Hawke Cup: Southland suffers another first innings loss
Teenager Charlie Ottrey along with Jed Mockford tried their best to lift Southland to victory but ultimately Southland's batting wasn't up to it.
Southland’s 2023-2024 Hawke Cup campaign is reeling after suffering back-to-back first innings losses.
Southland opened its campaign with a first-innings loss to Otago Country at Queens Park last weekend and again faltered at the weekend when it came up short against Mid Canterbury in Ashburton.
Mid Canterbury won the toss and opted to have a bat first. Sithum Niluminda and Ben McCall made good inroads with the new ball reducing Mid Canterbury to three for 35.
Niluminda finished with four for 32 but Mid Canterbury was able to eek its way through to a first innings total of 201.
It was over to the Southland batsmen to get the job done. Unfortunately, for those in the Southland camp, the top order didn’t come to the party.
Openers Kieran Lloyd (18) and Chris Case (20) put on 33 for the first wicket before it all came unstuck.
Southland went from 33 without loss to five for 46 in a nightmare collapse.
It took youngsters Charlie Ottrey and Jed Mockford to calm the situation.
The pair got Southland through to 75 for five at stumps on day one on Saturday evening before a delayed start to play on Sunday because of rain.
Ottrey and Mockford eventually got to restart their quest to get Southland through to 202 to pick up first innings honours.
They progressed the score through to 105 before teenager Ottrey departed for 39 from 58 balls. Again, things again turned sour for Southland.
After Ottrey and Mockford’s sixth wicket partnership of 59, the visitors lost their final five wickets for 33 runs. That included 13 runs from Ben McCall batting at 11.
Southland was bowled out for 138 meaning Mid Canterbury banked the first innings points. The game was then called off with little chance of outright points being dished out.
The Southland setup now has a Christmas-New Year break to lick its wounds and contemplate its final two games in the southern zone Hawke Cup competition.
The next assignment will be a trip to Oamaru to take on North Otago on January 13-14. Following that Southland will host South Canterbury at Queens Park in Invercargill on January 27 and 28.
Meanwhile Marist and Southland Boys’ High School have some work to do in Southland’s ILT Premier League club cricket competition after both dropped games in round seven on Saturday.
There is now a nine-point gap between third-placed Waikoikoi and fourth-placed Marist in the competition standings.
Waikoikoi claimed a two-wicket victory over Marist in a low-scoring clash on at Waikoikoi.
Marist won the toss and chose to have a bat before finding themselves in a spot of bother at four for 29.
As has been the case for many years it was Shaun Fitzgibbon to the rescue for Marist as his unbeaten 92 from 150 balls pushed Marist through to 167 for six from their 50 overs.
Fitzgibbon found some support from Jordan Goodall (28 from 65 balls) as the pair put on 87 for the sixth wicket.
Waikoikoi lost wickets throughout its chase to be eight down when they eventually overhauled the target in the 45th over.
But there were many handy contributions led by Jared McKenzie’s 39* from 78 balls.
Invercargill-Old Boys head into the Christmas-New Year break in second spot in the competition standings after a commanding victory over Southland Boys’ High School on Saturday.
Invercargill-Old Boys lost the toss and was asked to bowl first and quickly got into their work skittling the pupils for 112.
It would have been much bleaker for Southland Boys’ High School if it wasn’t for Angus Burnett’s contribution of 43 batting at nine.
Blake Buttar-Scurr and Ryan Acland did the damage up front with the ball before captain Sam McLauchlan also chipped in with three wickets.
Sahil Raina (61* from 47 balls) and Liam McWilliam (30* from 32 balls) ensured Invercargill-Boys chased down the target with ease. It needed just 13.3 overs to get the job done.