Northern Districts have finished off the last of the 50 over matches in the Women’s U-21 tournament with a win against Otago.
Northern set an imposing total of 209 for victory and bowled accurately to beat Otago by 65 runs at Lincoln University.
Having lost the toss, Northern were put into bat first and lost Heidi Arndt early for a duck. Fortunately for them though, Jacinta Coleman (27) and Jordy Hardacre (48) made sure there was no top order collapse by putting on 69 for the second wicket.
Next in was in form batsman Felicity Leydon-Davis who continued to have a great tournament by scoring 34 runs.
But it wasn’t just the Northern batsmen helping their team to a big score, it was the Otago bowlers as well. The Southerners gifted their opponents 68 extras, including 56 wides.
The lower order failed to add much, Northern all out for 209 in the 44th over.
In reply, Otago looked a chance at 40 for one, but a collapse would ensue and their lack of depth in the batting line up was exposed. Caitlin Blakely and Sarah Osborne once again got starts, but couldn’t push on to big scores.
It looked like the game was going to be finished quickly, but Millie Cowan (37) put up a fight towards the end of the innings to get Otago to 144 all out in the 37th over.
It was a convincing win for Northern, helped by some fine bowling from Rhiana Vincent who finished with figures of three for 29 from eight overs.
Result: NORTHERN WOMEN U-21s won by 65 runs
Full scorecard: http://scoring.blackcaps.co.nz/livescoring/match1250/scorecard.aspx
