All posts by csb10.top

Leicestershire have plenty of Twenty20 pedigree having won the title twice in 2004 and 2006, and can draw on some first-hand IPL experience. Jeremy Snape, one of the original Twenty20 cricketers, was part of the Rajasthan Royals’ backroom staff and it will be fascinating to see what skills and innovations he brings to Grace Road.Durham can also draw on the IPL exploits of Albie Morkel and Shaun Pollock, giving their side depth with bat and ball which will make them dangerous opponents. Lancashire have been inconsistent this season, but Andrew Flintoff is likely to reappear at some point during the qualifiers and can win a match on his own. Lou Vincent and Stuart Law bring power with the bat (and their ICL links).Will Michael Vaughan be Yorkshire’s secret weapon? It’s unlikely, he’s only played two Twenty20 matches in his career – both for England. But Darren Gough’s body should be able to stand-up to a few four-over spells.Derbyshire have the ability to surprise a few people, with Rikki Clarke and Graham Wagg two of their key players along with Charl Langeveldt’s pinpoint yorkers. Nottinghamshire will miss their three England players – Ryan Sidebottom, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann – but watch out for Samit Patel, another England star of the future.

Somerset look the early favourites, with a top order including Marcus Trescothick, Ian Blackwell, Justin Langer and James Hildreth. They are the only team from the group to have previously won the tournament, when Graeme Smith was their overseas player in 2005.Northamptonshire, with their stack of South African allrounders, have the ability to push them close, but for those hoping for success from young English talent will be keeping an eye on Glamorgan. Herschelle Gibbs is a shrewd Twenty20 signing, and this could be the tournament that allows the youngsters to express themselves.Gloucestershire made the final last year and possess the destructive Craig Spearman who can destroy any attack. Graeme Hick has shown that age is no barrier to Twenty20 success, but Worcestershire’s form is poor and the same can be said of Warwickshire, who are rebuilding under Ashley Giles. However, Twenty20 is chance for both sides to turn their season around.

Surrey, the winners of the first competition back in 2003 and four-time finals day participants, have the pedigree in this group but they face tough opposition from holders Kent as well as Sussex.All three sides posses some awesome batsmen, but you have to fancy that Sussex’s bowling strength, even though Mushtaq Ahmed misses the first part of the competition through injury, could tip things in their favour. Kent have two of the best death bowlers around, Azhar Mahmmod and Yasir Arafat, and also a very deep batting order.Of the others, Hampshire will struggle to fill the void left by the retirement of Shane Warne, and their big guns, Kevin Pietersen and Dimitri Mascarenhas, will make only the briefest of appearances before the ODI series against New Zealand. Essex will similarly miss Ravi Bopara, while Middlesex don’t seem to have the firepower with either bat or ball to be there or thereabouts.To Qualify: Sussex, Kent

Stephen Fleming’s defending champions touched down in Sri Lanka on the weekend, confident that they could retain their crown in this year’s ICC Champions Trophy.The Clear Black Caps clinched a surprise win in ICC Knockout 2000 – the forerunner to the current tournament – overcoming Zimbabwe and Pakistan before defeating India in the final.And despite a relatively poor run in the two years since – only 18 wins in 56 matches – Fleming believes good planning and hard work gives his side a good chance of success.”We are excited by the prospect of defending a championship that we won pretty well last time and arrive here in very good heart,” he said, speaking from the team’s Colombo hotel.New Zealand prepared for the tournament with four state games in Sydney, winning them all, and now have plenty of time to prepare for their first game on Sept 15.”Australia was all about getting into the swing of playing again,” he said. “The conditions will be very different here but just getting outside was the first step for us.””We were lucky to have good weather and we come here early with a good programme in place for our preparation. We have two tough practice matches to get used to the heat and, in a weeks time, we should be ready to go.”Unfortunately, however, they need to defeat world champions Australia, who have been in ominous form during a tri-series in Kenya, to stay in the competition.”We have confidence in our preparation and are going to be well prepared by the time that we play Australia,” he claimed.”We respect them as a cricket side and you have to be at the top of your game to compete well with them, but we back ourselves to do that through hard work and good planning.”He admitted, though, that the unavailability of injured Chris Cairns, who scored a match-winning hundred in the 2000 tournament, was a major blow.”The absence of Chris Cairns has affected the balance of the side because he is a world-class all-rounder, but it has given an opportunity to younger players and they have come to the fore.”He singled out fast bowler Shane Bond and all-rounders Scott Styris and Jacob Oram as the players to look out for.”Shane Bond – in excellent form after a stint with Warwickshire – is an exceptional talent, a fast bowler with genuine that we are very lucky to have. Jacob Oram is an exciting all-rounder and Scot Styris had a successful tour of the West Indies.”New Zealand have an unfortunate history in Sri Lanka, their tours frequently coinciding with terrorist attacks and security concerns.Tours in 1987, 1992, 1997 and 2001 were all marred by security fears and three players refused to tour this time.But Fleming appeared relaxed: “Everything has been very smooth so far. We have been here quite a few times so know what to expect and have looked forward to the visit.”He looked forward to the ICC’s experiment with enhanced technological support for umpires during the tournament, including the use of replays for lbw decisions.”The players are just waiting to see how it goes. This is the opportune time to try it out before the World Cup and we hope it goes well, adding another dimension to the game.”

