CD apply pressure to take win

Even Auckland captain Liz Olney's bowling form could not contain a fired-up Central Districts yesterday. Photo/Stuart Munro

Central Districts celebrated with victory in the National Under-15 Girls cricket tournament in Wanganui yesterday after a closely fought battle with Auckland.

In a rain-affected match reduced from 30 overs to 20 and a change of venue from Victoria Park to Springvale Park, the CD girls set an achievable target of 126-4 after batting first on the all-weather pitch with Rosemary Mair top-scoring with 39 off 37 balls. Close behind was Monique Rees with 34 off 27.

The Auckland bowlers struggled to contain the CD batters throughout the 20 overs.

CD continued to apply the pressure in the second innings, dispatching Auckland openers Jesse Prasad and Sydney Bultitude for just two runs, with Sophie Pyott playing a big part in both dismissals. Pyott combined with Olivia West to run Prasad out, while Pyott caught Bultitude from a Mair bowl to send the Auckland opener out for a duck.

Liz Olney and Bella Armstrong put up a struggle scoring 23 and 44 respectively, but when push came to shove the Aucklanders fell short by seven runs by the end of the 20th over despite a spirited late bid by Yasmeen Kareem, who scored 13 runs from 19 balls in the final few overs. Auckland finished with 119-6.

Kareem is off to play age group cricket in Australia for the second year in a row and, at just 14, has another year in the grade at home.

Mair was a standout in the tournament, winning the Most Valuable Player award with 111.9 points and topping the batting statistics with 181 runs. She also took three wickets for just 11 runs during her four-over spell against Auckland yesterday.

CD is coached by Wanganui women's captain Esther Lancer.

Otago's Georgina Heffernan was the tournament bowling star with 12 wickets to her name, one more than Olney.

Mel Puckett from Canterbury held the most catches in the field with eight, three more than Otago's Bella James.

Wellington (119-4) beat Otago (73-9) for third spot in the competition with Amelia Kerr (25 runs off 22 balls) and Brianna Perry (22 off 30) best with the bat.

Roshani Thuraisingham aided Wellington's cause, taking three wickets for 10 runs off three overs.

Northern Districts were the wooden spooners after losing in a close match with Canterbury yesterday.

Canterbury was all out for 97 runs with two balls to spare, but Otago was bundled out for 85, losing seven wickets during the 20 overs.

Meanwhile, the Christchurch/Nelson Bays combined team dominated the Secondary Schools Districts competition that began at Wanganui Collegiate on Monday. The tournament involved a 40-over and a T20 competition.

Christchurch/Nelson Bays comprehensively beat Wanganui in the final of the T20 at Collegiate on Wednesday afternoon before overnight rain forced a move to the St George's all weather pitch for yesterday's 40-over final, which was subsequently reduced to 20 overs.

Morning rain, however, made the all-weather pitch too slippery and the final between Christchurch/Nelson Bays and Manawatu was called off, leaving the southerners to celebrate victory in both competitions.

This season's under-15 girls competition was an easy event to follow remotely after Vodafone got involved.

Victoria Park in Wanganui has wireless black spots, but after Vodafone Wanganui's John Goodare set up wireless hotspots, scorers were able to upload tallies with comments from tablets to www.crichq.co.nz and to Cricket Wanganui's website so outsiders could follow the games live.

Next on the list for Cricket Wanganui's Summer festival is the schedule of tournaments for the Wanganui Festival of Cricket's Year 9-10 (under-15 and under-16 development combined) starting today weather permitting.

The festival continues with: January 14-17: Year 8 (under-13).

January 18-21: Year 7 (under-12).

January 22-25: Years 5-6 (under-11).