Cricket: Opener's century earns the points

A fine century by Northern Districts opener James Marshall took his side to their second outright win in Hamilton yesterday.

Marshall made a resplendent 105 as he led Northern's successful chase of 248 in their second innings to defeat Auckland in the State Championship.

The home team overcame a nervous mini-collapse late in the chase to reach their target with five wickets to spare.

The diminutive right-handed twin brother of fellow Northern batsman Hamish Marshall played positively as the home side set out after a useful total.

James Marshall struck 11 fours in his 183-minute, 147-ball stay which gave Northern the impetus they required after a gritty Auckland side refused to yield.

When Auckland resumed at 189 for six, Northern were hoping to quickly wrap up the innings and set out in pursuit of a small fourth innings total for an outright win.

But the Auckland tail had other ideas and set about creating their own winning opportunity, thanks chiefly to Andre Adams and Brooke Walker.

When Kyle Mills, 33 not out overnight, was dismissed for a useful 42 off 70 balls, Adams and Walker took the attack to the Northern bowlers.

Adams, a good chance to be named in the national one-day squad on Thursday, slammed three sixes and four fours in a whirlwind 60 from 59 balls.

He and Walker added 67 for the eighth wicket.

Walker fell one short of a deserved half-century (49 from 129 balls in 168 minutes) when he was the last man out at 307.

Opening bowler Joseph Yovich took six for 102 in Auckland's second innings to give him his first 10-wicket bag in first-class cricket.

He took four for 64 in the first innings.

That left Northern needing 248 for victory from a minimum of 66 overs - which they managed thanks mostly to Marshall's second first-class century of his career and his first for Northern.

Northern improved to third in the table with 12 points behind Canterbury (16) and Auckland (13) after taking the maximum six points.

Fourth are Wellington (9), followed by Central (6) and Otago (4).

* Canterbury spun their way to a comfortable 102-run win against Central Districts in New Plymouth.

Central captain Glen Sulzberger fed Canterbury runs in the first session, using his part-time bowlers and keeping his field close to the bat.

Those tactics allowed Canterbury, who were 102 for four overnight, to declare their second innings at 235 for five and set Central a winning target of 328 in 78 overs on a placid wicket at Pukekura Park.

The main benefactor of Sulzberger's generous use of his slow bowlers was Canterbury wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins, who made79 runs in little more than an hour.

Canterbury leg-spinner Aaron Redmond and off-spinner Wiseman took control after tea, cleaning up the tail to have Central all out for 225 with an hour to play.

Redmond finished with four for 35 off 15 overs.

Wiseman kept the pressure on the batsman throughout the innings and ended with two for 72 off 25.4 overs.

* In Dunedin, a record opening partnerships between test discard Matthew Bell and Richard Jones propelled Wellington to an eight-wicket win over Otago.

Bell and Jones made short work of the 352 victory target with a superb partnership of 299 in 70.2 overs.

Both scored centuries, Bell unbeaten on 131 (scored in 311 minutes from 246 balls) when the defending champions scored the winning runs with time and wickets to spare. Jones stroked 171, including 20 fours and two sixes, off 196 balls - his fifth first-class century and 17 runs short of his highest first-class score.

He eventually departed when caught by Craig Cumming off the bowling of Kerry Walmsley.

David Sales added a 29-run cameo off 35 balls to maintain the cruise to victory before he became Walmsley's second victim.

Bell, the captain, had 15 boundaries in his 10th first-class century.

His stand with Jones bettered the previous best first-wicket record for Wellington against Otago, 259 made by Michael Austen and John Aiken at the Basin Reserve in 1994-95.

Otago resumed on 175 for five and added another 27 off 4.4 overs to set Wellington what turned out to be a generous target of 352 at 3.7 runs an over. The target was always attainable on a magnificent batting pitch.

Only Cumming could stem the flow, bowling 23 unrewarded overs for 67, but he had little support as runs flowed from either end.

- NZPA