looked incapable of scoring 200. The controversial decision to omit international Daniel Flynn - for form reasons alone - was suddenly looking a bit sick.
ND instead had to rely on the wiles of Yovich.
As many lost their heads and, more crucially, their wickets, Yovich compiled a measured 78 from 76 deliveries. The pivotal partnership of the match was the seventh-wicket stand of 64 he shared with Aldridge, who made his highest score of 36.
From trouble at 125-6 at the end of the 33rd over, they ensured ND would bank a defendable total.
"Nathan McCullum was bowling well at one end so we thought the
seamers would be a bit easier to hit," said man of the match Aldridge.
It was an approach Otago tried to mirror, with painful consequences.
