Auckland crowned National Under 21 Women's champions
Wednesday 21 December 2011, 8:26AM
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Auckland emerged as comfortable winners of the national under 21 women’s after beating Wellington by 19 runs in the final match of the seven day tournament.
Auckland won three of their four 50-over matches and won all three Twenty20 fixtures to finish the competition with 24 points.
Northern Districts completed a narrow two run Twenty20 win over bottom placed Otago to leap into second place to finish on 19 points while Wellington, who were the only side to upset winners Auckland, rounded out the top three with 17.
Central Districts managed a seven wicket win over Canterbury leaving both sides with 17 points.
Felicity Leydon-Davis from Northern Districts was rewarded for consistent batting and bowling performances being named player of the tournament. Leydon-Davis picked up the Trish McKelvey Trophy, named after former New Zealand captain, after coaches allocated between 1-3 points at the end of each match.
Tournament statistics: http://archive.blackcaps.co.
(The final round will be updated overnight) Final points: Auckland – 24 Northern Districts – 19 Wellington – 17 Canterbury – 12 Central Districts – 12 Otago – 0 Auckland v Wellington Auckland has come out on top in a tight game against Wellington in the Women’s U-21 tournament at Lincoln. Auckland set Wellington the challenging total of 160 for two and bowled well enough to defend that total, eventual victors by 19 runs. After winning the toss, Wellington decided to take first crack with the ball against an in form Auckland batting line-up. They would have been buoyed by the early wicket of Arlene Kelly but like so many times though out the tournament Sarah Elliot and Maddie Green put on a substantial partnership for the second wicket. Green was dismissed for a low score by her standards with 29. Elliot though was in blistering form and smashed six fours and one six on her way to 66. Lauren Down finished off the innings for the defending champs adding 38 to Auckland’s cause. In reply, Wellington would have been worried when they lost star performer Rachel Chin for four, but a second wicket partnership steadied the innings. Maddy Chapman and Deanna Doughty put on 92 for the second wicket with Chapman striking a splendid 56 to give her side a chance. When she and Doughty (47) were dismissed in quick succession Wellington lost their way finishing the innings on 141 for five. Result: AUCKLAND WOMEN U-21s won by 19 runs Full scorecard: http://scoring.blackcaps.co. Northern Districts v Otago Northern Districts have finished off a brilliant Women’s U-21 tournament with a last ball win over Otago. After being restricted to 119 for seven in their 20 overs Northern put in a tight bowling performance to edge out Otago by two runs. Otago won the toss and chose to chase and bowled well as they collected regular wickets through-out the innings. Rhiana Vincent though and spoiled the party for the Southerners, making an all-important and unbeaten 57 from 57 deliveries. Moana McLelland put on the finishing touches for Northern with 24 to help her team to 119 for seven. It was a tight display from all of Otago’s bowlers but Kate Stiven was the pick of them with her four overs picking up two wickets for 20 runs. Kylie Crowley and Caitlin Blakely got Otago off to the perfect start with 36 for the first wicket. Both were dismissed in quick succession and Millie Cowan once again found herself with a lot of work to do. Thankfully for Otago she rose to the occasion and looked for all money like she was about to lead Otago to victory. Unfortunately she was dismissed for 29 with victory in reach she was out for 29 and the next three batsmen were then run out to leave Otago battling. They needed a four off the last ball to the tie the game up but in a valiant effort Rebecca Henderson only managed to run two. It was a thrilling end to the match with Otago finishing on 117 for eight and Northern coming out victorious by two win. Result: NORTHERN WOMEN U-21s won by 2 runs Full scorecard: http://scoring.blackcaps.co. Central Districts v Canterbury Central Districts have finished off their trip to the national under 21 tournament with a win over Canterbury. Canterbury failed to fire with the bat and only managed to post a mediocre total of 100. It was almost a solo effort from Anlo van de Venter but in the end Central were too good and claimed a convincing seven wicket win. Canterbury took the chance to bat first when they won the toss and it proved to be a good decision with nearly all the top order making starts. However starts was as far as they got, with only Hayley Jensen (23) and Lisa Moore (24) giving the Central bowlers any real worries. Hana Mauafu added 13 to get Canterbury to 100 for eight after 20 overs. Central bowled extremely accurately and only gave away nine extras with Hannah Rowe the pick of the bowlers though and collected figures of two for nine from four overs. The run chase was a conservative one from Central. Captain Hester Nesbitt made her nine runs from 25 balls but wasn’t required to do much else as van de Venter smashed 59 from 50 deliveries to lead her team to a seven wicket victory. The Canterbury bowlers did well considering the small total they had to defend, but weren’t able to contain van de Venter, eventually beaten with 2.2 overs to spare. Result: Central Districts won by seven wickets Full scorecard: http://scoring.blackcaps.co.