Canterbury facing gloomy battle to avoid defeat

Canterbury's Shell Trophy fixture with Central Districts moved gloomily towards a conclusion at Village Green today.

Play was delayed until 4.45pm by heavy overnight rain. The groundsmen had to work hard to get the pitch ready when the rain stopped at 2.00pm.

Any hopes of a brighter Cantabrian dawn were dashed by suicidal batting as the home team's spirits fell as quickly as the afternoon clouds had risen. They eventually closed on 63/3.

Martyn Sigley had previously breezily smashed Chris Martin all round the ground to add 29 of the 30 CD runs scored in just 20 minutes after the resumption.

Carl Anderson and Stephen Cunis removed the tailenders, but Canterbury were faced with scoring 246 to make the Stags bat again.

Harley James and Jarrod Englefield both went in dull fashion. James drove airily at Gareth West and was caught by Mark Douglas at slip for two. Englefield completed a miserable match by getting run out after being sent back by Robbie Frew.

Garry MacDonald, Canterbury's coach, had a darker and darker demeanour as his side failed to weather the CD storm. If it wasn't for three missed chances in the slips before the score had reached 30, Cantabrian tears might have flooded the carefully mopped ground.

Golden-arm Oram then struck a lightning bolt through Canterbury's thunder storm. Stead flashed a cut, and Oram had struck, with Mathew Sinclair taking the catch at gully.

Little rays of sunshine from Michael Papps, fresh from three ducks in a row, batted Canterbury through to the close with Frew. The Darfield-born draughtsman was also missed when he gloved a hook off Oram. A big lbw shout from the same bowler was a close shave too for Frew, who ended 23 not out.

As the light failed Canterbury paddled away across the damp outfield to close at a dismal 63/3.

MacDonald spoke exclusively to CricInfo today at a rainy Village Green in Christchurch, citing staleness as his reason to move on. "I've had four years now and it's probably time to do something else. I think it's good for the players, after the amount of time I've been with them, to have someone else. It freshens them and I got to make sure I don't get stale myself."

Canterbury have won just one competitive game in 10 during 2000/01. They lie bottom of both the Shell Trophy and Shell Cup.

The failure of Canterbury's young players to "kick on" has been as much as a disappointment as Canterbury's Black Caps refusal to play domestic cricket.

This was highlighted by Mathew Sinclair and Jacob Oram's appearances for Central Districts, while Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan pronounced themselves unavailable for the ongoing bottom of the table Trophy clash.

Canterbury's second-string top order collapsed to eight for five in this latest Trophy game, with MacDonald, a former Canterbury player, commenting "we keep losing clumps of wickets. We've been losing four at a time, in strong positions as well, which has been putting us on the back foot."

"We've been off the pace in both competitions. In the Cup our bowling has been very inconsistent. Our batting has been, well, usually we've got enough runs for a Canterbury team to defend. Our fielding and catching has been average. That's got to go up and the bowling's got to be tighter."

The positives this season have been few. Promising performances against the Zimbabwe tourists now mean little, with the lack of success in domestic cricket the benchmark MacDonald is judged on.

Canterbury won the Shell Cup twice in three seasons under MacDonald, but have finished bottom in the Shell Trophy in each of the last two years, having won it in 1997/98.

While MacDonald is hoping to do some specialist spin bowling coaching- "I'm a bit young to retire yet"- there is no word on a successor, whose big hope must be to have a full complement of internationals at his disposal.

Michael Sharpe, successful coach of Canterbury second XI, is a possibility as a replacement, having served the same apprenticeship as MacDonald and his predecessor, Dennis Aberhart.

Ben Harris, Canterbury selector and brother of Chris, from the local candidates, has had his name mentioned in connection with the soon to be vacant post too.

The seconds won the National Provincial competition under Canterbury Country mainstay and Canterbury selector, Sharpe. The Rangiora-born former provincial seamer was a member of the successful Canterbury team of the nineties. Whether he would take the role, with so much knowledge of its challenges as well as its high points remains to be seen.