Yet to register a win in the 2017 One-Day competition, the Central Hinds tried once more, against Northern Spirit at Napier’s Nelson Park in the penultimate game of their summer.
It started well with captain Michelle Mitchell winning the toss and, after the quick loss of promoted wicketkeeper-opener Kelly Rangi, the Hinds steadied with a 63-run stand for the second wicket.
But then, Bernadine Bezuidenhout clasped the first of what would be five catches in the innings for the Spirit keeper — and, she had added a runout before the innings was through.
Lisa Grant was the first of them at the end of the 14th over, but the biggest wicket would prove to be opener Rebecca Burns who batted for half the innings to give her teammates someone to bat around. She fell just two runs shy of a half century, with the next best score being Ms Extras on 34.
All out for 206 in the 46th, it was a dogged effort from the hosts to hold on, while Bezuidenhout was the star performer for Spirit, the wickets shared.
Spirit got off to an ebullient start, Natalie Dodd (69) leading the way with a 107-run opening stand with Caitlin Gurrey (44).
By the time Dodd was dismissed in the 31st over, Spirit was in charge at 172 for three, reaching their target in the 37th for a comfortable six-wicket win.
Scorecard
Points table
