The Pink Report

Gisborne Gains

There was tension. There was drama. But in the end the Yahoo!NZ Northern Knights completed the perfect script to keep their hold as leaders of the Plunket Shield points race.

The tension and drama came in two forms. First, there was the weather. Yes, apparently even in "sunny Gisborne", it rains. I'm pretty sure La Niña is, in fact, just following the Knights around.

A dab of rain early before the first day's play meant some intrigue as to the life in the pitch, which was to the Central Stags' advantage when they won the toss and had the first go with the ball. They ended up exploiting the conditions well in both innings, with their new Zimbabwe international import and opening bowler Kyle Jarvis picking up 5-58 from 23.5 overs, including five maidens, in the first innings and 3-47 in the second. It still didn't stop ND powering to a 400-run-plus overall lead.

So anyway, there was an early drop of wet stuff. But that was nothing compared to the chewed fingernails at the other end of the game, when dark clouds gathered - pause for dramatic effect - and fat rain came pelting late on the last day, just as the Knights had CD on the edge of the cliff. Only two tail-end wickets stood in the way of victory…surely the weather wouldn't let them down again this summer?

The second source of tension came in the shape of Mathew Sinclair and Kruger van Wyk. Two resilient, stubborn campaigners, two blokes determined to dig their side out of trouble when they were up against it on the last day - with rain already having robbed them of the morning's play as they sought to chase down ND's handsome overall lead.

Both climbed to centuries. A record fifth-wicket stand of 222 for CD against ND until, just before tea - when the Knights bowlers were well past the stage of bemusement - they fell, one after the other, without addition to the score in the interim. Van Wyk, 110, caught Mitchell Santner bowled Vettori. Sinclair, 121, bowled Graeme Aldridge. Man, those wickets felt good. Now the Stags, at 300/6, were in their sights again.

Not having lost outright this season, CD shut up shop and wasn't quite done resisting, even with Dean Robinson feeling sub-par with food poisoning. The usual opening batsman came in at seven. They'd clearly calculated that hanging on for a draw would be to their advantage on the points table - it would narrow the gap between them and leaders ND, rather than let ND get further away from them.

The last wickets seemed to take an age. In the end, there were just 6.3 overs left in the game before Trent Boult nailed the final wicket - and yet another five-wicket bag in first-class cricket - to clinch the important win, with help from Daniel Vettori at third slip. A victory by 65 runs.

There were some notable milestones in this match, chief among them James Marshall's record for the highest all-time aggregate of first-class runs for Northern Districts. James has now made 5569 runs in his ND career, overtaking the late Andy Roberts. Brother Hamish was not to be left out, scoring twin half-centuries in this game (82, the top score in the challenging first innings, and 51). For BJ Watling, it was his 50th first-class game for ND and he celebrated by passing the 3000 runs mark (James, look out!).

And for that fairly useful slow bowler Vettori, Carl Cachopa became his 50th first-class victim for ND (and Van Wyk in the second innings made it 51).

Next stop? Facing last season's victors Canterbury in Rangiora. The venue will bring back some unhappy memories for the Knights after the controversial final round loss last summer, and they're determined not to let the Wizards - now the cellar-dwellers, heh heh - to get the better of them this time. Hopefully conditions will enable the batsmen to shine and that gap at the top of the points table gets even wider.

Speaking of which, here's how it looks now, after five rounds:


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The first players have been confirmed for Northern Maori's T20 against the New Zealand Cricket Players' Association Masters, set for Smallbone Park in Rotorua on March 25. ND old boys Adam Parore, Shane Thomson and Dion Nash will join fellow former internationals Kerry Walmsley, Glen Sulzberger and former Otago and Auckland rep Craig Pryor in the NZ CPA Masters XI. Pryor's father was the late great Maori All Black Albie Pryor (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Rangitihi).

The Northern Maori side will be selected the week of March 12 and will include first-class cricketers depending on the make-up of the Plunket Shield travelling squad. Stay tuned.