Auckland overcome Otago to reach final of domestic one-day tournament
Auckland advanced to the final of the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Otago-c829 convincingly by 65 runs. The match was played at the Colin Maiden Park in Auckland.
The home team scored 340 runs batting first, courtesy some strong performances from their top-order batsmen. In response, Otago were bowled-out for 275 in their allotted 50 overs. Otago won the toss and their captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Craig-Cumming-c1289 surprisingly elected to
field first. The wicket was a batting paradise and the decision to put Auckland into bat was not very wise.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Auckland-c766 openers Lou Vincent and Tim McIntosh gave their team a brilliant start as both amassed a century stand for the first wicket. Vincent was out after scoring a solid 66 runs off 69 balls. His wicket didn’t stop the flow of runs and McIntosh continued
to play his strokes freely. He got good support from the first-drop batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Jeet-Raval-c1685, who scored a cameo innings of 38 runs before getting out.
The home team’s captain Gareth Hopkins blazed his way to 47 runs off 35 balls before he was dismissed. However, the star of the show for Auckland was McIntosh, who played a brilliant knock of 161 runs from 135 balls. His innings included nine 4’s and five
massive 6’s. James McMillan was the only bowler who looked to take wickets in the match. He dismissed two batsmen and gave away 67 runs in his spell of 10 overs.
Aaron Redmond and Michael Bracewell gave Otago a good start with a 78-run opening partnership. However, Bracewell was out after scoring just 28 runs. The middle-order struggled and Otago kept on losing wickets at regular intervals. When Redmond was dismissed
after scoring 69 runs off 74 balls, Otago had lost four wickets for 129 runs.
Wicketkeeper batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Derek-de-Boorder-c1359 then played a brilliant innings of 61 runs from 48 balls to give his team some hope. He got some support from Neil Wagner, who scored 38 runs off 36 balls. However, these efforts were not enough for Otago, as the team
fell well short of Auckland’s total. Vincent proved to be the surprise bowler, as he took three wickets in the only over he bowled to rattle Otago. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Andre-Adams-c1033 also took two wickets each for their team.
Auckland will play http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Canterbury-c775 in the final of the tournament, which will be played at Christchurch on 13th February.
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