SYDNEY, Oct 9 AAP – Michael Slater’s prospects of being named in the first NSW Pura Cup side of the summer suffered a blow today when he was comfortably outscored by both of his major rivals.Slater made just eight off 34 balls in a practice match at Bankstown Oval, currying little favour with selectors ahead of tomorrow’s announcement of the NSW team to play Queensland starting Wednesday.Other candidates scored heavily in early season grade and second XI games but Slater struggled for an invitational XI playing the NSW ING Cup team.Corey Richards and Matthew Phelps looked in good touch and likely to retain their places for the opening Pura Cup game in Brisbane.Phelps, who was yesterday left out of the Blues one day team, smashed 99 off 117 balls for the invitational team, having already scored three hundreds in his four previous grade and second XI innings.Richards, who has also scored three centuries this season, scored 61 off 62 deliveries, helping hand NSW a 25-run win.With Richards and Phelps demanding selection, Slater’s chances of being named in the team tomorrow could hinge on the fitness of all-rounder Shane Lee.A niggly knee problem is likely to prevent Lee from bowling in the match which might allow Slater to bat at number three.While he was dropped from both the NSW one and four day teams last summer, Slater was recalled to captain the Blues in their final Pura Cup fixture of the campaign where he batted at first drop.Richards and Phelps apart, the other batsmen expected to be named in a side to be captained by Simon Katich are Michael Bevan and Michael Clarke.Bevan scored 62 off 88 balls today and added 137 off 143 balls with Richards as NSW made 7-257.Katich scored 21 off 29 balls in his first outing for NSW and put on 60 for the fourth wicket with Clarke (36).Left arm paceman Nathan Bracken took 2-32 off 10 overs while leg spinner Stuart MacGill went for 84 off 10 overs as the invitational side finished on 9-232.

