Northern fight back to share opening day honours

Canterbury finished the day on 257/5 but honours were shared on day one after Northern Districts fought back during an intriguing day of Shell Trophy cricket in Rangiora.

With Canterbury 107/0 at lunch and both openers looking untroubled on a benign pitch it looked as if a repeat of last week's one innings draw against Auckland could eventuate.

But the defending champion Northern side showed what a hardened, professional outfit it is by strangling the Canterbury run-rate and chipping away with wickets throughout the second and third sessions.

Early on it didn't appear as if the pace bowlers would prosper on a pitch that was slow in pace and low in bounce. Edges didn't look like carrying to wicket keeper Robbie Hart, despite him standing close to the wicket.

Northern began the match in search of a record eighth consecutive win. To achieve the milestone the Northern players will have to overcome not only a spirited Canterbury side, but also the disadvantage of losing the toss and being forced to bowl first on a well-grassed but hard, dry pitch.

Coach Chris Kuggeleijn said the record was not a motivating factor and its discussion had "barely come up" in his team's pre-match preparations. He said Grant Bradburn's 100th match was a far more import milestone and it would be nice to win the match for him.

Canterbury captain Gary Stead looked to be in fine touch, scoring his third consecutive half-century in leading his team to a dominant position at lunch. But shortly after the break, with his score on 80, he missed a straight ball form left-arm spinner Bruce Martin when attempting a sweep and was adjudged LBW by Australian umpire Peter Parker.

Opening partner Robbie Frew (53) and Jarred Englefield (13) followed in quick succession as Northern struck back in the middle session.

Chris Harris (46) and Michael Papps (35) set about repairing the damage with a partnership of 77 before Simon Doull struck with the second new ball.

Although, as Kuggeleijn described it, Doull bowled at a pace "barely hard enough to knock the bails off" he swung the second new ball both ways and picked up the well set Harris and Papps in a seven over spell that cost only 12 runs.

Northern's fightback stemmed from its ability to cut off the flow of runs to the Canterbury batsmen, with only 62 scored in the final session.

The inability of the Canterbury batsmen to go on after getting starts, and the absence throughout the day of drives down the ground, suggests that scoring runs on the dull Dudley Park pitch is not easy. But nor, it seems, is taking wickets.

Kuggeleijn agreed Northern had fought back well but said he would have been happier if Doull had picked up another wicket with the second new ball. He said his side still had a lot of work to do to capture the remaining five Canterbury wickets when play resumed tomorrow.

A concern to the purist would be the insidious creep of Cricket Max into the first-class game. The Northern players took the field in what can only be described as butt-ugly pinstriped shirts. There is, of course, no room in the game for such flashy nonsense. Next thing you know they'll be admitting women into the Long Room. Quite outrageous.