ROUND SIX
Canterbury’s title hopes took another setback as Northland’s weather saw an intriguing battle eventually abandoned at Cobham Oval.
An early lunch had already been taken, the rain-delayed match reduced to 34 overs before Northern Districts captain Dean Brownlie won the toss and looked to bat.
Scores
Knowing a DLS calculation could come into play, the ND order wasted little time in finding their runs, Tim Seifert (30 off 28) and aggressive first drop Nick Kelly (top-scoring with 59 off 69) leading the charge, the hosts 137/3 when Kelly feathered one behind off Todd Astle at the 23-over mark.
BJ Watling was already into his work, however, and steadily swatted his way to a run-a-ball half ton of his own, Brownlie dropping down the order to six where he pelted 37* runs off just 24 balls, combining with Daryl Mitchell (23* off 10) for fast runs at the death.
Canterbury were facing ND’s 247 for five, a required run rate of just over seven per over; but the rain returned just 1.5 overs into the chase and that was that: two points each, with Canterbury still bottom of the table and now trailing the Otago Volts on points to boot.
ND, holding third spot, now heads to Dunedin to play the Volts while Canterbury goes home to Hagley Oval to await the high-flying Auckland Aces on Wednesday.