A large proportion of the crowd at Old Trafford would have thoroughly enjoyed their day. They watched England’s footballers win their World Cup tie against Denmark 3-0 on the big screen and returned from the car park to their seats to see England’s cricketers reach 500 for the third consecutive innings for the first time in Tests. Among other notable events of the day was an innings of 123 from Alec Stewart and Chaminda Vaas taking his 200th Test wicket. At the close, Sri Lanka were 130 for one.Play began an hour late after mopping up the deluge of the previous evening. The partnership of Stewart and Tudor continued in regal fashion for another half dozen overs with Alex Tudor picking up useful runs to add to the partnership. He played one savage carve through the off side for four off Vaas but, in trying to repeat the shot, slashed a catch to Russel Arnold who took it well at slip.The fact that hordes of spectators began leaving the ground at this point had nothing to do with disappointment at Tudor’s demise. They were off to catch the kick-off. Stewart is a well-known football fan, but he kept his mind on the job in hand. It could be said that he acknowledged England’s first goal in Japan by stroking a boundary off the very next ball, but there was an inevitability about the way he went to his fifteenth Test century.He spent no time at all in what could have been nervous nineties. He was on 86 as he faced the start of an over from Dilhara Fernando. Four balls and four fours later, he was raising his bat in acknowledgement of his ton, from 146 balls with a dozen previous boundaries. He makes a habit of picking occasions for his centuries at Old Trafford. Last year it was in his one hundredth Test on the Queens Mother’s one hundredth birthday. Some had forecast that this would be his last Test, but his form would make it difficult to dispense with his services now.He was helped by a not inconsiderable contribution from Ashley Giles who helped him put on 102 for the eighth wicket to establish a new record for England against Sri Lanka. Not many of Giles’s 45 runs came in front of square, but his innings blossomed to produce the runs that he has frequently promised.Giles eventually fell to a juggling catch by Kumar Sangakkara off the bowling of Muttiah Muralitharan, and Stewart went to a bat/pad catch on the off side from the same bowler who has a happy knack of continuing to take wickets. It was Fernando who took the last, finding an inswinging yorker that was too good for Matthew Hoggard with his first ball of a new spell.The combination of the weather and the length of England’s innings had effectively excluded Sri Lanka from winning the match and squaring the series. The Sri Lankans did not appear to appreciate the fact as they set off at nearly five an over. Arnold slashed the first two balls he received from Hoggard over slips to the boundary, and added a third to force the bowler out of the attack after two overs costing 17 runs including four no balls.He was replaced by Andrew Flintoff who proceeded to bowl a fiery spell that did not produce any wickets but accounted for the unfortunate Marvan Atapattu who was struck on the right index finger and left the field for an x-ray after writhing in pain. Early indications are that there is a slight fracture, but it could be an old injury.Sangakkara replaced him to take the score along at a healthy rate. Andrew Caddick withdrew from the fray with a side strain that caused him to depart mid-over, but Tudor replaced him bowling like a man with a point to prove. Circumstances caused him to be under-bowled at Edgbaston.It was Tudor who took the one wicket to fall when Arnold, having reached an attractive fifty from 53 balls with his tenth boundary. He went to hook a short ball, got a top edge and sent a steepling catch to deep backward square leg where Michael Vaughan was precisely positioned to take the catch.Giles plied his left-arm spin from the Warwick Road end, seeking assistance from the rough of the footholds, but the batsmen survived with only a few alarms to end the day in bright sunshine still 382 runs behind.

