Central Districts fall short against Otago

Otago defeated Central Districts by 24 runs at the University Oval in Dunedin on Sunday. Batting first, Otago were powered by an 82-ball 72 by Jonathan Trott and a half-century by Craig Cumming, the captain. Both batsmen were dismissed by Greg Hagglun, the right-arm fast bowler, who picked up four wickets in an expensive spell. Gareth Hopkins, the wicketkeeper, played a cameo innings of 44 off just 28 balls before being dismissed by Brendon Diamanti, the medium pacer. A late-order collapse saw Otago dismissed for 250 before playing out their full quota of 50 overs. Diamanti picked up 3 for 49 off nine overs.

In pursuit of 251, Centrals lost in-form opener Jamie How early and barring Jacob Oram who made 60, the rest of the batsmen were guilty of not converting their starts into bigger scores. The lower order were unable to step up the run-rate towards the end and finished on 226 for 9.