NZC National Men’s Under-17 Tournament
ROUND FIVE
Northern Districts Under-17 beat Auckland Under-17 by 203 runs
• Canterbury won the 2019/20 NZ Under-17 title
One-day match
Lincoln No.3
11 January 2020
Northern Districts capped the last day of Under-17 Nationals with an emphatic victory over Auckland to leap up to second in the final standings.
A monumental 203-run one-day victory started with ND captain Jacob Parker winning the toss and batting, ND settling after a couple of early breakthroughs from Auckland's Ben Russell.
Russell had ND 50/2 in the eighth with both opening batsmen gone, but ND then just got better and better, stringing together consecutive stands of 43, 48, 68 and 83.
Leon Marconi (72 off 64) and Parker (33) put together the 83-stand for the fifth wicket that really rubbed it in, taking ND to the cusp of the death overs in a strong position at 249 for five.
Earlier, Cory Dickson (35) and the prolific Kuwyn Price (59) had helped frustrate the Auckland attack and the stage was set for a team tally of 294 for eight.
In the face of all this, Russell kept chipping away and ended with a five-wicket bag for his trouble, including an early wicket maiden in his 5-58, before coming back for three wickets in his last three-over spell at the death.
Auckland's Umang Patel also demanded respect, keeping things tight through the middle to finish with 0-39 off his 10.
However, it was all about to turn to custard for the Auckland in the chase, with first drop Louie Chandulal the only batsman to get a score, let alone reach double figures, with his gutsy 53.
Chandulal entered the fray at 1-0 in the second over after Liam Collett had broken through with his third ball of the afternoon, and batted throughout the remainder of the innings as the rest of his team imploded around him.
Unfortunately for Auckland that amounted to just 27.5 overs, wickets clattering in hurried succession as ND hunted as a pack.
Marconi finished his tournament with a solid all-round day, picking up 3-24 off his six overs while Collett took a handy 2-8 off his five and Shiv Achary conceded just six runs off his four overs, picking up a wicket as well.
Banroj Sidhu (2-15) finished the job, Chandulal caught by Collett after an hour and a half trying to soften a stinging loss.