Dan Goldstraw is within eight victims of becoming only the fourth bowler in Southern League history to take 50 wickets in a season.Since the competition began 34 years ago, only Bob Laishley, Andy Hooper and South African Angus Small have ever claimed a half-century of wickets in a summer session.Laishley did it for Winchester way back in 1980, taking a record 58 wickets at a time when there were no restrictions on bowlers.Andy Hooper took 56 scalps with his left-arm spin for Andover in 1989, while Small, who played provincial cricket for Eastern Province and Natal, took 50 wickets to help South Wilts to their only SL title success a year later.Now Goldstraw is homing in on a place in the Premier League’s order of merit.The 6-54 return in last week’s abandoned match against Portsmouth lifted Goldie’s tally for the season to 42 wickets."Dan’s bowling better and better as the season goes on," praised BAT skipper Dave Banks."We’ve been able to let him off his leash in the nine-week session of all-day games, where there are no restrictions."But now we’ve resumed 50-over cricket, he’ll have to get his wickets inside the only ten overs he’s allowed to bowl, which will doubtless concentrate the mind."Goldstraw looks a near certainty to lift the Premier Division 1 bowling award for the second consecutive season.Team-mate Damian Shirazi went into today’s match with South Wilts with a 63-run deficit to make up on Bashley’s Western Australian star Luke Ronchi.Latest individual statistics:Premier 1
Batting: Luke Ronchi (Bashley Rydal) 617, Damian Shirazi (BAT Sports) 554, Russell Rowe (South Wilts) 508, Paul Draper (South Wilts) 494, Matt Swarbrick (Bournemouth) 492, Neil Thurgood (Bashley Rydal) 483, Roger Miller (Andover) 468, Alistair Gray (Liphook & Ripsley) 457, James Hibberd (Calmore Sports) 420, David Banks (BAT Sports) 359, Richard Hindley (Havant) 340.Bowling: Dan Goldstraw (BAT Sports) 42, Malcolm Hobson (Havant) 29, Paul Draper (South Wilts) 29, Richard Dibden (BAT Sports) 26, James Hibberd (Calmore Sports) 26, John Whiting (Bashley Rydal) 25, Kevin Nash (Bashley Rydal) 25, Shaun Adam (South Wilts) 24, Kirk Stewart (BAT Sports) 23, Richard Hindley (Havant) 22, Richard Taylor (Andover) 22, Christof Bothma (Calmore Sports) 22, Terry Rawlins (BAT Sports) 21.Premier 2
Batting: Charles Forward (OT & Romsey) 582, Aaron Heal (Lymington) 453, Danny Peacock (Lymington) 447, Iain Brunnschweiler (Hampshire Academy) 435, Tim Richings (Sparsholt) 416, Owen Dawkins (Hungerford) 413, Jason Laney (Hungerford) 406, Jeff Anning (Rowledge) 406.Bowling: Nick Wood (OT & Romsey) 30, Damien Carson (United Services) 27, Steve Green (Easton & Martyr Worthy) 25, Aaron Heal (Lymington) 24, Danny Peacock (Lymington), David Wheeler (Hampshire Academy) 22, Jason Williams (Hungerford) 22, Raj Naik (Winchester KS) 21, Owen Dawkins (Hungerford) 21, Jeff Anning (Rowledge) 20.Premier 3
Batting: Will Prozesky (Purbrook) 717, Mark Parker (St Cross Symondians) 612, Chris Baumann (Waterlooville) 605, Matt Digweed (Hartley Wintney) 539, Michael Heffernan (Alton) 456, Jimmy Castrisos (Hartley Wintney) 452, Michael Howard (Leckford) 429, Simon Greenfield (Havant II) 428, Colin James (Paultons) 411, Steve Watts (New Milton) 385, Ian Hunter (Purbrook) 381.Bowling: Nathan Collins (Gosport Borough) 35, Neil Dodds (Ventnor) 26, Julian Ballinger (Alton) 25, Bob Paul (Bashley Rydal II) 23, Andy Cattle (Leckford) 23, Andy Snellgrove (New Milton) 22, Ben Neal (New Milton) 22, John Barrett (Hambledon) 22, Nick McMurray (Flamingo) 21, Mark Stanley (Purbrook) 21, Stuart Charman (St Cross Symondians) 21, Peter Anderson (New Milton) 21, Darren Bartlett (Hook & Newnham Basics) 21, Matt Truckle (Redlynch & Hale) 20.Wicketkeeping: Dave Coles (Lymington) 19, Martin Miller (Bournemouth) 19, Dave Banks (BAT Sports) 18, Warren Gilmour (United Services) 17, John Burton (Redlynch & Hale) 16.

Gerald Dros will captain two South African ‘A’ teams to play India ‘A’ in one-day games in Lenasia on April 18 and in Benoni on April 22.The teams are:SA ‘A’ v India ‘A’ in Lenasia:Loots Bosman (Griqualand West), Jacques Rudolph (Northerns), Martin van Jaarsveld (Northerns), Justin Ontong (Boland), Hashim Amla (KwaZulu-Natal), Gerald Dros (captain, Northerns), Gulam Bodi (KwaZulu-Natal),Thami Tsolekile (Western Province), Justin Kemp (Eastern Province),Brendan Reddy (Easterns), Andre Nel (Easterns). 12th Man to be confirmedSA ‘A’ v India ‘A’ in Benoni:Loots Bosman (Griqualand West), Ashwell Prince (Western Province), Ahmed Amla (KwaZulu-Natal), Justin Ontong (Boland), Hashim Amla (KwaZulu-Natal), Gerald Dros (captain, Northerns), Gulam Bodi (KwaZulu-Natal), Thami Tsolekile (Western Province), Justin Kemp (Eastern Province), Brendan Reddy (Easterns), Andre Nel (Easterns). 12th Man to be confirmed

