Wellington pair demolish Otago’s first innings

Press, 13 December 1985, Page 32

Wellington pair demolish Otago’s first innings

Wellington made a strong bid towards an outright win over Otago on the first day of the fourth round of the Prudential under-20 cricket tournament at Ham yesterday. With the fast bowler, Fred Beyeler, and the leftarm seamer, Henry Skipper, in good form with the ball, Wellington ran through Otago in 144 minutes. The best partnership was the 23 shared by Peter Dobbs and Jodie O’Reilly, and Dobbs was in the firing line again at the end of the day as the Otago openers survived a

; torrid half-hour. i 'ln between times, Wellr ington forged a first innings > lead of 130, with Graham t Burnett and Ronnie Ryan posting an opening partnership of 113. Skipper came to , light usefully lower in the . order with an innings that , included three fours and , two sixes. J Canterbury was under a I lot of pressure at the end of I the day, and struggling in its bid to take first innings ’ points from Northern Dis- , tricts. Jon Preston was ' again in stubborn mood,

having compiled an unbeaten 35 as Canterbury moved to 89 for three, 84 runs away from the initial target. Batting was not an easy task. Earlier, the Northern batsmen found the seam of Mark Hastings and the spin of Grant Dickson awkward to handle. In his first outing in the tournament, Roger Ford picked up two wickets. In the third match, Adam Bigley’s 51 from 89 balls helped Auckland through to 183. Central Districts has 99 to score, with eight wickets

in hand, to take first innings points. Scores.— Northern Districts 172 (D. Clark 36, A. Somani 31, B. Spragg 26; M. Hastings 4/15, G. Dickson 3/28, R. Ford 2/25). Canterbury 89/3 (J. Preston 35 not out). Auckland 183 (A. Sigley 51, R. MacKinlay 29, B. Roberts 27; P. Unwin 4/72, J. Wilson 3/ 21). Central Districts 85/2 (J. Wilson 23 not out). Otago 82 (F. Beyeler 4/28, H. Skipper 4/39) and 16/0. Wellington 212/8 (R. Ryan 66, G. Burnett 43, H. Skipper 29; J. O’Reilly 4/47, M. Parker 2/61).