The Northern Knights have narrowly beaten the Canterbury Wizards by five runs in their HRV Cup match at Seddon Park in Hamilton tonight.
The Knights amassed a challenging 186 for five from their 20 overs, before holding the Wizards to 181 for seven in a valiant chase.
Their pursuit started strongly with a valuable partnership between George Worker (16) and Brad Cachopa (58) taking their side past the 5
0 mark for the opening wicket.
The stand was only broken when Worker was run out in the eighth over. Cachopa though was not put off and brought up his second career HRV Cup half-century. The 24 year-old’s innings came to an end in the 12th over when he was bowled by Scott Styris.
The opening pair were replaced by captain Peter Fulton (33) and Dean Brownlie (28) who kept their team’s chances alive with regular boundaries.
Fulton’s dismissal in the 14th over though caused the run-rate to stall somewhat and the Knights began to edge in front.
Some innovative late hitting from Tom Latham (17) and Logan van Beek (12) gave them an opportunity with 16 runs required off the last over, only to fall five runs short.
Earlier, the Knights had got off to a flying start thanks to openers Anton Devcich and Brad Wilson (35).
The pair put on 97 for the first wicket before Wilson went after 10.5 overs. Import Steven Croft (29) maintained the momentum for the Knights and along with Devcich carried their side to a strong position ahead of the final overs.
Devcich brought up his half-century off 34 balls, before being dismissed at the start of the 15th over for 62.
Corey Anderson came in to put the icing on the cake for the Knights and did so with an unbeaten 35, which included two fours and three sixes.
Ronnie Hira was the best of the Wizards attack with his four overs going for 24 runs.
The next HRV Cup match is next Friday night when the Central Stags host the Wellington Firebirds at McLean Park, Napier.