On the second day of the Frizzell County Championship Division One match featuring the leaders, Surrey, Ian Blackwell led Somerset to a 33 run first innings lead at The Oval. When he was out lbw to Ian Salisbury, he was just two short of a century and had faced 112 balls, striking 15 fours. Had anyone else other than Rob Turner and Jamie Cox with 34 apiece been able to support Blackwell, Somerset’s lead would have been that much greater. Martin Bicknell was Surrey’s most successful bowler with four wickets.In Surrey’s second innings, Mark Butcher fell early to Andrew Caddick and Mark Ramprakash was run out when Surrey had moved one run in front. They had lost Graham Thorpe before the close at which point they led by 54.Although Shaun Udal played a useful innings of 43 not out for Hampshire at Headlingley, a major contribution to the total came from extras. There were 54 of them, including 36 no balls. Matthew Hoggard came through a difficult time for him with four wickets. Michael Vaughan had an innings of 54 for Yorkshire, which at least negated the extras, and Craig White played an uncharacteristically slow innings to be 49 not out at the close from 132 balls as Yorkshire finished 180 runs in arrears.Robin Martin-Jenkins made sure that Leicestershire could not make significant progress from their overnight position by taking the last three wickets to fall to finish with seven for 51 at Horsham. Richard Montgomerie then carried his bat to finish 122 not out as the rest of the Sussex batting collapsed in the face of Devon Malcolm. The 39-year-old paceman finished with seven for 76. Batting again, Leicestershire extended their first innings lead of 17 to finish the day on 94 for two.In Division Two, there were runs all down the order for Durham as they declared on 470 for eight at Chester-le-Street against Gloucestershire. Top scorer was Andrew Pratt who was run out for 93, while acting captain Paul Collingwood and Gordon Muchall both recorded half-centuries. Gloucestershire soon ran into trouble when they batted, losing six wickets before the hundred has been posted. At the close, they trailed by 375.At Trent Bridge, Tony Penberthy and Darren Cousins extended their last wicket partnership for Northamptonshire to 81 before Cousins was out, leaving Penberthy undefeated on 106. Andrew Harris took the last wicket to finish with four in the innings. Cousins then entered into a bowling partnership with Carl Greenidge as the Nottinghamshire top order failed to show the same resilience as the Northamptonshire tail. When bad light stopped play, the home side were 184 for seven, still 93 runs behind.

Having telecast the ARY Gold Cup in Sharjah recently, Sony MAX is nowplanning a series between left and right handers involving playersfrom five different countries. Kacon Sethi, executive vice-presidentand general manager of Sony Max said, “For the first time in theworld, MAX will be conducting a series of three one-day internationalcricket matches between a team of lefties and righties.”On the commercial success of the channel after the Sharjah triseries,Sethi said, “we earned around Rs 15 crore without India while we mighthave earned about Rs 30 crore with India as the third team.”Besides conducting the three-match series between lefties andrighties, Sethi said the channel will also telecast live India’s tourof Sri Lanka where the teams will play three Test matches and atriangular series involving India, Sri Lanka and New Zealand inAugust-September this year.The channel has also got exclusive rights for the Zimbabwe and Englandtours of Bangladesh. The Zimbabwe tour of Sri Lanka comprising threeTest matches followed by a triangular one-day series between SriLanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe will also be shown live early nextyear, Sethi said.Other tournaments to be telecast by the channel include Pakistan’stour of Bangladesh and West Indies tour of Sri Lanka early next year,she added.The matches between lefties and righties will be played on May three,five and six at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, she said and addedthat all the matches will be played under flood lights and will startat 3 p.m on all these days.The teams: Lefthanders (from): Saurav Ganguly, Sanath Jayasuriya,Chris Harris, Roger Twose, Robin Singh, Russel Arnold, HashanTillakaratne, Yuvraj Singh, Chaminda Vaas, Sunil Joshi, Nuwan Zoysa,Zaheer Khan and Kumara Sangakkara.Righthanders (from): Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, V V S Laxman,Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan, Aravinda De Silva, Adam Bacher, JavagalSrinath, Paul Reiffel, Marvan Atapattu, Romesh Kaluwitharana,Harbhajan Singh and Nikhil Chopra.

