N. Districts beats Otago

Press, 28 December 1985, Page 3

N. Districts beats Otago

PA Palmerston North

Northern Districts trounced Otago on the opening day of the inaugural Post Office national under--18 cricket tournament at Palmerston North, yesterday.

All three matches were reduced to 40 overs and transferred to Astroturf wickets after torrential rain had saturated the grounds on Thurdsay. Quality pace bowling by Northern’s Blair Smith and

the leg spin of Arnold Somani bundled Otago out for only 103 in 25 overs after having them 49/6 at one stage. Northern Districts made short work of the chase, taking just 30 overs to reach the target without losing a wicket. The opener, Chris Wills hit nine boundaries in his 61. Central Districts’ 142 was enough to see it through to a narrow three-run victory over Wellington. The top order batsman, Rodney Brown, made 58 for Central and Kelvin O’Meara, 53 for Wellington. The Wellington medium pacer Roy Williams took four wickets and Central’s paceman, Richard McQueen, three.

Canterbury defeated Auckland by 57 runs thanks largely to a fine knock of 84 by the talented opening batsman, Jon Preston. Preston’s was the best score of the tournament, but Auckland’s opening batsman and left arm slow bowler, Andrew Reinholds, with 46 runs and 6/47 took the allrounder’s prize.