Central Districts have all the work to do in second final

Central Districts would have to pick themselves up if they were to force Canterbury to a third final when they meet in the second Shell Cup final at Jade Stadium tomorrow.

Beaten when choking in a Chris Martin headlock applied to the top order as they chased only 175 for victory in Napier on Wednesday, CD finished the game gasping for breath 13 runs short of their target.

Fate, and Canterbury's proud Cup history, would suggest that there was never a better time for anyone to pick Canterbury off than in that first final.

With all but captain Jacob Oram failing to get runs on the board, the pressure is on CD's top order to fire.

Coach Dipak Patel left no doubts about where the onus lay on CD's players giving themselves a chance.

"They have to pick themselves up. From a management and captaincy point of view we've done all the talking.

"This is where they have to dig deep within themselves.

"But I've no doubt we'll be competitive," Patel said.

"It is an all-win situation for us," he added.

Canterbury, looking at the failure to post high totals in their last few games, are considering changing their batting order to elevate international Craig McMillan higher in the order.

With a new pitch in use at Jade Stadium, instead of the portable pitch block which looked tired in the preliminary round game with Wellington, there is every prospect of Jade Stadium's tradition of producing a high scoring game.

Canterbury well knows the potential of CD's top order. Internationals Mathew Sinclair and Craig Spearman are a constant menace while Ben Smith has yet to fire in the finals environment. Add in David Kelly, Mark Douglas and Oram and the potential is there.

But if CD have problems, then Canterbury could do with anyone of their top order firing too. Nathan Astle took 121 off Otago in the penultimate game of the round robin game but has scored only 10 and one since. While the competition's early scoring front runner Brad Doody has struggled to regain his earlier consistency.

Gary Stead has scored 24, 26 and 12 in his last three innings while Chris Harris has been the pick of the batsmen latterly with two half centuries in three innings.

If both teams can get their batting together the result could be the finals extravaganza which has so far failed to materialise. In the two seasons the best-of-three formula has been used, the highest score has been the 229 scored by CD in winning the semi-final last weekend. Canterbury's highest score was the 225 it needed to beat Auckland to wrap up last year's Shell Cup.

The competition, and its format, deserves better and the hope is that what has been a disappointing summer of Shell Cup cricket can regain some of its lost lustre on Jade Stadium tomorrow.

The game is a day-night contest and starts at 2.30pm.