Auckland women on top after four rounds

Auckland’s six wicket win over Canterbury in the National Under 21 Women’s tournament has ensured they finish the 50-over component of the competition with a narrow one point advantage.

Second placed Wellington have kept the pressure on the leaders with a three wicket win over Central Districts while Northern Districts kept their hopes alive with a 65 run win over Otago.

The teams now play three rounds of Twenty20 cricket to determine the overall winner.

Central Districts v Wellington

Wellington have finished the final round of 50 over matches in the Women’s U-21 tournament with a win in a low scoring game against Central Districts.

Thanks to a great spell of bowling from Thamsyn Newton Wellington only had to chase down 90 runs for victory and did so successfully to win by three wickets in the 30th over.

Central were put into bat first at Bert Sutcliffe Oval in Lincoln and were buoyed by yet another strong performance from opener Hester Nesbitt. Nesbitt was the backbone of Central’s innings on her way to 37, but found little support from her team mates.
Tight bowling and regular wickets restricted them to a total of just 87 with Central bowled out in the 40th over.

Newton once again was brilliant for Wellington picking up five wickets in her 7.1 overs for just 15 runs. Michelle Bunkall also bowled well, picking up three for 18 from her eight overs.

In reply, Wellington looked shaky and found themselves in a hole at 43 for five. Just when it looked like the unthinkable might happen and Central would defend their total, Maddy Chapman came to the crease and scored a match wining 26 to guide Wellington to victory. Penny Roy hit the final runs with 20 overs and three wickets in hand.

Sarah Cowan and Hannah Rowe picked up two wickets each to give Wellington a scare, but with such a low total, it was always going to be an uphill battle.

Result: WELLINGTON won by 3 wickets
Full scorecard: http://scoring.blackcaps.co.nz/livescoring/match1252/scorecard.aspx

Auckland v Canterbury

The Auckland U-21 Women’s team completed a brilliant run chase to beat arch rivals Canterbury at Lincoln University.
Set a solid target of 188 for victory Auckland chased it down with ease to win by six wickets in the 40th over.

Canterbury were put in by Auckland and looking good for a big score from the outset. Opener Emma Heartland anchored the innings for the home team, playing right through the 50 overs to end up on 73 not out.

Many of her team mates made starts, but Heartland couldn’t form a substantial partnership with anyone, which in the end restricted Canterbury to 187 for eight.

Georgia Guy was the most expensive of the bowlers, but also the leading wicket taker for Auckland. Her ten overs went for 44 runs and picked up four wickets.

Canterbury would have been confident of defending their total, but weren’t prepared for the partnership that Sarah Carnachan and Shannen Elliot would put on for Auckland. The two openers put on an incredible 107 for the first wicket. Elliot made 25, while Carnachan smashed 62 to put their team in the box seat.

Captain Maddie Green carried on her good form and finished the game with an beaten 28 to lead Auckland to a six wicket victory with ten overs to spare.

Result: AUCKLAND won by 6 wickets
Full scorecard : http://scoring.blackcaps.co.nz/livescoring/match1251/scorecard.aspx

Northern Districts v Otago

Northern Districts have finished off the last of the 50 over matches in the Women’s U-21 tournament with a win against Otago.

Northern set an imposing total of 209 for victory and bowled accurately to beat Otago by 65 runs at Lincoln University.
Having lost the toss, Northern were put into bat first and lost Heidi Arndt early for a duck. Fortunately for them though, Jacinta Coleman (27) and Jordy Hardacre (48) made sure there was no top order collapse by putting on 69 for the second wicket.

Next in was in form batsman Felicity Leydon-Davis who continued to have a great tournament by scoring 34 runs.
But it wasn’t just the Northern batsmen helping their team to a big score, it was the Otago bowlers as well. The Southerners gifted their opponents 68 extras, including 56 wides.

The lower order failed to add much, Northern all out for 209 in the 44th over.

In reply, Otago looked a chance at 40 for one, but a collapse would ensue and their lack of depth in the batting line up was exposed. Caitlin Blakely and Sarah Osborne once again got starts, but couldn’t push on to big scores.

It looked like the game was going to be finished quickly, but Millie Cowan (37) put up a fight towards the end of the innings to get Otago to 144 all out in the 37th over.

It was a convincing win for Northern, helped by some fine bowling from Rhiana Vincent who finished with figures of three for 29 from eight overs.

Result: NORTHERN WOMEN U-21s won by 65 runs
Full scorecard: http://scoring.blackcaps.co.nz/livescoring/match1250/scorecard.aspx

Points after four rounds:
Auckland 15
Wellington 14
Northern Districts 10
Canterbury 9
Central Districts 9
Otago 0.