Nasser Hussain will represent the England team at the memorial servicefor Ben Hollioake in Perth, after the team decided to minimise the disruption to the squad before the final Test against New Zealand.As a result of lengthy meetings following the news of Hollioake’s death in a car accident, England have decided that Hussain should be their representative. He will fly out of Auckland tomorrow morning to attend the memorial service in Perth, and return on Thursday evening, giving him 24 hours to recover ahead of England’s final Test of the winter at Eden Park.”A few of the guys wanted to go, but logistically this was not possible. As captain, Nasser is the appropriate person to go,” said the England coach, Duncan Fletcher.”I think it’s appropriate that as the captain of the squad, that he represents the side and he’ll be going and coming back before the Test starts.”The rest of the England team will hold a private ceremony in Auckland to coincide with the cremation in Perth on Thursday. They will wear their England blazers and ties while Mark Butcher, a Surrey team-mate of Hollioake’s, has been asked by Fletcher to sing a song with his guitar.”We’ve asked Butch to sing a song of his choice because I think that will godown quite well,” added Fletcher.”We had a meeting about this when we arrived in Auckland today because wehaven’t really had time to discuss it properly.”Hussain will join the majority of Surrey’s first-team squad at the service, with Alec Stewart, Ian Ward, Ian Salisbury, Alex Tudor, Nadeem Shahid, MartinBicknell, Matt Church, Ally Brown, Ed Giddins and coach Keith Medlycott alsoconfirming their attendance.The club’s president, former prime minister John Major, will also be present. The chairman of selectors, David Graveney, will represent the England and Wales Cricket Board.Hussain will give Hollioake’s England blazer to the family, after it had been left in New Zealand with a member of the backroom staff to take home while he went on a short holiday after the one-day series.

The best way to save a game is to win it.Canterbury’s position at the bottom of the table meant they had not much to lose by remaining positive. But blameless young batsman Marcel McKenzie completed 40 balls for four runs at a crucial time, after being scoreless for 45 before being given out in the first innings.This first innings go-slow, along with the second innings crawl did not save Canterbury from defeat, and probably stopped them having a chance of winning.The away team, Otago, said they were going to “bowl our guts out,” in their quest to go top of the Trophy table. Match-winner Craig Pryor, who removed the last four Canterbury batsmen to force the win, told CricInfo, “It would be great to stay there. It’s a very even competition and it will be interesting cricket over the next 16 days.”They were always dictating the tone of the match, right from day one. The Southerners certainly fought hard to win. Canterbury also battled, but it was never sure if they had enough confidence in their ability to go for victory.A third consecutive draw on the good batting surface at QEII looked likely, until Otago’s Pryor ended Aaron Redmond and Carl Anderson’s unlikely sprint for victory. He broke their 72 run, 117 ball stand, then had Stephen Cunis lbw first ball.Otago entered the final hour needing two wickets in 15 overs.Pryor bowled Carl Anderson for 52 and had Wade Cornelius lbw next ball, to give him 5-70. There were just 22 balls left.He was delighted with his career best performance, but was more pleased “from a team perspective really. To get 20 wickets on a deck like that was a pretty good team effort.”He told CricInfo, “it was a little bit touch and go, but if you believe enough you never know what might happen. It was a great day for it and great to be a part of.”Otago coach Denis Aberhart laughingly said, “We were always confident.” Pryor and co also never seriously never doubted their ability to force the win.With regard to his own performance, Pryor belives he “has a little bit more belief” in his bowling these days, having played for Auckland between 1997 and 1999. His move to Otago has been a successful one, with 19 wickets in this, his first season. He did not play provincial cricket last summer. All his first-class wickets have come to the 27 year old this year.”I’ve been sorting a few things out technically,” he said. “I don’t think I’m quite there yet, there’s a long way to go. One performance doesn’t make a summer, but I was happy just to be on the field.””I was elevated to the third seamer’s role, so I had a job to do. The expectations are quite high within this team. To have those expectations put on your shoulders always lifts you a little bit.”Wickets in consecutive balls on two occasions gave Canterbury four ducks to add to the three in the first innings. Both Cunis and Cornelius bagged pairs.Warren McSkimming, whose first innings 6-39 was the third best domestic bowling figures this season, after Daryl Tuffey’s 7-12, which won Northern Districts their sixth round game against Wellington, and Warren Wisneski’s 7-151. Tuffey is a new selection in the ODI team for Tuesday, predictably taking hapless Andrew Penn’s place.He had dismissed five of the six Canterbury batsmen out yesterday without scoring in the day. McKenzie failed to add to his overnight 39, and five men made ducks.The earlier record 178-run third wicket stand for Canterbury against Otago between Robbie Frew (111) and Michael Papps (68) revitalised the home side, after a poor third day. But it was not enough.Of the 20 centuries in first-class cricket in New Zealand this season, seven have been at the Village Green.Andrew Hore’s 100 and his 77 in the second innings, along with McSkimming’s bowling, ultimately almost gave Otago just enough time to force a hard won victory against an improving set of Canterbury youngsters.But it was Pryor who was the match-winner in the end.