Clear cricket win for N Canterbury

Press, 26 November 1980, Page 17

Clear cricket win for N Canterbury

North Canterbury had a clear ,J win against Ashburton in a two- i day low scoring representative i cricket match at Ashburton 1 during the week-end. - I North Canterbury defended 1 successfully the Canterbury ■ Minor Associations’ Cup and si- 1 multaneously won a first round ’ elimination in" the southern zoned section of the Cyclone Hawke; Cup series. ■ „ 11 North Canterbury wilt go for-li ward to a Hawke Cup second , round match against Soyth Can-,! terbury, which beat North Otago ! i in a first round match. This < second round match will be plaved at Temuka ou December 13 and 14 when North Canterbu- . ry will defend the Minors’ Cup ; again also. I A disappointing pitch resulted ■ in low scoring at Ashburton, where Ashburton ehose to bat'[ first. Chris Abbott made a wel- • come return to the North' terbury side to get an early I; break-through by taking four ofj the first five wickets with his' left arm medium pace. Bowling ' throughout, Russell- Merrin capitalised, on the early break-, through to take five for 36 with his medium-fast bowling. The top order North Canterbury batsmen did no better than the Ashtttirton batsmen until

(Peter Devlin stabilised the innings and in a seventh wicket partnership of 37 with. Colin Hight gave North Canterbury a first innings lead. Then Chris Heslop and Bob Masefield added valuable runs at the tail for a lead of 63. Fielding at short leg, Cliff Williams took five catches 'for Ashburton. ■ Ashburton had a dismal second innings, which left North Canterbury with only 18 runs to make to win and this was ach[ieved in four overs without loss ito end the match before lunch on the Sunday. Scores: — Ashburton 93 (Alan Williams. 23, Murray Holmes 19. Richard Smith 12 n. 0.; Russell Merrin 5/36, Chris Abbott 4/47) and 81 (Cliff Williams 18, Warren Eddington 21; Abbott 5/39, Merrin 13/33, Colin Hight 2/1) lost to North Canterbury 156 (Peter iDevlin 32, Hight 22, Bob Masefield 24, Chris Heslop 19; I Ross Drennan 4/28, Holmes 3/46, Eddington 2/51) and 21/0 (P. R. Williams 14 n. 0.).