Central pips Canty to claim trophy

Press, 18 December 1986, Page 8

Central pips Canty to claim trophy

PA Wellington Central Districts just held out a dramatic final surge from the previous champion, Canterbury, to win the Prudential Trophy national under-20 cricket tournament at Wellington yesterday. Going into the final round, Wellington had a handy lead over Central but when it was pipped by Canterbury yesterday for first innings points, it had to make an effort to go for outright victory to have a chance of lifting the trophy. In the end, Wellington slid to fourth after Canterbury beat it outright. Auckland emerged the third placegetter after coming from behind to beat Otago outright, and taking advantage of Wellington’s inability to bowl 18 overs an hour against Canterbury.

Afterwards, the convener of the New Zealand selectors, Don Neely, announced a squad of 17, which will form the basis of the team to meet Australia in a series of youth internationals In February and March. He emphasised though that this was not the final team as the Post Office under-18 tournament and the national second XI series would be closely monitored. Among those missing is who was named the man §f the tournament. The' 17 are: J. Murtagh

(captain), J. Millmow (Wellington), B. Barrett, R. MacKinlay, M. George (Auckland), P. Dobbs, W. Lamont (Otago), B. Hartland, G. O’Reilly, J. Preston, H. Richards, L. Germon (Canterbury), A. Semani (Northern Districts), P. Unwin, M. Douglas, M. Lans, M. O’Rourke (Central Districts). Germon was named the fielder of the tournament, Millmow the bowler and Lamont the batsman. Final scores.— Central Districts 371 (H. Grey 164, M. O’Rourke 42; K Morey 4/47), beat Northern Districts 214 and 42/3 (S. La Prou 24 n. 0.) on the first innings. Canterbury 184/dec. (M. Hastings 44, J. Preston 35; A. Fraser 4/77) and 144/8 (B. Hartland 33, Preston 24; Fraser 3/35) beat Wellington 183 and 142/8 dec. (M. Coleman 32; D Murray 5/75) outright. Auckland 154/dec. (M. George 58 n. 0., M. Kimber 32 n. 0.; B. Gibson 2/36) and 245/ 4 (I. O’Dowd 109 n. 0., Vaughan 50; Gibson 2/46) beat Otago 285 and 110/8 dec. (D. Hunter 35, J. O’Reilly 30; J. Hall 3/29, O’Dowd 2/20) outright. Final Points: Central Districts 56.79, 1; Canterbury 55.92, 2; Auckland 53.79, 3; Wellington 53.31, 4; Northern 46.28, 5; Otago 41. Kt, 6.