New Zealand: Harris back to boost Canty (22 January 1999)

22 January 1999

New Zealand: Harris back to boost Canty

The Christchurch Press

Canterbury's push for a place in the semi-finals of the Shell Cup competition will be boosted by the return of Chris Harris for the game against Auckland at Eden Park tomorrow.

Harris is the first of Canterbury's New Zealand players to return to the provincial squad and it comes at a critical time for the team.

With two rounds left, it is tied in second equal place on eight points with three other teams, including Auckland. The other two are Central Districts and Wellington.

Canterbury's final round-robin game is against Central Districts at Jade Stadium on Monday.

Craig Cumming, whose form has been indifferent in recent games, has been omitted from the Canterbury 12.

"He has struggled in recent games," said the convener of selectors, Brian McKechnie, yesterday. "Who to leave out wasn't too difficult.

"The middle order has done the work for us this season. There haven't been too many good starts at the top," said McKechnie.

"Having Harry back should add to both our batting and bowling and should help in the field too. We have a bit of a problem as to who will bat at three (Cumming has filled that role), but we will probably bat Harry at four."

Northern Districts leads the points table and has already qualified for the semi-finals to be played next weekend.

"If we lose on Saturday and then win our last game, we still have a chance to qualify for the play-offs," said McKechnie, "but it could then come down to run rates and we don't want to be in that situation, if we can help it. We don't want to be in the position of relying on someone beating someone else.

"It's a very close competition this year. Normally by this time of the competition two or three of the semi-finalists have been decided," said McKechnie.

He could not remember the last time Canterbury did not reach the play-offs in the Shell Cup and he hopes that run is not broken this year.

"If we can get more consistency in our play, we should qualify. Then we can look forward to having Craig McMillan back for the Central game and Chris Cairns for the play-offs."

Gary Stead (captain), Llorne Howell, Brad Doody, Chris Harris, Scott Pawson, Hamish Barton, Gareth Hopkins, Stephen Cunis, Shane Bond, Warren Wisneski, Mark Priest, Chris Martin.

Source :: The Christchurch Press (https://www.press.co.nz/)