Central Districts dispatch Otago

Central Districts outplayed Otago in most facets to win their national one-day cricket match by 59 runs in Dunedin today.

They held the upperhand from the early stages and had no trouble defending their challenging total of 297 at University Oval.

Otago's pursuit looked promising when they reached 106 for two in the 23rd over but the visitors took a firm grip on the match once they turned to their slower bowlers to apply pressure.

Otago were dismissed for 238 after specialist batsmen Neil Broom, who made 34, Shaun Haig, 32, and Craig Cumming, 29, failed to convert promising starts into innings of significance.

The home side slipped to 125 for five and that left the lower-middle order with too much work to do, although Nathan McCullum and Ian Butler, who scored 43, briefly revived their hopes by adding 66 for the sixth wicket.

Once McCullum departed for 26, slapping a ball from Jacob Oram to Tim Weston at point, Otago's fate was effectively sealed.

One-day international Oram ended with the best figures of three for 48 to complete a fine individual match after he had earlier topscored with 78 as Central Districts challenged 300.

He scored his runs off just 97 balls with seven fours and two sixes and enjoyed a stand of 121 for the fourth wicket with Weston.

Weston's share was 60 off 79 balls as these two rebuilt the innings after the fall of three quick wickets.

Central Districts got away to a flyer as openers Peter Ingram and Jamie How rushed passed 50 in the sixth over in only 21 minutes.

But the visitors briefly lost their way when these two and the dangerous Mathew Sinclair all departed in rapid succession as Central Districts went from 54 without loss to 60 for three.

Oram and Weston righted the ship, though, with a fine partnership which set up some late action by Kieran Noema-Barnett, who made 34 off 20 balls, and George Worker, who finished unbeaten on 24 off 14.

Allrounder Butler picked up two wickets in the last over to end with figures of four for 45 but Otago's remaining bowlers all came in for some punishment.

- NZPA