Marlborough coach looking forward after loss
Marlborough senior cricket coach Jarrod Englefield isn’t reading too much into his side’s latest setback.
After winning their previous two 50-over matches at the Chapple Cup tournament in Napier, Marlborough were soundly beaten by Nelson in their Newman Shield challenge match on Sunday.
The home side completed a comprehensive six-wicket win at Saxton Oval, dismissing Marlborough for 133 in 44.3 overs then picking up the necessary runs for just four wickets in the 25th over.
Marlborough won the toss on what Engelfield described as a ‘‘tired’’ wicket, but they were unable to take advantage of batting first.
‘‘We just couldn’t get momentum,’’ Englefield said. ‘‘Artha [Prabodha Arthavidu] batted really well, he held the innings together and we got a really good partnership going with him and Harry [MacDonald].
‘‘They made batting look easy but when Harry got run out the wheels sort of fell off from there and we didn’t bat the 50 overs out. Our goal was to push towards the 200 mark but it wasn’t to be.
‘‘We just needed to get a big partnership going, but it was a bit of a graft.
‘‘When they batted Matt McCormick bowled really well. He knocked three off at the top but then [Willie] Ludick, who is a really good player, formed a partnership with their opener [Mason Thelin] and they kicked on ... it was hard to stop, especially since Ludick scores at such a fast clip.
‘‘Other than Artha’s batting and Matt’s bowling, which were the two big positives, it was a just a game we have to move on from.’’
Next up for the rep side is a match in Westport on November 18-19 to mark the Buller centennial, offering Marlborough a chance to get a taste of the wicket before they return for their first Hawke Cup qualifying game on December 9-10.
‘‘We need to do better,’’ said Englefield. ‘‘Chapple Cup was a good result for us . . . we are in a good space, training really hard, we just had a bad day in Nelson. I don’t want to dwell on it too much. We need to do well in our Hawke Cup campaign, that’s a real focus for us to improve in the two-day stuff.’’
Ludick, a former South Africa under-19 player, delivered with both bat and ball on Sunday, taking an impressive 2-9 off eight probing overs before producing a half century with the bat as part of a match-winning 98-run thirdwicket stand with Thelin, who was unbeaten on 47.
Ludick had earlier been an integral part of a superb Nelson bowl- ing effort. Besides Ludick, Adam Leonard (2-34), left-arm spinner Paddy Howes (2-23) and seamer Thomas Zohrab each took two wickets.
Joe O’Connor (1-15) and a wicketless Hayden Ingham were also important parts of the equation as Marlborough struggled to loosen Nelson’s grip.
Howes’ accuracy and control deserved better but had two chances dropped, including Arthavidu who was put down on 33 before going on to top-score with 57.
Rikki Bovey contributed 22 runs at the top of the order and joined Arthavidu in a 62-run second wicket stand. But once Bovey departed, bowled attempting to pull at 71-2, Marlborough simply struggled to build big enough partnerships.
Marlborough’s opening bowlers, Nick Weaver and McCormick, found some early life to create pressure on Nelson’s top order.
Marlborough showed genuine interest when McCormick removed both Howes and Nic Clark with consecutive deliveries at 32-3.
But that merely brought Thelin and Ludick together at the crease, the pair gradually assuming control to take the match well beyond Marlborough’s reach.
McCormick looked menacing and deserved his figures of 3-21 as Marlborough’s best bowler.