Northern bowlers dominate Central

It was a day for the Northern Districts bowlers on the opening day of their Plunket Shield match against Central Districts at Napier.

ND dismissed CD for 225 late yesterday and at stumps were 24-1, putting them in a position to push on first a first-innings lead today.

In CD’S innings, only captain Will Young, on his 24th birthday, stood up against the ND bowlers to top score with 61.

Jesse Ryder, in his first Plunket Shield game since March 2015, could only manage 24 batting at No 4 before he was dismissed.

Things could have been worse if not for a rearguard effort from Stags wicketkeeper Dane Cleaver and No 8 Ryan Mccone.

Cleaver scored 31 and Mccone 32, as they added a partnership of 54 and salvaged things when they were struggling at 146-7.

Opening ND bowler Brett Hampton got rid of Ben Smith for a duck, then got two more wickets late in the day to grab 3-36, and medium pacer Daryl Mitchell took 3-54 in the middle and lower order.

ND were aided by New Zealand leg-spinner Ish Sodhi, who took two scalps, including the wicket of Young, who was trapped lbw.

CD were all out for 225 in 78.3 overs, leaving ND nine overs to bat in the day.

CD struck when Mccone got rid

of Joe Carter for 17, but recalled Black Caps batsman Dean Brownlie was unbeaten on 3 and nightwatchman Sodhi was 1 not out.

The Central Districts A side had a win and a loss on the first day of their Twenty20 tournament at Taupo.

In the first game CD beat Northern Districts A by seven wickets thanks to half centuries from Manawatu’s Mitch Renwick and Hawke’s Bay’s Christian Leopard.

ND batted first and scored 147-5. Manawatu’s Navin Patel and Leopard took two wickets each.

In CD’S turn at bat, they lost two early wickets, but then Renwick (58 not out) and Leopard (66) added a partnership of 117 to get them to 151-3 with two balls left.

In the second game, CD were beaten by Wellington A by seven wickets.

CD batted first and were quickly in trouble at 29-5 in the ninth over, but struggled through to 108-8 in their 20 overs.

Wellington then reached 109-3 in 17.2 overs.