Hawke Cup: Bowlers lift Southland to outright victory
New-ball bowler Sithum Niluminda picked up seven wickets for the match, while off-spinner Sam Nicholson played a vital role through his four wickets in North Otago’s second innings.
Southland has notched up a confidence-boosting outright victory over North Otago in the southern zone Hawke Cup cricket fixture played in Oamaru at the weekend.
Southland went into the showdown with North Otago on the back of two disappointing first innings losses to Otago Country and Mid Canterbury before Christmas.
But at the weekend its bowling attack stepped up as Southland went about recording a five-wicket outright win.
It included new-ball bowler Sithum Niluminda picking up seven wickets for the match, while off-spinner Sam Nicholson played a vital role through his four wickets in North Otago’s second innings.
On Saturday morning North Otago won the toss and chose to have a bat first in the two-day fixture. Southland’s bowlers quickly got into their work as North Otago slumped to 17 for four.
North Otago never really recovered and was bowled out for 107 in its first turn at bat which would have been far worse if Cameron Grubb didn’t chip in with a knock of 40 from 37 balls batting at eight.
Sithum Niluminda was the pick of the Southland bowlers in the first innings with his three for 26 from 12 overs.
Southland lost both its openers, Nick Brown and Keiran Lloyd, cheaply in reply. Although Aaron Hart’s 52 and captain Brendan Domigan’s 38 steadied the ship.
The first assignment of notching up first-innings honours was sorted with the loss of five wickets before Southland pushed on to a first-innings total of 179.
The 72-run lead in the context of a low-scoring fixture was significant.
It was then back over to the bowlers who again delivered for Southland with Niluminda again leading from the front reducing North Otago to two for 11.
He finished with a four-wicket haul in the second innings, as did spinner Nicholson.
Nicholson - who is probably best known in Southland sporting circles as a rugby referee - was called in for the trip to Oamaru with Jack Mockford unavailable.
His four wickets in the second innings limited North Otago to 130 which left Southland needing just 59 in its second innings to pick up an outright win.
While the chase wasn’t entirely considering Southland lost five wickets in the chase they still pushed through to the outright victory.
Meanwhile, in Southland senior club cricket action the Appleby Rams maintained its place at the top of the ILT Premier League standings with a victory over Waikoikoi at Waikoikoi on Saturday.
Waikoikoi won the toss and opted to have a bat first but lost opener Welby Reed first ball.
Todd Thayer (39) and Ryan McFaul (25) put on 52 for the second wicket as Waikoikoi pushed its way into a strong position which included being 100 for three at one point.
However, Waikoikoi lost seven wickets for just 41 runs to be bowled out for 141 in the 41st over.
Reid Murray picked up three wickets, including the important one of Jared McKenzie for just five.
It was far from smooth sailing for the competition leaders as they went about chasing down the target.
Appley eventually got there with the loss of seven wickets with Waikoikoi letting its opposition off the hook through 38 extras, which included 22 wides and seven no-balls.
That - along with useful contributions from Rob Leishman (24*) and Prashant Singh (22) - ensured Appleby banked the victory.
The Invercargill-Old Boys and Marist game played at Queens Park wasn’t so tight as Invercargill-Old Boys delivered a crushing nine-wicket win.
Marist won the toss and chose to bat but that’s where the good news ended for Marist.
Marist mustered just 99 runs batting first as the likes of Blake Tempero did the damage with his four-wicket haul.
The fortunes did not change for Marist when it got its chance with the ball in hand as Invercargill-Old Boys knocked off the required 100 runs.
Opener Sahil Rana struck seven fours and a six before being dismissed for 46 from 40 balls. Fellow opener Chris Case also chipped in with an unbeaten 27 from 45 balls.
Invercargill-Old Boys overhauled the target in the 17th over.