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Knights Win at Bay Oval

Sky City Northern Knights Win A Thriller With Two Balls To Spare At The Bay Oval

The Ford Trophy match, between the Sky City Northern Knights and Canterbury played at the Bay Oval Mount Maunganui on Wednesday (20 January 2016) was an absolute thriller that went down to the wire. The Knight clinched the victory with just two balls to spare and with three wickets in hand.

Canterbury won the toss and elected to bat first. The first Canterbury wicket fell at the 22 run mark and they were in trouble at five down with just 84 runs on the board. However a sterling partnership between captain Andrew Ellis and Cameron Fletcher was worth 88 runs, with the visitors having reached 172/6, when Fletcher was bowled by Anton Devcich for 41.

The Canterbury skipper continued his side’s momentum, to produce some handy partnerships with his sides tail enders.  Canterbury finished their fifty overs at 251/8, with Ellis stranded on 96, needing a four of the last ball for his century.

The best Knights bowler was Bay of Plenty’s Tony Goodin, who bowled genuine pace to grab three wickets for 36 runs. Cody Andrews and Anton Devcich both took two wickets apiece, with Mitchell Santner who was returned to the Knights from Black Cap duty, taking the key wicket of Peter Fulton.

The Northern Knights had posted 42 runs when captain Daniel Flynn was caught for 21. Joe Carter went for 35, before Dean Brownlie and Anton Devich put together a solid partnership. The loss of Brownlie for his side’s top score of 67, saw the momentum swing in the visitor’s favour, before Knights keeper BJ Watling dug in.

The run rate crept up and the home side needed nearly ten runs an over, from the last four overs. However an unbeaten knock of 47, from BJ Watling, resulted in a narrow win with just two balls to spare. James Baker was also in defiant form with an unbeaten 22 from 21 balls.

Ford Trophy Match @ Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui 20 January 2016
Canterbury 251/8 (A Ellis 96no, C Fletcher 41, R Hira 35; Tony Goodin 3/36, Cory Andrews 2/40, Anton Devcich 2/43) lost to  Sky City Northern Knights 255/7 (Dean Brownlie 67, BJ Watling 47no, Joe Carter 35, Anton Devcich 26, James Baker 22no; TG Johnston 3/39)