ROUND TWO
NORTHERN DISTRICTS defeated WELLINGTON FIREBIRDS by six wickets
Seddon Park, Hamilton
Selected milestones
Joe Carter : 50th List A match for Northern Districts
All images : PHOTOSPORT
With the Andy Roberts Memorial Trophy on the line, early Ford Trophy leader Northern Districts dominated the Wellington Firebirds at Seddon Park.
The visitors commited the cardinal sin of failing to put a 200-plus total on the board on a sunny, if cool, day in Hamilton as ND went two from two.
Northern Districts' collective attack was too sharp with the ball after Wellington captain Nick Kelly had elected to bat first.
Scott Kuggeleijn (3/40) and a tight Brett Hampton (2/20) put the top three back in the sheds, all for single figure scores, to have their quarry 23/3 after the first 11 overs.
Kelly battled on until the 21st before he became Hampton's second victim after the allrounder had kept piling the pressure on with his accuracy.
Fresh off a partnership record with the bat in the previous game, Hampton had hit the comp in top all-round form as ND rolled the Firebirds for 198, Kuggeleijn wrapping up the innings with two balls to spare and the rising star Kristian Clarke again performing well with 3/42.
The Firebirds had done well to take it that deep, Troy Johnson's 57 (above) and quick, late-order runs from experienced allround duo Nathan Smith (37 off 31) and Logan van Beek (25 off 21) coming to the rescue.
But it wasn't enough.
Halfway through the allotted overs for the chase, ND was already almost at the 150-mark, requiring fewer than two an over to bring it home and plenty of wickets in hand.
Katene Clarke and Tim Seifert had got them off to a sound start with a 77-run opening stand, Clarke's 38 coming at a run-a-ball pace and Seifert blasting 42.
Smith broke the stand and Sears followed up with a couple of strikes of his own, but meanwhile Joe Carter got in and fittingly racked up a half century in his 50th one-day game for his side.
Adam Milne, the top wicket-taker in the comp to date, skittled him at 151/4 but, with just a further 38 runs required, it was just all too late for the winless Firebirds to stop ND galloping home to a bonus point victory.
No prizes for guessing who came in and slammed an unbeaten 28* off 21 balls just to put an exclamation mark on it. Hampton and captain Raval are evidently a winning combination down the order this season.
