Cornelius steers Canterbury to the State Shield final

Canterbury will make their tenth one-day final appearance in 11 years at the Basin Reserve on Saturday. They upset the odds to beat Northern Districts by two wickets with two balls to spare under the lights in the semi-final at WestpacTrust Park, Hamilton.

It was a day that Cleighten Cornelius will remember into old age. He made his State Shield debut for Canterbury, having previously played only Max cricket. Canterbury captain Gary Stead told CricInfo that the selectors backed a hunch in playing Cornelius, brother of Canterbury squad member Wade Cornelius.

"We brought Cleighten into the team because the ND boys hadn't seen him before. We have confidence in him as a batsman and as a bowler."

That confidence was fully justified as Cornelius displayed ability in all facets of the game as well as an ice-cool temperament.

He bowled a full allocation of 10 overs, taking two for 38 and using a well-disguised slower ball intelligently and confidently. Cornelius' bowling was a key factor in ND being restricted to 209, a total that was 30-40 below expectations on a batting track that won praise from the batsmen of both teams.

It would be difficult to imagine more difficult circumstances for a debut innings than those that faced Cornelius. He went to the crease with 26 needed from five overs. Gareth Hopkins (run out) and Carl Anderson (caught behind) both fell in the 48th over, leaving Cornelius as the senior partner, with the responsibility of guiding his side into the final.

His response was a four to the third man boundary, and a single to keep the strike for the final over. Only James Marshall's fingertips prevented a flailing cover drive from Daryl Tuffey's first ball of the last over being the winning hit. Cornelius collected three runs from the first three balls of the over, leaving Stephen Cunis to glance the ball to the boundary for the winning runs off the fourth ball.

ND chose to bat upon winning the toss as Canterbury would have done, according to Stead.

"It wasn't so much the pitch. We thought that it would last and that proved to be so. It was more the heat. It was very, very tiring out there."

The heat was one of the reasons why Stead changed his bowlers around regularly. He also wanted to stop the ND batsmen from settling.

Six bowlers were used and all of them bowled accurately and to the gameplan.

Paceman Chris Martin was the outstanding bowler, figures of 10-0-44-4 being a forceful reminder to the selectors, of whom Ross Dykes was at the ground, that he is still part of the international picture.

It was testimony to the effectiveness of the Canterbury attack that international off spinner Paul Wiseman was not used.

"We simply didn't need him today," explained Stead.

ND lost Simon Doull and Michael Parlane in the first four overs, but a third-wicket stand of 77 between Marshall and Matthew Hart appeared to provide the platform that ND needed for a score of around 250.

Hart was in prime form early on, hitting six fours in his first 33 runs. The pace of his scoring slackened as his innings went on, as the grip of the Canterbury attack tightened and as his partners got out, too many to careless shots.

The left-handed all-rounder was seventh out, with the score on 167, Anderson's arm ball sliding past the outside edge to give Hopkins a stumping. With his dismissal went ND's hopes of setting a challenging target, though a tenth-wicket partnership of 17 between Graeme Aldridge and Tuffey took them past 200.

The early part of the Canterbury innings underlined the inadequacy of the target, with Shanan Stewart and Wiseman dispatching frequent loose deliveries to the boundary.

Opener Stewart explained Canterbury's strategy in the early stages of the innings.

"Our focus was to maintain wickets and to build the innings. we wanted to see Daryl Tuffey off while runs came at the other end."

That is exactly what happened, with Joseph Yovich, ND's leading wicket taker in the competition, being particularly wayward.

Stewart scored a one-day highest 76 from 129 balls, including seven fours. He is a composed player whose driving off the front foot is strikingly impressive. He was fifth down, in the 41st over as the Canterbury innings began to lose its way.

It seemed that with most of their senior players across the Tasman, Canterbury's inexperience would cost them the place in the final that their performance deserved.

Enter Cornelius to disprove the doubters.

For ND it was a hugely disappointing day. In both batting and bowling they played well below ability and expectation. Perhaps a few minds were already on the final, where Canterbury will take on Wellington on Saturday.