NZC National Men’s Under-17 Tournament
ROUND ONE
Wellington Under-17 beat Auckland Under-17 by 8 wickets
Two-day match
Bert Sutcliffe Oval
4-5 January 2020
In an opening-round clash between the city teams, Wellington made a capital start with an eight-wicket win to notch the first result of the tournament.
Auckland had batted first after winning the toss on day one, but was held to 178 for nine with their remaining batsman Yahya Zeb retiring.
Number six Thomas Pleciak was left unbeaten on 72* as he fought to give his side a chance after Wellington had had them five down for just 132, Ethan Goddard and Kevin Weerasundera both doing the damage with the ball on the way to three-fas while Jacob Madigan had picked up a key brace at the top.
Wellington’s opening pair of Ethan Jefferson and Peter Bonar then made sure of a better start to the reply, reaching 59 together before Zeb broke through.
Jefferson carried on to 45 but, largely thanks to an impressive five-wicket bag from Elias Falanitule, Auckland began chipping out wickets with increasingly regularity.
Wellington hurriedly declared at 179/8 after 55 overs — a lead of a single run — by which time Falanitule had claimed 5-27, including six maidens from his 14 overs.
Auckland suffered a disastrous start to their second dig, on the second morning, losing three wickets inside the first 10 overs and then finding themselves four down in the 16th.
Meanwhile first drop Achindra Molamure held on — and reached a half century off just 58 balls.
His 62 came to a halt after an hour and half at the crease when he was caught off Weerasundera, by which time Auckland was still in a precarious spot at 92 for five at lunch.
Joel Kajendraseelan then went on to 3-29 before Auckland declared at 181/9, for a lead of 182 helped along by a 52-run stand for sixth wicket following Molamure’s departure.
Zeb struck in his first over of the final innings, but Bonar and Sam Morgan (46) developed a 58-run stand before Bonar let loose, dominating a winning 123*-run stand for the third with captain Sam French (32*) and finishing unbeaten on 98* off just 63 balls.
The next round (one-dayers) begins on Tuesday.
