Centuries highlight under-20 cricket

Press, 16 December 1985, Page 3

Centuries highlight under-20 cricket

Big scoring was a feature of the start of the last round of the Prudential under-20 cricket tournament at Hagley Oval yesterday. Leading the way was the Northern Districts opener, Brian Spragg, who batted almost throughout the day for a double century. Spragg faced 412 balls in bringing up his 200, and hit 31 fours and a six.

Understandably in the shadow of Spragg was another Northern Districts batsman, Robert McLeod, who managed only the one century, from 230 balls. The most successful of the Central Districts bowlers was Paul Unwin, who bowled 47 overs for a return of three for 134.

Otago had a productive day with the bat against Auckland, reaching 312

shortly before stumps. The captain, Shane Robinson, struck top form with 130 scored from 276 balls, with 18 fours. Auckland’s top wickettaker was the fast bowler, Brian Barrett, who looked very sharp in taking four wickets. Barrett has won a contract to play for the English county, Worcestershire, and looks lively enough to trouble top batsmen. Taking a keen look at his performance for a time yesterday were Don Neely, Frank Cameron and Glenn Turner. There was some very good work behind the stumps by Matthew Selen, who stood up well to the medium-pacers and was at times brilliant on the leg side. Canterbury made an ex-

cellent start to the negative task of denying Wellington first innings points, with David Hartshorn and Mark Hastings performing well. Hartshorn batted from 11 a.m. to stumps in registering 101 not out, while Hastings scored his 80 from 185 balls. Canterbury now looks set to win the tournament. Scores:—Northern Districts 377/6 (K. Morey 30, B. Spragg 211, R. McLeod 102; P. Unwin 3/134) met Central Districts. Otago 312 (G. Dixon 49, S. Robinson 130, S. Culhane 32, A. Thomson 30; B. Barrett 4/ 72, B. Roberts 2/69, A. Sigley 2/23, D. Morrison 2/63) met Auckland 0/0. Canterbury 255/5 (B. Hartland 33, D. Hartshorn 101 not out, M. Hastings 80).