Otago, Northern Districts play out a draw: Plunket Shield
A high-scoring game of the Plunket Shield between Otago and Northern Districts ended in a draw, at Seddon Park in Hamilton on Thursday. There wasn’t much assistance for the bowlers in the pitch, which made it easy for the batsmen to score a lot of runs.
Earlier, Northern Districts won the toss and elected to field first. Their captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/James-Marshall-c1650 expected some moisture beneath the surface of the wicket, but his bowlers found it difficult to pick up wickets.
The visitors reached 389 runs in their first innings. They lost some wickets at the top of their order without many runs on the board. However, opener Aaron Redmond and wicketkeeper batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Derek-de-Boorder-c1359 scored terrific centuries, guiding their team to
a safe position.
The Northern Districts opener scored 122 runs with the help of 18 fours before he got out. However, de Boorder played risk free cricket and was unbeaten on 119 before he ran out of partners at the other end.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Jono-Boult-c1732 and Brent Arnel took three wickets each for the home team.
In reply to the first innings total of the visitors, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Northern-Districts-c825 amassed a mammoth total of 559 runs for the loss of nine wickets before they eventually declared.
The highlight of the innings was a superb double century from first-drop batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hamish-Marshall-c1525 were the other main run getters, as they scored 89 and
82 respectively.
The Otago bowlers had a tough time, as they found it hard to take wickets on a flat batting track. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Nick-Beard-c2102 took two.
Northern Districts took a first innings lead of 170 runs and their bowlers looked to get some quick wickets in Otago's second innings. The start was good for the hosts, as they got the early breakthrough which they were looking for. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Craig-Cumming-c1289 was out
after adding just one run to the total.
However, first innings centurion Aaron Redmond continued his tremendous run of form, as he scored another ton in the match. He scored 115 runs in the second innings, rescuing his team from trouble.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Otago-c829 reached 343 runs for the loss of six wickets when the umpires called off the final day's play and the match ended in a draw.
Brent Arnel was superb with the ball, as he took three wickets for his team out of the total six to fall.
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